Hulk

• Release Date: May 27, 2003
• Genre: Action
• Style: Third-Person 3D Action
• Similar Games: Spider-Man (PlayStation 2), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (PlayStation 2)

Game Description

Marvel's muscle-bound monstrosity stars in his first console game since 1997, this time based on locales and characters from Ang Lee's 2003 feature film rather than the comic book series. Playing the role of Bruce Banner and his infuriated inner identity, players must fight a number of mutant enemies, avoid military pursuers, and smash through a variety of interactive objects while navigating the 3D world. Making cameos are Bruce Banner's father and girlfriend, played respectively by Nick Nolte and Jennifer Connelly in the summer movie.

Taking place after the events chronicled in the feature film, players will be able to control both Bruce Banner and the Hulk while advancing through fully destructible environments. The Hulk can use whatever he rips out of the world as a weapon as well as unleash 45 distinct attacks that take advantage of his superior rage-powered strength. The original story finds Bruce Banner duped by mentor Professor Crawford into releasing the essence of the Hulk into an orb. It seems the villain known as the Leader plans on replicating the power to create an army of gamma creatures in his ongoing bid for world conquest.

To stop the Leader and his diabolical plan, players will venture through San Francisco, battle on Alcatraz, and eventually confront the Leader in his Arctic city named Freehold. As Bruce Banner, players must use stealth and puzzle-solving skills to complete mission objectives while carefully keeping his anger in check. As the Hulk, players can bash up to ten foes at once en route to five boss encounters, some of which are taken from the superhero's comic book past. Each of the game's 25 levels features such details as cars crumpling, glass shattering, and pipes rolling along the ground amidst the mayhem.

Review: Overall

While superhero video games have been around since 1979, rarely have they been as popular as they are at the time of Hulk's release, a trend certainly helped by the film industry's renewed focus on comic book characters. Marvel Comics' The Hulk has been uncharacteristically quiet on the video game front, with two starring roles on 16- and 32-bit platforms that were anything but incredible. For his first foray in 3D, the green giant stars in a fun romp that effectively captures the awesome feeling of destruction so important in a Hulk title. Unfortunately, the overall game design unfairly reigns in the character's magnificent display of power more often than not, and throws in some pace-killing stealth stages ostensibly as a means to work in alter ego Bruce Banner. Hulk, therefore, isn't the smashing success it could have been, but the foundation is in place to build a potentially lucrative franchise.

Hulk's biggest asset is not necessarily the muscle-bound character, but rather the physics model. Every action players perform influences the environment to some degree, whether it's simply jumping into the air (causing the ground beneath Hulk's feet to realistically buckle under the impact) or punching a wall (initially creating cracks and indentations before dust and debris burst forth from the pressure). Players can perform a variety of exciting moves, such as making Hulk leap high into the air, holding a button that freezes him in place, then releasing the button in midair to make Hulk act like a powerful homing missile. Players can also use objects in the environment, such as bashing a support column until it crashes to the ground, then picking it up to use like a baseball bat on those foolish enough to get close. Hulk can use just about anything he can reach with his big mitts, even enemies.

Though the moves are as effortless to perform in Hulk as in any top-ranked beat-'em-up, and the physics never cease to amaze, the game never quite reaches "must-have" status despite some strong features. For one, the camera often presents the level from a fixed viewpoint, which means the game almost feels like a Resident Evil title at times, with awkward angles, overhead views, and even sequences where you are running toward the camera. Another strange aspect is that players aren't always forced to fight enemies in many of the stages, with no penalty for simply running past enemies toward the exit, whether it's jumping off a rooftop, or bashing a wall leading to the next area. As a result, many of the levels seem short and repetitive, with few variations in enemy type or objectives. Players will confront soldiers and large mutant dogs, but that's about it, with the environments the only telltale sign they're on a different stage -- at least when they are actually controlling the Hulk.

The game's other key problem is offering Bruce Banner stages where players avoid spotlights, sleeping mutant dogs, and patrolling soldiers while sneaking around installations, prison compounds, and more. This isn't Splinter Cell, so the moves aren't much more than running, climbing, or crouching -- Banner can't even jump -- though there's a neat interactive puzzle game used to open doors similar to the lock picking sequences in Dead to Rights. The developers, however, missed a great opportunity to make things more interesting by their decision to automatically end the level once Banner becomes enraged. Instead of separating the two identities into different levels, with one offering fun, smash-'em-up action and the other slow, methodical play, the developers should have found a way to integrate both Banner and the Hulk into more expansive environments. Players should begin each mission or level as Bruce Banner, taking advantage of his smaller size to move through crawlspaces or his ability to talk with people, solve complex puzzles, and so forth, while trying to keep his anger in check. Turning into the Hulk should never end the game or mission, but rather require new strategies to succeed given Hulk's massive size and high profile. Each level could thus be completed in either form, with some routes or areas only accessible by a particular identity.

The good news is Hulk for PlayStation 2 is the best rendition of the green superhero to date. The bad news is there hasn't exactly been strong competition, so it almost wins by default. Seriously, there is a lot to like in this game. The clean graphics, the voice acting by actor Eric Bana, the intuitive control, and the stellar physics engine are highlights, but the camera, linear level design, and repetitive enemy types help bring the game down. There is hope, though. Arguably the most difficult aspects of the game, creating a believable physics engine and offering a wide variety of responsive moves, are already in place. Hopefully future installments will integrate the Hulk and Bruce Banner characters, but more importantly, allow players to freely roam through massive, interconnected environments instead of moving from point A to point B. When the dust has settled, Hulk will certainly satisfy die-hard fans of the mighty Marvel character, but most will find that the longer Hulk is played, the more it loses its impact.

Review: Enjoyment

Controlling the Hulk is quite fun, and the sheer destructive power of the superhero has been perfectly captured by the development team. Yet the level design is disappointingly linear, and the Bruce Banner stages disrupt the action with boring stealth missions.

Review: Graphics

Each character has a clean visual style with simple textures and a dramatic use of light and shadow for a comic book feel. The environments come to life with dust, debris, explosions, and more. The camera angles can be a problem, however.

Review: Sound

Excellent voice acting, crisp sound effects, and atmospheric music.

Review: Replay Value

While there isn't a two-player option, players can compete in five different challenge modes apart from the main game and save their high scores to memory card.

Review: Documentation

The manual offers color screen shots, a full list of moves, and a brief overview of combat.

Production Credits

Hulk	hulk hogan
hulk	hulk comics