When the Unreal 3 Engine and game came to market, many of us looked at it in awe with the power it game developers and modders to make their own visually stunning FPS games. Other genres can work with it too, but it is totally an FPS engine. One thing I always though would do great was to have a shooter with some of the better of the licensed superhero characters of comic fame. Granted, Punisher was not the absolute first to come time mind for some reason, but it was the top three ideas I thought of. It was also an idea that Zen Studios came up with and make work extremely well with Punisher: No Mercy.

Punisher: No Mercy, is a small FPS with all of the fan favorite Punisher villains and side kicks, not the least to mention the title character. It has a small story mode where you head off on a mission to bring down Jigsaw. During this mode, you unlock other character avatars and weapons to help and play with when going online. Online being the bigger bulk of things, but I'll get deeper into that below.

Controls:

For the most part, it pretty much uses the exact same controls that you would use for playing Unreal 3. With all the same settings except for one little feature, I've never played with before, that had been added, Controller Tracking. Which by default was off, but I though "What the hay, lets try it." Big mistake on my end.

For those not in the know, on the PS3 this will make it so you can only look up and down while twisting the SixAxis in the direction you want to look. Which if you are not use to, will make you hate a game to death. Something I originally was going through because I could only get the right stick to look left and right. Lucky enough though, you can change all of these setting in game. So after fixing my mistake, the game was as enjoyable as every other FPS I've every played.

Graphics:

Being on the Unreal Engine, you can suspect that the graphics look really good. PNM does not let down in that arena either. Shading is done right. Models look as close as possible to their comic book counter parts. Environments look absolutely stunning. They did tap into the power the engine has to offer very well.

One minor thing I would have to say I wish was done a bit different is the location damage. It only seems to show on your avatar when arms or legs get blown off, or even when you take a head shot. I've never seen it on an NPC. That and you only see yourself outside of first person mode when you die and are waiting to respawn. It just seems like something that isn't needed given the limit to when you actually get to see it take place.

Audio:

The audio for this game is done very well, employing 3D audio in the maps. With the audio clips and comments from characters making the game just that much more fun. Also keeping some of the standard Unreal announcer voices letting you know what is going on in the game. For the most part, it is just your standard FPS audio and music, with a little Punisher twist to it.

Gameplay:

When I first loaded up the game, I was expecting more of a run and gun, like the Tomas Jane Punisher game, but this is not how the game is at all. It uses the different Unreal Match modes instead to help it guide you through the story and then to power the multiplayer side of things. Which none of that is a bad thing, it's just not exactly what I went in expecting. I'm odd like that. But it does play out much like most matches of Unreal Tournament, just with a Marvel overtone to everything.

Fun Factor:

Not being a big fan of FPS games, I will have to say that this one kept me hooked and wanting to play more. I'm not exactly sure why since, like mentioned, it is set up much like Unreal. I have had hours of fun playing single player and multiplayer since the game was released last week. There is just something about going around popping Microchip in the face while playing as Jigsaw that places a perverse smile on my face. Just talking about it here makes me want to head home to give it another go.

Overview/Final Words:

In the end, this game is totally worth the $10 PSN fee to download and the 750 Mb of harddrive space. It may not be a long game in Story Mode, but when coupled with the multiplayer power of the Unreal Engine it will drag you back many a time after you play through and unlock all the basics of the game. Least of all to mention is that fact that on the main menu there is a DLC button to check for things in the future. Which shows that there could be a whole new story or future maps built from Zen Studios to play with this game. I can see this soon becoming one of the preferred mods of Unreal to keep people playing death matches and just in general online. It totally hooked me, a non-fps-playing-mofo. The people over at Zen Studious totally impressed me with this gem.