- Title: The Incredible Hulk
- Platform: Xbox 360
- Publisher: SEGA
- Developer: Edge of Reality
- ESRB Rating: “T” for Teen
- Genre: Open world action
- Pros: Lots and lots of destruction
- Cons: Bugs and glitches; VERY LOUD SOUND EFFECTS; enemies are pushovers; repetitive missions
The Incredible Hulk game was developed to be released alongside the new movie, but it seems that very little of the story from the movie actually made it into the game. Instead, the game features enemies and storylines taken from the comic books with things from the movie occasionally shoehorned in.
The story isn’t supposed to be the attraction here, however, as you have a virtual New York City to play around in. Literally everything you can see is destructible, from light poles and hot dog carts right on up to the Empire State Building. There are also a ton of collectibles for you to find throughout the city and, similarly to Crackdown, they make distinct sounds so you know when you are close which is a nice touch. There are also fifty landmark buildings that have tokens hidden inside and the only way to get them is to knock the building down. There is a lot to do with the Hulk in this game.
The way you earn new abilities is also interesting as rather than just being awarded points that you can spend on abilities, you earn them as you play. Jump a certain distance to boost that stat. Throw X number of cars to boost a stat. Beat X number of enemies to boost a stat. Etc. It is an upgrade system that makes sense and flows with the game very well.
Gameplay
Unfortunately, there are a few issues here. First off, the Hulk seemingly has a force field around him and anything within a certain range gets destroyed pretty much automatically. This is a problem because it builds up your threat level, which causes the military to show up even though you are simply trying to get from point A to point B and not really trying to destroy anything. A second issue comes from the fact that the enemies can’t really do any damage to you. Hulkbuster robots jab at you, soldiers shoot at you, and eventually more powerful weapons are brought out that can knock you down, but all they really do is annoy you. And if you do absorb enough damage to where Hulk’s health is low, you can just use a heal ability and be on your way. The third problem comes from the fact that the missions are generally pretty darn boring and repetitive. They consist mainly of protection missions, fetch quests, and destroy all enemies-type missions. They are generally easy and just not really all that fun.
And that is ultimately The Incredible Hulk’s biggest problem. It is sort of cool to start with, but it becomes quite repetitive after a while and just isn’t all that enjoyable. And running around and just destroying stuff gets old pretty fast as well.
Glitches and bugs are a pretty serious problem with this game as well. The game freezes fairly often and there are occasionally mission breaking bugs where the game doesn’t recognize that all enemies have been destroyed. I also had a couple of instances where an enemy I threw at a building actually passed through the wall and couldn’t get out. And who can forget the absolutely hilarious animation loop when the Hulk falls into the water, jumps out, stops in midair, goes backwards into the water, and then jumps out again.
Graphics
Graphically, The Incredible Hulk is an okay looking game. The Hulk looks nice, and the new style used in the movie and game is a lot more realistic looking than the bright green cartoon he used to be. The city is densely populated and there is a ton of people and cars and stuff all over the place, but nothing is all that detailed. And it is nice that you can destroy everything, but the buildings all crumble into identical looking piles of rubble, so it isn’t all that impressive. Also, the draw distance is laughably close compared to some other next-gen open world games.
Sound
The sound is merely average. Actors from the movie lent their voices to the game, but sound pretty disinterested. The only real noteworthy thing about the sound is that the sound effects are extremely loud. Like 2-3x louder than the rest of the sound. Be sure to adjust it in the options menu.
Bottom Line
