Exactly! I mean, that's what they did with GoldenEye, and who the f**k ever played that!

Naughty SPOnG. Now get back in your box.
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But did anyone play it because they were looking out of Pierce Brosnan's lovely blue eyes?

With The Punisher, all anyone outside the comics faithful recognises him for is the great big skull on his chest - which you won't be able to see for most of the game. I've read pretty much all 62 issues from the recent Punisher MAX run and I reckon I could only name three supporting cast members (one of which is Nick Fury, so he doesn't really count). So, they pay good money for the license, then stop you seeing the only recognisable element of it!

I don't like it in The Box, it smells of feet...

Show me a single person who played GoldenEye to be Brosnan and I'll show you someone who needs to get out a lot more. I would say that when you play a licensed game it's to be what that character represents, and you can get that in a game. For instance, you spent your time stealing documents and shooting out cameras 'as' 007.

The Punisher is pretty strong in terms of what he represents, so as long as the gameplay reflects that then I think it'll be fine. If you really want to add to the illusion, have you see yourself as The Punisher when you look into a mirror in-game, or do the third-person-into-first-person camera sweep at the beginning.

Extract taken from The Many Reasons Why I Should Have Accepted That Place of the Computer Games Course at the University of Abertay, Dundee by Lee Hyde (c2008 schnide publishing)
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