December 03, 2004 - Volition defined itself as a company by creating Freespace and its sequel Freespace 2; both games remain at the absolute top of the space combat genre. Later, Volition returned with the action RPG Summoner, along with its sequel and two Red Faction titles. The latter two first-person shooters are still regarded as some of the best FPS titles available for PS2. That's one heck of a profile for a company that began as a part of Parallax, the highly acclaimed creators of Descent. Now wholly owned by the Calabasas based THQ, Volition is hard at work finishing up The Punisher for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC. When we first heard of Punisher we expected a lot given Volition's record. So how's it coming along?

The Punisher is exceedingly violent, excessively profane, and highly disturbing. It's also hilarious, challenging, and exciting. So, if you are of legal age to watch a man get crushed in a trash compactor or listen to a few mobsters blurt out their last curses before getting stabbed in the face, you'll definitely want to watch the 25 exclusive videos we've taken the liberty of assembling in our media page. If you're not equipped or allowed to handle such adult themes, please do not seek out The Punisher early next year under the mistaken impression that Frank Castle is a pleasant man who delivers flowers to New York's vicious criminal element. Frank Castle kills people, lots of people. That's why they call him the punisher. Let there be no confusion about it.

We had the opportunity to play the first five levels of The Punisher and we discovered immediately that it was attempting to be very faithful to its comic source. Even though the design and storyline are mishmashes of different comic runs (with a few nods to the second film of the same name), the title distinctly feels like The Punisher. The one constant of the series has always been the cold, swift ruthlessness the fiction's violent protagonist was capable of. That single-minded persona appears to be translating well.

Seems Like a Valid Punishment to Us

Throughout our play we actually became what the bad guys fear most. Granted, enemies would occasionally mouth off as if we were just another random punk, but most thugs, mobsters, and junkies we punished cowered before us, fled for their lives, screamed in terror, and pleaded for mercy. This all sounds like a lot of demented flavor added to cater to the mindlessly violent gamers across the world, but its faithful to the source and helps establish The Punisher's menacing, powerful, and utterly merciless nature. In this way, it seems Volition is wonderfully recreating the morbid, comical, vicious, but brutally righteous executioner we've all come to love.

Again, this faithfulness implies that those unaccustomed to dismemberment and ingenious ways of torturing men should not seek out punishment. Although, in some strange way it seems THQ is trying to tone down the over-the-top violence of The Punisher by limiting dismemberment and blotting out all of the gruesome interrogation finales with a bizarre whiteout effect. This has to stop immediately, for regardless of how good a job Volition can do recreating the fascinating brutality of the vigilante and his world, a needless and artistically backward kind of censorship could ruin it all. Normally limiting the amount of blood wouldn't be a problem, but since it works to distinguish the character of Frank Castle and happens to be a mainstay of the fiction, censoring of any kind could hurt the final product. Thankfully, it doesn't look like anyone is going to be able to keep the punishing to a minimum when it comes to actual gameplay.