Never shoot on an upset stomach.
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Hitman just took his last ride.
PLAYERS: 1
PUBLISHER: LJN
DEVELOPER: Beam Software
GENRE: Shooting
RELEASE DATE: November 1990
Frank Castle has walked a hard road. Vietnam tours are grueling
enough, but finding your family murdered would put any man over the
edge. Enter Castle's alter-ego, the Punisher, and his thirst for
bloody justice. Outside of some bare-bones origins, I know little
about the Punisher. I've never read any comics nor seen any films. My
only experience with the Punisher is, uh, The Punisher, by the
unholy publishing/developing duo, LJN and Beam Software. Strangely,
The Punisher is one of their better games, thanks to decent
controls and unwavering action. Is it good? By no means. But it's
playable and, given this duo's track record, that's all I need.
The Punisher is an
automatically-scrolling shooting gallery of thugs, lowlifes, and
end bosses from the comic (I assume). On the menu screen, select one
of three bosses you want to take down (Hitman, Jigsaw, Sijo, etc.).
Each boss has two scrolling levels, filled with enemies, followed by
one boss battle. In each level, the Punisher stands at the bottom of
the screen shooting enemies that appear, while the screen slowly
scrolls to the right; think Hogan's Alley with
more crack pipes. Enemies appear from the left and the right. They'll
knock out windows, they'll jump down from the sky. Some shoot right
away, others strut into the scene. Shoot 'em all and pick up any
items that may drop, like rockets, ammunition, or health. Avoiding
the enemies' shots can be tricky, thanks to the Punisher's slow
movements. Learn each enemy's shooting pattern and avoid their shots
or move in for the kill accordingly.
The Punisher has terrible
graphics, no music (except for the occasional guy on the saxophone),
and repetitive gameplay strung out over twelve surprisingly long
levels. Despite these negatives, the game is consistent. It does what
it does – shooting, not thinking – well enough to make you see it
through to the end. I might be disappointed with this brainless
interpretation were I a Punisher fan. Please understand I was
expecting torture, not harmless mediocrity.
C
This game gets an A+ from me just on box art alone, lol.
ReplyDeleteOther than for collecting reasons, I usually avoid LJN games like the plague! I remember the LJN NFL game back in eighties and it interested me because of the box art, but it really sucked. I haven't played the Punisher all the way through, but the game-play is pretty good. Because of the game play, and box art :), I would give the game a C+ or B-.
ReplyDelete@Steven Vickers
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's a solid average game. I didn't hate my time with it, which is more than I can say about most LJN games.