Along comes another video game that is part of the recent comic book to movie trend. This time around it is not a web swinging spider or a dark and brooding bat. No, this time it's a green goliath once known as The Incredible Hulk. Making his way on to gaming consoles everywhere one month before his big screen debut, The Hulk takes you through a semi tie-in to the movie in a smashing good although, repetitive way.
One of the first things you are going to notice about The Hulk is the Cel-Shaded graphics. Whether you are a fan of this technique or not will obviously determine whether you like the graphics. Nonetheless the graphics are top notch and makes it seem as though you are playing through the pages of a three dimensional comic book and not your average video game world. Along with the great graphics, the character animations are fantastic, especially when it comes to the bosses. The fluid and overly embellished movements give the characters more personality then any game I have seen in a long time. The backgrounds and scenery found in many levels can seem a little too bland at times but with all the action going on around you, you are not likely to notice it all that much.
Everyone knows and loves the Hulk for his well known catch phrase "HULK SMASH!" Well, in this game, Hulk does smash, and smash he does very well. Just about anything and everything in a level can be punched and broken up into pieces for the Hulk to use as a weapon. He can pick up cars, pipes and even people to throw around like toys. If you are feeling playful enough, you can even have him swing objects around like a baseball bat and cause more destruction and mayhem that brings a smile to your face. The game also has a good attention to detail, such as the cracks in the ground the Hulk leaves when he lands a jump and the battered and crumbling marks on the walls after he punches them. The Hulk himself has a few moves to use in battle when he doesn't have anything to throw around, such as punching, kicking, picking people up and squashing them into the ground, and even a few special moves such as the sonic clap and a charge punch that will knock any tough guy on his butt.
The carnage and devastation of The Hulk is some great fun for the first little while, but unfortunately it turns repetitive rather quickly with the same action but different enemies. The boss fights can be the most annoying part of the game as almost every boss will regain all his life after you have defeated him, forcing you to fight him a second time. The monotony of the Hulk levels does get broken up by the stealth missions that you need to go through as the non-hulky Bruce Banner. These levels require you to stay out of sight from patrolling guards and spotlights as well as solve a push/pull box puzzle. The control during these levels could have been better or at least included a wall hug since the camera angles sometimes go goofy on you.
Apart from the growls and groans that the Hulk mutters throughout the game the sounds are what you would expect. There really isn't much in the way of them being more than average except when you play through the game as the unlockable Gray Hulk, also known as Mr. Fixit in the comics. The wise cracks that he spews out while cracking skulls are enough to get you to play further through the game just to see what else he'll say.
There are many things in this game that are impressive and after having a bad experience with the bugs in Enter The Matrix, I was glad to see this game well put together and error free. Even times when you have up to 8-10 enemies on screen at once the game stays as smooth and flowing with no slow downs whatsoever. The Hulk is quite a fun game to sit down and play. Although it isn't the lengthiest game by any means, it does have some replay value with a lot of unlockable features such as the previously mentioned Gray Hulk and a third, still unknown game play mode that can be unlocked using a code from the movie when it hits theatres later this month. All in all, the Hulk is definitely a great game to spend some time smashing and bashing. But as for the long run, perhaps this is why The Hulk isn't known as "Incredible" anymore.
