The Punisher is a very divisive hero in many respects. Some people absolutely hate the extreme violence and gunplay that's on a medium more intended for children. Some people love the guns and the blood! Frank Castle has had many good iterations on multiple different platforms. From movies, TV Shows and cameos to video games upon video games, he's had it pretty good. While his first foray into movies wasn't the most successful, I will stand by the Thomas Jane movie. His guest appearance in the Spider-man Animated Series was a fun ride and so was his Netflix series, for the most part.
When it comes to video games, his success is a bit more hit and miss. He's found the most success in arcade cabinets in both the awesome railshooter and today's subject. The Punisher is a beat'em up/shoot'em up in the most raw manner. Personally, I've never seen this one in any of the arcades, I've been to. Most of the time, it was the machinegun game with the big bad toy gun on the arcade. This game looks a lot more like Capcom just threw up their hands and decided Frank Castle belongs in Final Fight.
The Punisher wants to go after Kingpin. If you have a player 2, you can have both Punisher and Nick Fury. If they could have made a Thomas Jane and Samuel L Jackson movie, which will never happen, that is the reality I want to live in. The idea that we could have seen them go through, punching and shooting through miles upon miles of baddies. Often, you'll run into mini-bosses who have a long hitbar and know karate. These go down especially fast if you are able to carry a weapon into the fight as well.
The pistols come in at random times. They'll give the badguys firearms, and all the sudden, you're shooting instead of punching. Honestly, there is a big difference and it's a fun experience to just pick up a gun and start shooting away at the criminals trying to kill you. Obviously, the final boss is the Kingpin and he's pretty decently difficult. He has always been a combative villain and his strength is actually quite formidable. Of course, the whole time, you have infinite "quarters" to put into the arcade game, so winning isn't really much of a stretch.
Throughout the entire game, there is a strange sound that all of the characters make as they either die, do a special move or Punisher just gets resurrected back to life. It's kind of a "AAAEEEEOOOOHHH!!" It happens throughout the entire game and at first, it's rather comical. Then you suddenly realize that it is happening CONSTANTLY throughout the entire game. It starts to grate on the nerves just a little bit. The repetitive nature of the beat'em up franchise doesn't really hold well to this sound or any subtle annoyances like flashing lights or any other sort of similar gimmick. They just start to drive people insane after a while, and it hurts the replay value a bit.
As beat'em ups go, Punisher is average for an arcade shooter from Capcom. If you're a fan of their work anywhere else, The Punisher is going to give you a bit of blood and a lot of punching, so if you have a friend who wants to play Nick Fury, it's a good time to arm up and make some criminals Eat Justice Lead! Virtua Pow!
