Hulk

"Teh Hulk is teh boring"

Several times during The Hulk’s behind-the-scenes featurette, the production team hails its game as the ultimate Hulk experience. If this were true, the finished product would be a lot more entertaining and not so repetitive. As it is, The Hulk is yet another so-so superhero beat-em-up game that fails to capture the essence if its hero.
GAMEPLAY
Stages alternate between Hulk and his alter ego, Bruce Banner. As the Hulk, you smash your way through endless solders and mutant dogs, trying to shake the army. It seems the military is interested in harnessing Banner’s gamma-infused disease to create a group of super soldiers. Banner, trying to deal with his inner demons and scientific thought processes, can’t let this happen. He considers Hulk his problem, and wants to be rid of it on his own terms.
As Banner, you must sneak through guarded bases and infiltrate deep into enemy territory. If you’re seen, you will be attacked. This will trigger the Hulk, and you fail the mission; you’re trying to sneak in, not demolish the place. These stealth levels seem fun at first, but quickly become tedious and boring. While Metal Gear makes unique use of the environment, as well as somewhat intelligent enemies, eavesdropping as Banner consists of pushing a few crates and flipping a couple of switches. The Hulk levels are much more satisfying, but aren’t without their problems.
If this were actually the ultimate Hulk experience, then a room full of gun toting prison guards wouldn’t take him down. Simply throwing more and more enemies at the player isn’t the best way to increase the challenge. The Hulk should be able to annihilate everything in his visual range and not even have a scratch to show for it. Cheap shots from mutated soldiers in the later levels only serve to aggravate. When all you want to do is pound the crap out of everything, they’re gunning you down from across the room.
GRAPHICS
For some reason The Hulk employs a strange cel-shaded style. The graphics look somewhat cartoony, but not as much as, say, Jet Grind Radio. It just seems an odd way to present the game. Why not follow the style used in the film? The graphics still look pretty good, though. Some decent lighting effects and a very nice physics engine make the carnage onscreen come to life, and provide an extremely satisfying sensation of destruction while rampaging as the Hulk. Also impressive is the framerate, which usually stays fluid, even with many enemies on the screen.
SOUND
From the clangs of broken pipes to the thunderous blast of Hulk breaking a soldier over his knee, the sound effects are excellent. When your rage meter fills up and Hulk strikes the ground, everything in his vicinity is blown across the room, accompanied by a deafening discharge of energy. It’s too bad the music isn’t on par, as most of the tunes sound like 16-bit Genesis music. Eric Bana, who plays Banner in the movie, provides his voice for the game, and must have one of the deepest, bass-rich voices in the world.
EXTRAS
Every version of The Hulk has movie trailers and a behind-the-scenes short film. There are also many codes you can put in to enhance gameplay, like infinite health or double damage. Beyond this, there aren’t many reasons to go through the game again, especially after spending the last few stages running through corridors.
FINAL COMMENTS
What begins as a brainless but fun adventure eventually turns into…well, a brainless, button-mashing mess. Most of the Hulk’s powers aren’t used to their fullest, such as his ability to cover miles in one leap. Every time Hulk does this, it’s in a cut scene. Imagine if in the Spider-Man game you had to watch him swing from building to building, rather than actually play it. How fun would that have been? The boss battles all end the same, too. You beat him, only to see him suddenly rise with a new health bar and goons to back him up. Why? And why every time? Surely there are more interesting trials for the Hulk to attempt. Perhaps in the sequel, which will undoubtedly be made, these gameplay issues will be met, and the ultimate Hulk experience will come to fruition.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/28/04