Oh boy, we've been here before: another summertime blockbuster superhero movie accompanied by an obligatory game release. While a few—very few—interactive tie-ins have managed to make a positive mark, it's the others that we remember most vividly in the way they disappoint or simply engender the best of mediocrity. Tucked away as though not to be seen during SEGA Gamers' Day, The Incredible Hulk appears to be taking the road well-traveled when it comes to motion picture-licensed gaming.
Building on the formula established in Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, SEGA's take on the franchise ventures into the sandbox. Instead of a linear, story-driven campaign with preset stages, you're free to tackle missions at will as you wander through a rendering of New York City. Missions are color-coded according to significance and their relationship to individual plot lines, making it easy to distinguish critical quests versus those that are optional. Of course, you don't even have to take on any missions, opting to bash the city to bits without cause. It's an ambitious approach for a superhero game, although the success of Spider-Man 2 demonstrates that it can be pulled off.
What we played during SEGA Gamers' Day, however, points in the other direction. The game doesn't have the same panache or appeal that Spidey had; even more, the inspiration gathered from Hulk: Ultimate Destruction acts as a double-edged sword. While the bash-tastic action of that game was praised, it was also incredibly repetitive. Much of that seems to remain here. Roaming the street of the Big Apple involves little more than destroying things with Hulk's powers. Sure, missions promise to throw in some variety, but even these hone in on the same brand of destruction that you can get just wandering on your own.
This isn't to imply that the game itself suffers from a slew of problems or that it isn't fun to play; on the contrary, there's something to be said for the destructive action. The game just doesn't promise a whole lot of variety, aiming to deliver straight up action without any frills. Even the combat mechanics are painfully basic, limiting Hulk's skill set to a paltry four powers: thunder clap, ground slam, healing factor, and path of destruction.
Thunder clap, for example, brings Hulk’s massive hands together in a shock wave of energy that radiates damage to any nearby enemies and structures. You're not able to access these powers at will; instead, filling up the rage meter by pounding enemies to a pulp and absorbing damage is required before executing these moves. Once the gauge fills, hitting the Y and B buttons simultaneous triggers the selected power. Ground slam offers a similar sort of attack, although Hulk jumps up to hit the ground with his body in a powerful display. Each one is definitely satisfying to execute, but working through an entire game pulling off ground slams every few seconds might wear a bit thin.
Some variety comes in the ability to pick up objects in the environment and use them as weapons against enemies or structures. Heave a car up from the street, for instance, and you can chuck it at a nearby building to leave a lasting mark. All damage done in the game is persistent, so any buildings you raze will remain as such when you come back to that area from a different part of the city. While it's definitely a nice selling point, exactly how this makes the game any better is unclear.
Due to the open-world structure of the game's virtual New York City, you're technically free to go anywhere you want from the moment you boot up the game. There are, however, realistic limitations on roaming given that Hulk is being hunted by the military through the city. Certain neighborhoods are populated with more forces than others, making those areas more difficult to explore. A yellow threat meter activates depending on your behavior, as well. Take a quiet stroll in the West Village and you're not likely to get an attention, well as little attention as could be had by a green muscle man. On the flip side, if you're hurling cars and wielding light poles in a game of human baseball in Times Square expect a bit of military resistance.
