The story here is loosely based off of the comic series Welcome Back, Frank, and sees Castle taking on the Gnucci crime family. That shooting is at least competent though, and while the action isn’t remotely kinetic (like Ray Stevenson’s take in Punisher: War Zone), you’re decently in control and given some optional incentive to play smart. If you’re here for shooting, that’s what you’re going to get. This 2005 game certainly didn’t change my opinion.
Under interrogation at Riker’s, we hear of Frank’s busy day.
He gets to be a badass and shoot the bejeezus out of guys with no consequence and moral impunity. There’s hints that his brand of vigilantism is dangerous and wrong – usually espoused by a detective or federal agent who, by the end of the story, comes to see that Frank’s solution is the only one that works and lets him go. There’s suggestions that he’s deeply scarred and addicted to war, but he’s ultimately portrayed more like a noble monk than a loner psychopath. Batman’s refusal to kill at least makes things for difficult and complicated for him, whereas Frank Castle seems to lack any such nuance. My experience with The Punisher extends only to the movies and video games, so the following is probably an unfair statement: I think he’s a boring character.
