The Punisher: No Mercy probably wasn't on anyone's radar and with good reason. This first person shooter can best be described as Unreal Tournament set in Marvel comics' Punisher universe. It has a lot of the frantic and ADD-fueled action that made the UT series so popular, while simultaneously giving you access to all of The Punisher's weapons and characters. Unfortunately, while the game isn't complete garbage, unless you're a fan of The Punisher there probably isn't anything here for you.
The game is essentially a multiplayer-only title. I say, "essentially" because while Zen studios included an (albeit simple and extremely short) story mode complete with comic-inspired cut scenes, it isn't much more than training before taking things online. The single-player mode is comprised of the same levels as the multiplayer, but rather than compete against other humans, it's full of bots and straightforward objectives (kill 100 guys in 5mins, etc.). Furthermore, playing the single-player mode allows you unlock a bunch of stuff, like power-ups and playable characters, which can then be used in the normal, multiplayer game. Playing SP with a friend in the co-op mode is a little more fun, but makes the experience that much easier, and shorter.
Graphically it's also pretty standard. Running on the Unreal Engine 3, No Mercy looks like a lot of games that have come out this generation. In fact, the game looks as ordinary as its gameplay, so graphics whores will be disappointed. The audio could have been good, but because of how often it cycles through the various sayings, the "witty" character commentary quickly grows tiresome.
Arguably the strongest aspect of the game that the characters you unlock, which are playable in the multiplayer modes, have their own set of skills. For example, if one of the guys you unlock has a machine gun for an arm, or the ability to take more damage than normal, when you play as that character you're automatically given those abilities. Of course, all of this will mean very little if you are unfamiliar with the characters to begin with, which leads back to the point that unless you've actually read The Punisher comics you're not going to know or care about those nemeses.
As you can tell I wouldn't say No Mercy is a sleeper hit, but for what it is - a $10 digitally distributed title - I'd say it offers enough to make most Punisher fans happy. Let me re-phrase that; the biggest draw of the game is that it's a Punisher title, full of Punisher characters. So bear in mind if you're not an avid fan of the comics there really isn't anything here to keep you playing. It's a pretty standard, somewhat shallow multiplayer FPS, and in a time when you can hop onto games like QuakeLive - FOR FREE - it's hard to get enthusiastic about a game that doesn't really differentiate.
