G4TV

Creating a great superhero game is not the easiest thing in the world - just as anyone who worked on a Superman title. It's the delicate balance of being all-powerful and yet vulnerable to a challenge that keeps the kids tapping away at the gamepad. Much like Superman, the Hulk has always been a hard character to peg in a game until a couple of years ago with the introduction of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. Instead of levels, you let your big mean green machine bound across an open-world city from mission to mission. Cause too much havoc, and the army will start rolling down 5th street to prove just how much punishment the Hulk can really take. Ultimate Destruction was far from a perfect game, but the title proved to be a tremendous leap forward for the franchise.

With open world cities firmly placed under our belts with games like Crackdown and GTA showing us how it's done, you would think that cut-and-pasting the previous concept into a higher end system would only prove to be beneficial. The Incredible Hulk comes with one small catch, a movie tie-in. And we all know that movie tie-ins kill superheroes quicker than kryptonite, the color yellow, or Judd Winick's writing. Is Hulk going to be a smashing success or just make fanboys angry?

And you wouldn't like to see them when they get angry...

Hulk Crash!

Oddly enough, as a game that's trying to ride the over-sized purple shorts of the movie, The Incredible Hulk barely touches on any of the story points from the movie.  Besides smashing through a Brazilian bottling plant, fighting the Abomination, and Edward Norton's voiceover work – which makes him sound half asleep – the game decides to rush off in its own direction. New York City is a happening town with a quartet of masked masterminds sending out a legion of goons, and the U-Foes, a B-Level squad of supervillains, claiming their own rights to the Big Apple. Rick Jones shows up in the mix of things with generally no explanation but plenty of missions for you to take on. Just like the movie, however, you're not here for the stilted and half-ass story. You're here for the smashing.

They should have painted him white because Hulk's moves are about as vanilla as they come. You can punch or harder punch your way through the same bad guy models the game seems to throw at you. Hulk jumps, grabs, and blocks as well. Special abilities such as Hulk healing or super clap come from holding down the A + Y buttons on the controller. While you get four of these super moves, you can only assign on at a time and it takes a bit to charge up the move. Instead of moves fluidly moving from one to the next, Hulk's action breaks down into a Susie slapfight, but that's okay. It seems that a fifth grade brawl can easily take down most opponents and vicious buildings.

A Little Like Rampage

The most impressive aspect of this title might just be the city, which is saying something when it's not the enemies, bosses, or the jolly green giant. You can dash from one end of the city to the next without hitting a loading screen. For adventurers who just want to check out the sites, there are over two hundred hidden canisters around the city that will either increase your health or your rage. All the landmarks are accounted for from the U.N. Building to Stark Tower. You can even take down Marvel Headquarters if you still have anger issues about Spiderman's "One More Day" storyline. And let's face it, who doesn't?

Besides running from end to end, there's the smashing of everything from end to end. Practically every building can be brought down with a number of blows to the foundation. It's a great idea that's horribly executed. As the building outer walls disappear beneath the ground, there’s only a little shaking that reveals the generic "building was here" environment that appears with every destroyed building. Even the tallest skyscrapers, appear to be sucked down by the Earth and replaced with whatever the developers had left behind.

Speaking of skyscrapers, the view from the top is puzzling to say the least. From the top of any tower, you can gaze across a sea of brown, underdeveloped buildings. What should be a beautiful sight is only a reminder of how object not even a block away will often pop into view. Maybe it's not the pops that bother me. It's the pops, the sudden slow downs, and the occasional crashes that really show off the problems with Hulk. Some of the walls will explode when you touch them while others remain in tact. In one mission while protection a building (no, I'm not kidding – it was a building escort mission), Hulk caused more damage while trying to get to the roof than the two or three guys with lasers blasting away at air ducts. Better yet, try taking down military helicopters with pedestrians.

I've Got A Problem

With another couple of months in the Easy Bake development oven, The Incredible Hulk could have been something more than the fifth spot of your rent list.  Open environments and destruction can only take you so far.  If every mission is going to take place around the same five blocks, try giving the different areas a bit of character instead of exploding walls. Make bosses that are fun to beat up and not just another thing you throw cars at until they stop moving. Just getting rid of the multitude of minor glitches could have easily raised the score. The Incredible Hulk is a game that doesn't follow in the footstep of its previous installment but takes the path of a quick and dirty movie tie-in.

Review by: James Youngblood