Everything I had seen or heard about Punisher: No Mercy was extremely positive, but the kicker was that simply no one had played it.  An Unreal 3 engine game that looks quite good and is focused on multiplayer frag fests was what we were promised and I am pleased to say that's just what we got.  I don't know if I can safely stand by the claim that it has a single player campaign and a multiplayer campaign, but Punisher: No Mercy does look and feel good.

 

 

The game starts you off customizing a character, which seemed silly because you can't customize anything yet because everything is locked.  Your best bet is to jump into the Story mode and play the brief and terribly easy four levels that will get you used to the game and provides a lackluster Punisher tale.  Upon completion you will have unlocked all of the various characters and get the basic function of how the game plays and how you can properly customize your character.  I must tell you, though, it should have really been called "training" because you're merely playing multiplayer with bots, complete with respawns and in some cases teams. 

 

Punisher: No Mercy is, after all, merely a frag fest with a few levels for which to blow tons of enemies to bits with various skinned characters and weapons.  It really reminded me of a stripped down version of an Unreal Tournament game with a Punisher-themed mod, but seeing as how I really enjoyed those games, I also enjoyed Punisher.  There weren't many people playing online, but of the group I found we ended up playing for over an hour together.  You can voice chat as well as toggle mics on and off with ease on your controller and the teams are easy to keep track of with quick responsive respawns.  Don't expect to live too long, but an armor/life meter that depletes based on several variations proves that some thought was put into the game mechanics.

 

 

You are given plenty of challenges with the reward being unlocked weapons, skins, and character perks to keep you busy for quite some time.  Additionally there is a ranking system and some insane trophies to shoot for.  In the end, it's just an arena based shooting game much like many that you've already played before, however the fact that everyone's on a level playing field may be the very reason you pick it up and make it your new online shooter.  Punisher: No Mercy takes the multiplayer aspect of a shooter and provides it for $10 with addictive gameplay; the problem is, you've probably got many games that play just like it sitting on the shelf.