When I first learned of the development of The Punisher, I was left scratching my head. I'll admit he is one of the coolest and the most real hero ever to come out of Stan Lee's crazy mind, but the movie - starring John Travolta and Tom Jane - and the box office numbers were mediocre at best. Since the wave of superhero titles hitting the shelves, it's obvious the movie-game partnership is here to stay. But back to The Punisher, a title best described as Max Payne without the style. Having played The Punisher on the consoles, its dramatically apparent the PC port is the runt of the litter.

The story centers around Frank Castle, an undercover cop now retired and looking to settle down. However, after gangsters working for a powerful druglord kill his entire family and leave him for dead, everything changes. Amazingly, being shot, clobbered, stabbed, and blown up left him merely with flesh wounds and he comes back from retirement for a little revenge. No, no ... Punishment.

It's important to note that the in-game storyline is almost non-existent. The developers essentially drop you in the streets of New York and unleash you upon random criminals with guns. That's not to say you won't have a good time dismembering them. The Punisher features a wide variety of weaponry to satisfy your every disturbed desire. Rivaling other action-game arsenals, Frank Castle can handle it all. The coolest thing about the game is that he can duel-wield (cleverly implementing a right-left mouse button combination) just about every weapon, bringing twice the action and twice the pain. And although he can jump in all directions and crouch, this is the extent of his powers, leaving me dissatisfied with the absence of bullet time.

Like most shooting games, The Punisher is linear throughout the game. The levels are easy to navigate through with baddies at every corner, ready to put a cap in your trench-coat wearing butt. But hey! Why use the conventional way of exterminating these foes? There are more than 100 ways to kill your enemies (it would have been interesting to sit at that brainstorm meeting) and many options to use them as human shields or interrogate them. The interrogation process consists of breaking your captive into divulging information by any means necessary. The information is rarely needed to continue on. So, I prefer to carry on with the execution, varying from a good head-smashing to a "piranha facial." Mercy is for the weak in this game as no one is left alive for questioning after Frank Castle rolls through. Of course, shooting hostages immediately ends the game, so kill with caution. There are several boss fights that really get the adrenaline pumping, but the killings gets repetitive after the first hundred deaths.

The graphics are really disappointing compared to the norms of the PC game industry and it's a lackluster port direct from the consoles. If you have an Xbox, get the Xbox version. If you have a PS2, get the PS2 version. The low-resolution textures, simplistic level designs and blotted character models look like something out of beta. The sound is also not up to par with "shoot 'em up" games and it was the first time I didn't feel bad my stereo setup is nothing more than some headphones.

If you think this review feels al little incomplete, as if I'm totally ignoring a major gameplay element, I'm sorry to say you're wrong. The game feels empty at its core, with no puzzle solving, crime detection, or strategy of any kind. The Punisher is one of those games you want to play when you just want to go buck wild. If you absolutely can't get this game for a console, it would be hard for me to recommend this title for purchase. Rent it for the console, pass on it for the PC.

Gameplay: 6.5
Max Payne with plenty of pain, but nothing much else.

Graphics: 5.7
No, adjusting the video settings won't help. The game is supposed to look this bad.

Sound: 7.0
One word sums it up: '...Meh...'

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The difficulty is relatively easy and the challenge comes mostly from the gunshots being fired from every direction.

Concept: 7.4
Rogue cop on a road to revenge .... shockingly different!

Overall: 6.5
The Punisher makes a brave attempt in 'X'ercising the Marvel Brand into a more adult flavor but ends up falling short in its goals.