There's been a recent rash of well made comic video games. Now Zen Studios is taking a stab at bringing The Punisher to the PlayStation 3. Powered by the Unreal 3 Engine and price to download at $9.99 is this new First Person Shooter styled romp worth the time and money, and does it continue to give comic book fans something to cheer about?

Before I go any further I think it needs to be known that I'm not a fan of The Punisher. I don't dislike the character or comic, but I don't read it or follow the character. I like the first movie about The Punisher but I didn’t see the recent series of films. However I don’t see this becoming a problem with reviewing The Punisher: No Mercy, but I did want it to be made clear beforehand. 

The story mode in No Mercy is much generalized and is only focused on giving the game some validity in The Punisher's universe. The story mode doesn't build on or explain on any of the characters and at no point did I have interest in what was transpiring on the screen. You can take this however you want, but this game doesn't really need a story. Its main purpose is to be a mindless first person shooter with some slightly known characters.

The gameplay is styled after some old school FPSs with hints of new game mechanics. The game is set up in as mini-tournament, with you facing off against an opponent or team vs team situation. The weapons are chosen before the game starts but they can be swapped out during the game after you're fragged. Weapons are upgradable but this occurs on the fly while you're killing enemies unlike other games where you build on your character. Once you die your weapons reset and you start back at the ground floor.

On paper this is a good idea but in the game it causes a quick advantage for good players. However, If you get a good run going you'll never find this upgrade system to be a problem. You'll just run around like nothing is wrong but there are other problems with the weapons aside from the upgrade system. By the time most players jump on the Multiplayer mode they have completed the short Story mode. The reward for doing this is a rocket launcher. This makes the rocket launcher your biggest adversary when starting the game. Luckily it doesn't do much splash damage but it is a nuisance. On the other hand the games hand gun seemed to be the most powerful weapon in the game. So if you're reading this looking for tips here's one; use the hand gun. It's accurate and quick, plus I think it reloads faster than the others. It's too bad that the games other weapons aren't as strong. The rest of the game is very lean and for its price you wouldn’t expect much more. The graphics are good and gameplay needs little work. However, the biggest drawback is that it doesn’t do anything better than any other first person shooter. If you’re an FPS fan you have a boat load of games that are on par or better than No Mercy. If you’re not an FPS fan than maybe you should pick this game up.

I started off this review by mentioning the price. I normally try not to mention such things but this game's low price tag needs to be noted. While this game has a thin story mode and weapon inconsistencies, it's still a FPS running on the Unreal 3 Engine for $9.99. You don't see a game of this visual quality for that kind of price. Also, even with the game's problems it's still a fun game to play and perfect for beginners. So even with some strange weapon issues, The Punisher: No Mercy gets 7 out of 10.