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It seems that every movie that gets released nowadays has a game counterpart, with Hollywood going crazy for comic book heroes at the moment, it seemed even more likely that with the announcement of The Hulk movie, there would be a game to boot.
The game picks up where the movie left off (kind of) in which you play Bruce banner and his mean, green alter-ego The Hulk. Like other games based on a movie you also get the enriching task of unlocking bonus material that you didn’t see at the cinema, such as pictures, bio’s and movies. Like previous tie-in games before it (matrix, Xmen2 etc.) Hulk already suffers from one flaw, its pigeon holed, and honestly rightly so, both the matrix and xmen2 games offered differencing features but still were rushed and flawed just so they could tie in with the release of the movie, given that it’s a common practice in the ever entwined world of Hollywood and videogames, does hulk suffer the same fate?
This game was always going to be of the hack-n-slash kind, or smash-n-smash if you like, but I at least thought that there would be some sort of differing game play or something that no other game offers. Given the nature of the game and what it could offer there is a number of possibilities that the developers could have implemented to take the game to the next level. I can’t help but feel if the movie was never made, that the game would differ tremendously.
The main aim in Hulk is smash anything that moves. One good feature that actually works for the game is its ability to destroy your surroundings, kind of like the GeoMOD in Red faction only you cant really destroy everything but pretty much any obstacle be it electricity pole, roof stabilizers, cars you get the idea, all can be smashed grabbed and used as the green guys plaything, for me this was the only real high point of the game but like most of the game it does tend to get a little boring,
The levels are pretty much standard for each chapter in the game, room onto room onto room where in which you have to smash and destroy everything. Characters never really differ, throughout the whole game there may be around 8 different foes, maximum. There are end-of-level bosses which for some strange and often miraculous reason seem to appear in every other chapter because you didn’t quite give them a good enough beating last time. Visually hulk is pleasing if somewhat remote, background animations and obstacles are rendered well, the game kind of feels like cheap cel shading but not in a bad way - it actually works for the game since it is based on a comic book after all.
As I mentioned above in some levels you can actually play as Bruce Banner, while I say some I really mean like 2 or 3, in which they only last a couple of minutes. When you take control of banner you find that he is pretty much useless, you often find yourself creeping around in order to sneak past a few guards that strangely enough look like the exact same ones from a few levels ago, go figure.
Like many games before it, hulk suffers from the ever-so annoying 'camera angle’ flaw, you know the one where you can’t see a bloody thing because the camera for some reason wants to view things from your ankle. It might not be as bad as that but you get the idea, you have all been there and the hulk is no exception, some levels it’s really hard to see who or what is surrounding you as the camera just won’t pan out, it’s not quite as bad as say Xmen2: Wolverines revenge but its damn near close.
Musically Hulk really just does not impact or even dent, just like the actual game itself the musical aspect is repetitive and dull, it may please you for a few moments but don’t worry, that is sure to pass.
It may seem that I have written off the hulk before I gave it a chance, judging by what’s been said above I would agree but I honestly had high hopes for the game, mainly because its not so much an original idea but its one that given the right implementation and thought could prove to be a really good and fun game. However in reality, I should of known from the outset that really any game based on a movie has 'bad’ written all over it. I don’t think Hulk could have been rushed any more if they had a week to do it. The only real shame is that people will actually buy it thinking that like the film, it may be good.
Lacking the real qualifications a game needs to succeed, Hulk suffers from poor game play and really does not excel past the first few levels and even then you are still left wanting. Nevertheless, look out for the movie in theatres soon. It might actually be good, because the game really isn’t.
