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. 

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