The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction – GC – Review

Up until a few years ago,
any comic book to video game transformation was almost guaranteed to be the
complete opposite of fun, Superman 64 anyone? Since that time, developers have
proved that they can make a fun video game that stays true to the comic book
character’s roots. When the Hulk movie was released a couple of years ago, there
was a game released that was pretty good, but had one annoying thing wrong with
it: the Bruce Banner missions, everyone wanted to play as the Indestructible
Hulk not the weak and timid Bruce Banner. The developers at Radical
Entertainment kept this vital piece of information in their minds when
developing the latest Hulk game. It was a good thing that they did as I think
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is one of the best Hulk games I have
ever played.

Bruce Banner believes that
he’s on the verge for finally creating a cure for his terrible affliction with
the Hulk. He has created a device that will allow him to modify his subconscious
that allows him to subdue the Hulk that rages on in his traumatized mind which
in turn reeks havoc upon the world. While he was on the brink of completing this
device, government forces attacked his hideout and during the chaos that ensued,
the device was completely destroyed. With his hopes bashed he enlists the help
of his friend and close associate Doctor Leonard Samson. They are in a race
against time as they are trying to rebuild the device to see if they can subdue
the Hulk before it completely takes over Banner’s life.

The Incredible Hulk:
Ultimate Destruction truly captures the essence of the Hulk comic books. Players
are free to do almost anything while playing through this game. If you get bored
of the story and want to just chill out, taking out annoying “puny humans” then
you are more then free to do so. Players are truly free to do whatever they want
and there is almost nothing that can stop him, just like in the comic books.
Once you want to play more of the story and get to the boss fights you will be
in battles of titanic proportion. For instance the first battle you will face is
against the Abomination, he is just as strong and fast, if not more so, then the
Hulk. Players will be in for a fight for their lives as they try to take out
this and many of the other bosses. It was staying close to the comic’s roots
that made this game that much more fun to play and continue playing through.

One of the best things
about this game is the sheer number of things to do in this game. If you want to
just chill out and walk though the gigantic levels then you are free to do so.
If you want to do many of the side missions to gain extra smash points to get
more moves then you can do that as well. To give players even more incentive to
just cruise around throughout the levels, the developers have hidden sixty comic
books which unlock various things such as cheats, art work, and other things
which really makes the player want to unlock them all.

The Incredible Hulk:
Ultimate Destruction graphics has its ups and downs, like many games of this
nature. First of all the character models are really nice, especially for the
Hulk. He is very detailed and it seems like you can see the muscles flexing as
you are lifting up the heavy tanks and throwing them around the level like paper
airplanes. The enemies and vehicles that Hulk has to fight also are really
detailed. One of the things the developers got right in this game is the sense
of destruction. When you start off in the level it is in nice and pristine
condition. After walking around for a few minutes you will start to see cracks
in everything, from the road to the very buildings. It looks really surreal as
you are creating havoc all across the land.

The thing that is wrong with the graphics department is lack of environments to
fight in. You will get to fight in the City or the Badlands. While there are a
few other minor levels, the majority of your time is spent there. While the
developers tried to give more variety, by changing the time of day and the
weather, players will yearn to see some different places after a while. Even
though the lack of variety is sort of a “downer” the graphics for this game
still looks really good.

The developers chose a
really good voice acting talent for this game. Every single actor did a
wonderful job portraying the character that they were chosen to act out, and it
fits really well with this game. Since the main title says Ultimate Destruction,
you can be sure that throughout the course of this game you will be hearing
plenty of explosions, scraping metal and crumbling buildings. Each of these
sound effects are done wonderfully and if you have a nice audio set up you will
feel like you are right in the middle of the chaos. The musical soundtrack fit
this game perfectly as you are destroying the various items trying to get your
mission accomplished.

The Incredible Hulk:
Ultimate Destruction is rated Teen for language and violence. It will take 4
blocks on your memory card for game saves.

Gameplay: 8.7
If you are in a bad mood and need to vent turn this game on and just
smash through the city, it is a really satisfying feeling. The gameplay is
really smooth and easy to do all of the moves that are in your arsenal. The
mission objectives (and challenge missions) are pretty fun and varied enough to
help prevent any repetition from setting in.

Graphics: 8.1
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction looks pretty nice the only
thing that is bad is that the environments are not varied enough. There are only
two real main surroundings that you will be in: the Badlands and the City. Other
than that everything in this game looks really nice. The character models are
pretty well detailed and have a nice look and feel to it.

Sound: 8.5
The voice acting for this game is top notch. All of the actors did a
really good job of portraying the roles that they were assigned. The sound
effects are also really good from cars exploding to missiles being launched. It
all sounds really good.

Difficulty: Medium
This game is not the hardest game I have played and it is not the
easiest either. In some missions you will be screaming at the TV because you
think that it is impossible, and other missions seem to be a breeze. The thing
about this game is that the more you play it the better you become as the harder
enemies and bosses are thrown your way, which makes for some really good
gameplay.

Concept: 8.1
While the concept for total destruction is not new, I really liked how
the developers implemented it in this game. Also I really like the collectable
items and the challenge missions that really help extended this game’s life
further.

Overall 8.8
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is one of the best comic
to video game conversions I have played in a while. I rank it right up there
with the Spiderman’s and the X-men’s video games that have captured the hearts
of many gamers. You will find yourself just goofing off in this game for a long
time, collecting comic books, destroying various different properties, and doing
a lot of other things because it is just fun to be a mean green wreaking
machine. I highly recommend getting this game if you are a fan of the comics or
are in the mood for a good game.