140 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
140 lines
7.1 KiB
Plaintext
|
||
|
||
|
||
THE PUNISHER
|
||
|
||
For those unfamiliar with "The Punisher" (one of the latest in a
|
||
long line of popular Marvel Comics characters), picture your
|
||
everyday good-guy-psycho-Nam-vet (just what we needed, eh?) with a
|
||
bit of "Death Wish" or "Mad Max" tossed in for good measure. You
|
||
see, massively decorated war hero Frank Castle (born
|
||
"Castiglione"...you figure out why he changed it) takes his family
|
||
on a picnic in Central Park, where they "stumble" upon a Mafia
|
||
execution. (Yeah, right. Happens there every day, twice on
|
||
Sundays.) Frank's wife and kids are killed and he goes crazy,
|
||
donning a tight costume and waging a one-man vigilante war against
|
||
the mob. Captured by the police, he's sentenced to life on
|
||
"Ryker's" Island. (Just like Bernhard Goetz, huh?) And of course he
|
||
escapes, to continue to wage war against the mob. He's funded by a
|
||
group imaginatively called "The Trust," and (to keep things
|
||
current) he gets tips from his computer hacker buddy "Microchip."
|
||
Essentialy, the Punisher zips around all over midtown New York
|
||
killing bad guys, and reaping a tidy profit for his trouble. (Just
|
||
because you're nuts doesn't mean you shouldn't become a millionaire
|
||
by killing bad guys, no?)
|
||
|
||
Knowing all of this isn't prerequisite to enjoying THE PUNISHER,
|
||
but if it has you somewhat cross-eyed in disbelief, feel free to
|
||
skip the rest of this review, because I don't think THE PUNISHER
|
||
will hold much in store for you. If you can accept what you've read
|
||
so far, there's a chance you won't be totally bored playing this
|
||
game. (This review is based on the IBM-PC version.)
|
||
|
||
As a "professional vigilante," your task is to earn $500,000 in
|
||
bounty money. That's the amount you'll need to force an informant to
|
||
reveal the location of The Kingpin: the bad guy to end all bad
|
||
guys. Each mission starts out in your secret headquarters, a
|
||
warehouse on the outskirts of town. Microchip gives you the latest
|
||
tip, and you hop in your superhero van -- armed to the teeth and
|
||
ready for blood.
|
||
|
||
Cruising through midtown in THE PUNISHER is, well, absolutely
|
||
nothing like driving in New York. There's next to no traffic (and no
|
||
potholes...this is New York City?), so you can speed down Fifth
|
||
Avenue at 120 miles an hour. This is good, because it feels like
|
||
each block is miles long. (Traffic or no, getting from one block to
|
||
the next seems endless.) But it's also bad, because it's almost
|
||
impossible to make a turn at that speed. You're also limited by
|
||
being able to see only out of the front of the van -- no side or
|
||
rear views. Once in a great while your radar will warn you of an
|
||
approaching enemy. Fight the enemy car with your onboard grenade
|
||
launcher or machine guns, or try to elude them by spraying a smoke
|
||
screen behind you. Use your audio surveillance equipment once in a
|
||
while; perhaps you'll eavesdrop on a crime in progress on your way
|
||
to your main mission, and pick up a few extra bucks for your
|
||
vigilance.
|
||
|
||
Now, assuming you've reached someplace that you want to be, don a
|
||
disguise and proceed on foot. This isn't a bad thing, because you
|
||
can walk from block to block faster than driving! You're not quite
|
||
alone, you've got an arsenal of guns, knives, and grenades to keep
|
||
you company. Run around, try to find buildings to enter, informants
|
||
who can be bribed for bits of information, bad guys to blow up. And
|
||
don't forget where you parked your van! I've never been able to find
|
||
it once I've parked it. (Then again, this is New York. It probably
|
||
gets either towed or stripped before you can get back to it.)
|
||
|
||
Finally, there's a scuba-diving mode. If you ask me, anyone who is
|
||
willing to go swimming around the piers of the Hudson River has
|
||
truly earned his Insanity Merit Badge. In the water, you're
|
||
traveling light, with just a knife for protection.
|
||
|
||
Combat? You know, I can't really tell you. I spent hours driving in
|
||
circles and running my feet off around the city. I did have the
|
||
occasional bad guy firing at me from a speeding Corvette, and I
|
||
found aiming my weapons to be slow and frustrating. On foot, I never
|
||
even encountered a homeless person on the streets, let alone some
|
||
evil villain.
|
||
|
||
Can you guess? I was less than thrilled by THE PUNISHER. Even if I
|
||
could have swallowed (or ignored) the initial premise, I became
|
||
really bored while playing this. There are just so many better
|
||
versions of these scenarios to be found -- better games of combat on
|
||
foot, or behind the wheel.
|
||
|
||
To be absolutely fair, those who do enjoy this game will get a lot
|
||
of bang for their buck. THE PUNISHER comes with 50 missions, and for
|
||
another eight bucks, you can send away for the "Eternity Disk,"
|
||
which not only contains 50 additional missions, but has a "Mission
|
||
Construction Set" allowing you to create your own. This is a superb
|
||
extra touch; I only wish it had been attached to a more exciting
|
||
game.
|
||
|
||
The IBM-PC version of THE PUNISHER arrives on three 5-1/4"
|
||
diskettes (3-1/2" diskettes are available separately). The diskettes
|
||
can be copied to your hard drive. THE PUNISHER uses a manual
|
||
copy-protection method. The game comes packed with three books. The
|
||
first is the "Top Secret" background info on The Punisher and his
|
||
apparent arch-nemesis, The Kingpin. Then there's a 30-page Player's
|
||
Manual, as well as an eight-page Technical Supplement. The Manual
|
||
tells you all about what you can do in the various modes, but you'll
|
||
need to refer to the Supplement to find out which keys to press. The
|
||
copy protection variously prompts you for a word either from the
|
||
Manual or the Supplement.
|
||
|
||
You can play THE PUNISHER from the keyboard or with a joystick;
|
||
keyboard controls seem quite adequate here. PCs require 512K of
|
||
RAM, and the Tandy requires 640K. Games in progress can be saved
|
||
(but only when you're in the Warehouse).
|
||
|
||
There's graphics support for CGA, EGA, VGA, and Tandy 1000 cards.
|
||
VGA graphics are nicely rendered, with lurid colors reminiscent of
|
||
comic book art. You can choose less detailed backgrounds if you're
|
||
playing THE PUNISHER on a slower PC. The "screen shots" on the back
|
||
of the box are drawings, but manage to faithfully represent the
|
||
screens that VGA players will see.
|
||
|
||
Audio support is provided for the AdLib board. Those who, like me,
|
||
are stuck with the tinny internal speaker, can choose to play with a
|
||
full range of sound effects (some of which are digitized sounds), or
|
||
in total silence.
|
||
|
||
I think younger or less experienced players might enjoy THE
|
||
PUNISHER, but only if they can manage to avoid becoming frustrated
|
||
or bored as they try to make their way to various locations. Older
|
||
or more experienced gamers will definitely find themselves bored by
|
||
the relatively slow pace of what should be an action game, as well
|
||
as frustrated by some of the limitations of the various sequences.
|
||
|
||
THE PUNISHER didn't exactly punish me (you knew I'd throw that
|
||
_pun_ in sooner or later, didn't you?), but it wasn't easy to remain
|
||
interested (or even awake) long enough to attempt to accomplish
|
||
anything.
|
||
|
||
THE PUNISHER is published by Paragon Software and distributed by
|
||
MicroProse.
|
||
|
||
*****DOWNLOADED FROM P-80 SYSTEMS (304) 744-2253
|
||
|
||
|
||
|