Several years ago the developers at
Radical Entertainment delivered one of the best superhero games entitled The
Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. The main reason people loved this game
was because it was evident that the developers spent many long hours making sure
players feel the sheer power that Hulk possesses. The developers also gave it a
good story, great mini-games, and other fun tidbits that players enjoyed. The
latest game to star the Hulk is based off the movie with the same name.
The main problem of this game is
that there is very little story to be found. Most of the story will be told to
the players by looking at a static tape player as Edward Norton tells players
what is going on. Other times the story will be relayed by very jerky and ugly
cut scenes. This is extremely disappointing as the developers had a chance to
really infuse this game with a nice storyline and present it in a positive and
fun fashion.
The game plays very much like
Ultimate Destruction. When beginning, players are let loose in a re-creation of
Marvel’s version of New York City. Players are able to progress in the “story”
at their own leisure. Most of the time players will be gallivanting along the
city, destroying everything in their sight. Players will be able to pick up any
object and use it as a weapon to cause more destruction to the city they are
“protecting.” This game makes players feel that they are truly the Hulk since
they have access to his powers and abilities. Jumping throughout the city and
using his strength to smash any object into dust is satisfying especially if
players have had a bad day. There are also more than 200 power-ups hidden around
the city and various mini-games to partake in.
Even though destroying the city is
fun, it will get old after a while. In theory, the diversion from this is to
partake in the various missions that the game has spread all throughout the
city. The main problem is that the missions are not varied enough and they get
stale and repetitive fast. Players will groan each time they have to go into a
mission because there is no variety most missions are composed of obtaining
certain items, flee from enemies attacking you, and also killing all enemies
while protecting some random NPCs. Players might expect the boss battles to
really liven up things, but they will be just as disappointed as many times
there are only certain attacks that will harm them, so players are forced into
button repetition to kill enemies.
The controls for this game are easy
to understand and have players doing massive amounts of destruction in no time.
Moving around the city is the left stick and the right stick is to move the
camera. The A button is for jumping, and the longer players hold this button the
higher the Hulk can jump. For light attacks players hit the X button and for
heavy attacks they hit the Y buttons. Players can also do various combinations
of these buttons for some very devastating attacks. Even though players will
hardly block, they can do so by pressing the right trigger. If jumping around
the city gets old, players can hold the right bumper to sprint. Hulk can grab
anything in sight by pressing the B button. Also when you are near a jumping and
close to a building press the B button and players will be able to climb it. The
left trigger will act as a target lock on. There are also some super moves
player have access to these by pressing the d-pad, and then executing these
moves by pressing Y and B button at the same time.
The graphics for this game are not
that great. The only thing that really received any polish was the character
model of the Hulk. The Hulk has a lot detail and a nice animation set, and is a
blast to watch in motion. The problem is that everything else in the world is
not as detailed and looks very bland. There is also the issue of popup that is
especially prominent when players jump in the sky and see an empty city devoid
of life. When players reach ground level they will see tons of cars about as
well as pedestrians on the street. This is really unacceptable and players can
tell that the development team was rushed to get this game out in time to
coincide with the movie release.
The music and sound effects of this
game are decent and get the job done, but could have been better. One of the
worst parts of this game is the voice acting. The developers were able to secure
the actors from the movie, but they didn’t utilize them like they should have.
All of the lines are very dreary and lacking any emotions. This is a big
let-down because usually having the same actors really pumps up the game and
makes it more fun to play, but this was not the case with The Incredible Hulk.
The Incredible Hulk is rated Teen.
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Gameplay: 6.1
Destroying everything is fun, but can only
last for so long. The repetitive missions and boss battles are not very
satisfying.
Graphics: 6.1
The Hulk looks great, but the rest of the city suffers from desolation and lack
of detail. The major pop-up issues also reduce this score.
Sound: 5.9
The actors from the movie lend their voices to the game, but the
delivery is way off. It seems like the actors are bored and very un-enthusiastic
with each line they read. The sound effects and music are mediocre at best.
Difficulty: Easy
Concept: 5.5
This game doesn’t offer anything new to the table.
Overall: 6.0
I was really looking forward to this game as I was expecting it to be a
great follow-up to Ultimate Destruction. Instead I received a very half-baked
game that is very repetitive and becomes boring to play. The only fun this game
offers is destroying everything in sight, but that gets old after a while.
