Sega Nerds

Review: The Incredible Hulk

by Graham on June 15th, 2008

When it comes to making movie tie-ins, gamers tend to be a tad wary because more often than not, they suck. With the recent disappointments of The Golden Compass and Iron Man, Sega Nerds are no doubt worried for The Incredible Hulk.

Hopefully, this review might put some of your minds at ease.

I don’t think I should phaff around too much with this review, so I’m just going to jump in and tell you straight. I really enjoyed playing The Incredible Hulk; the game is a lot of fun.

However, even with the good, comes some bad, and The Incredible Hulk (referred to as just Hulk from now on) is far from being a perfect example of gaming glory.

Losing the plot?

As with most licensed movie games, the Hulk doesn’t follow the story of the movie point for point. And in respect to the Hulk, this is actually a pretty good thing. I saw the movie the other day, and while I enjoyed it, most of the movie wouldn’t make for a very exciting game.

Instead, the game covers the key points of the movie, and adds a few side plots to keep you entertained. Now side plots can be a bad thing, but I enjoyed the little side stories in the video game version.

They feature a few of the enemies from the Hulk/Marvel universe, such as:

• The “U-Foes” (Four scientists who mess around with radiation and gain powers), but their creation in the game does not follow the original comic story properly.
• Playing a predominant part in the game is the “Enclave,” an organisation made up of four leaders, who have made New York their test site for their latest weapons and experiments.
• Also in the game is “Bi-Beast,” a cyborg created by the Enclave (which is not accurate to the comics) to stop Hulk from ruining their diabolical plans.

In fact, the game kind of reminds me a lot of the Spider-Man 2 game, with the side plots featuring other Marvel characters and also the way the game plays.

How does it play?

Unlike Iron Man, the majority of Hulk’s game is set in one location – New York, but you start in Brazil and visit Bruce’s university in Virginia. This is a really good thing.  Some of the best 3D superhero games have all been focused around one large sandbox environment.

As you can imagine, the vast majority of what happens in Hulk is pure chaos. The game is filled with action, devastation and a big, green dude bounding about the place. A key element to any Hulk game is destruction, and this game does it rather well. If you can touch it, you can destroy it. And believe me, there is a lot of it out there to be obliterated.

The city is filled with buildings, hundreds of them. The streets are filled with cars, buses, trucks, food stands, lamp posts, fire hydrants … well pretty much anything you’d expect to find in New York, and it can all be demolished.

Combat is obviously essential in a superhero game, and Hulk pulls it off pretty well. The controls are certainly easier to handle than Iron Man. The basic moves involve punching (using X and Y), grabbing and throwing (using B), and then mixing it up a bit with some powerful combos and rage moves. Rage moves are performed by building up your rage meter (by fighting) and holding Y and B.

By completing feats as you progress through the game, you earn upgrades and new moves. Feats are accomplished in many ways - like defeating 100 enemies, or destroying certain buildings - kind of like earning Achievements for 360 games, but in this case you are given new powers, not just points. Powers, like being able to jump farther or unleash more powerful attacks.

Like in the movies, Hulk is able to jump great distances, he can clear quite a few buildings, and bound down streets like a real trooper. While in the air, you have partial control over Hulk and can turn and you can slow down a bit, but if you misjudge a jump, then it can be tricky to gain control, unless you know how. There is a little trick I worked out randomly.

Hulk can perform a single lunge attack in midair, which makes him thrust further forward. So if you are going to miss a building by a bit, you can punch and get closer. Or you can use the punch to turn faster in midair- and get closer to a building. This move does look a bit ‘glitchy,’ and one review I read complained about it as a glitch - but it is actually described in the controls menu as being a proper move.

Does what ever a Spider-Man can

Another key element to gameplay is scaling buildings. While Hulk can jump pretty darn high, he still has a lot of difficulty actually leaping up the giant skyscrapers that fill New York.

So with that in mind, the developers allow Hulk to scale buildings, a bit like Spider-Man, using his hands. Hulk digs his fingers into the side of the buildings (making his own grip) and climbs, one hand at a time. But this is not a slow process, because Hulk is so strong, he practically hurls himself up the sides of the buildings.

I really like the climbing mechanic they have in the game. It’s so simple, and works really well. There wasn’t a single building I had trouble climbing, even though every building is different. And if you need to go around corners, Hulk does it automatically. He looks a bit like a big, green monkey.

Know thy enemy

One of the complaints I read about Hulk was that the enemies you face just repeat themselves. Well, that is true to some extent, but if you compare this to any other superhero game, then it’s a pretty assinine statement.

A lot of enemies are similar, but you get different variations and levels of enemy. For example, you have the military chasing after you most of the game. Their basic enemy types include; ground troops and APCs. When you are fighting the harder variety, the troops are in little flying mechs (to help protect them from Hulk’s mighty fists), helicopters and tanks. Harder still, you get the likes of troops in the “Hulk Buster” suit.

Take into account that you have several types of army troops/vehicles to face, plus the levels of Enclave troops, weapons, mutants and all the Marvel enemies to face, too. Compare this to a game like any of the Spider-Man games, and you have quite a few more enemies to face - and no one seemed to complain about those games.

Something for the fans

As well as the main missions, you also encounter some mini-games. The mini-games can be fun enough, and are better than a lot of mini-games in other titles.

But more excitingly is how many secrets there are to unlock. You have nine unlockable characters to play as, including “Abomination” and “Hulk Buster Iron Man.” You also have 100 hidden comic book covers to find, plus hidden Rage and Gamma canisters,which boost your powers.

Not all chips and gravy

Well so far, I have been gushing a bit about the game, but it’s not without its problems.

For the most part, the environment and characters are pretty detailed and look nice, especially if you take the time to stand still to soak it all in. However, once you’re moving, you’ll notice some pretty nasty pop-ups. While the buildings and streets are always present, small details on and around them, like AC units or satellite dishes, are constantly popping into view.

Another nasty term is fog, and it sneaks its nasty little face into the game. Buildings more than six blocks away are completely grayed out, shrouded in a thick fog, which is just unacceptable in today’s generation of powerful machines.

More minor problems that rear their head in the game are mediocre music that never seems to be playing enough, lack of traffic on, what should be, busy highways, a barren Central Park and extremely short cutscenes.

Summary

While the game does have the obvious faults, none of the issues affect the actual gameplay. I enjoyed playing the game a lot, and I think comic book fans and especially Hulk fans will, as well. It may not all be fantastic, but the good moments in the game are frequent, and the action is enjoyable. I would say it’s easily one of the better 3D superhero games I have played, but then that might not be saying too much.

7/10 - VERY GOOD

~G~

[Images from TeamXBox]

Tags: Marvel, The Incredible Hulk

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POSTED IN: G, Microsoft Xbox 360, Review