Review: "I simply must crush that wall into tiny little particles!"
Another big comic book legend returns to the scene yet again! To coincide with the recent big budget Hollywood movie and several product tie ins, we now have Hulk the Video Game. Can the Hulk be a fun smash mouth 3D action game that will not only please fans of the comic but also gamers a like or is this just another one of those license games we can do without?
If some of you don’t know the story, here is what’s going on. You are mild mannered Dr. Bruce Banner, a scientist that experimented with Gamma radiation. Things go horribly wrong when you discover just what happened to your body during a test. Whenever Dr. Banner gets angry he transforms into a raging green giant with super human strength, this creature is simply known as the Hulk. Now it’s up to you to control and use this Hulk ability before this new found power falls into the wrong hands.
So how do you control an angry green giant? The developers were kind enough to give Hulk 45 different moves at his disposal. These moves range from your standard punches and uppercuts to actually grabbing your enemy and throwing him at another enemy. “How cool is that?” Hulk can even grab broken walls and huge pipes that can be used as weapons. I do have one question about the moves though: why are there 45 moves here but no block? Even Hulk’s evil alter ego (Ravage) can guard attacks for some odd reason. The Hulk controls fine for the most part but the big guy can be a little slow especially while jumping. In a game where there could be around 8 enemies that gang up at once you want all the speed you can get.
Although you play as the Hulk in most of the game, there are moments when you have to revert back to Bruce Banner. Because you are no longer a 10-foot monster, only a few hits can kill you now plus you can’t even jump. These Bruce only levels are much more stealth based, so the game isn’t all about brawling and destruction. There is even an annoying Tetris Attack like hacking game where you have to match a code in only a few seconds. You can try this game as many times as you like if you fail but it gets highly frustrating when you have to play over and over again just to get it right. Bruce’s missions definitely slow down the action but I still like the challenge factor.
One thing you don’t have to worry about is messing around with the game’s camera control. Unlike most 3D video games you don’t have to use a button to find the perfect view, the game picks its own viewpoints. The game does have some problems because of this fixed camera system though. Enemies can easily shoot their gunfire and missiles at you from off screen and there is very time to prepare or predict for something like that. Things can also hectic when you’re fighting the tough and tricky bosses like Madman and the Leader.
The Hulk uses some unusual graphics here. Instead of the now standard Cel shaded look we see other games like in Dragon’s Lair 3D and the Game Cube Zelda, we get a new ‘pseudo-cel shading’ for the Hulk. Although the game doesn’t look like a cartoon, the characters do look like they are made out of plastic. Different but it works. The Hulk also provides tons of on screen carnage thanks to all the destroyable structures and the impressive up to 10 multiple enemies at once here plus there is very little slow down too despite all the chaos.
The makers behind the game actually worked closely with the producers of the big 2003 Hulk movie. Even the movie’s lead star (Eric Bana) lends his vocal talents to voice Bruce Banner in the game here. The sounds were good enough because they seem like something you would hear in an action flick but they were very unremarkable at the same time.
