The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction

""...you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.""

The Hulk hasn't had the best of luck when it came to video games for the past...21 years. With each title, developers tried to realize the Hulk's talents. It's amazing almost no one was able to truly able to release The Hulk's full strength. He's is a wrecking ball...how hard is that to get? Well, the folks at Radical Entertainment FINALLY released something that did one of the most legendary comic book characters justice. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is just like what the title says..."Ultimate Destruction." No more is the Hulk confined to boring levels, trapped and forced through ridiculously repetitive stages. Now the Hulk is free, running wherever and doing whatever he pleases. The world is his playground, and everything in his way is nothing more than a toy.

Graphics [9/10]
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First thing's first, the game looks simply fantastic. The environment is well detailed, along with the characters. The levels themselves are simply huge. For instance, the first level you are put into is a city. As soon as you start the game, you see that the city is very big, even for something as massive as the Hulk (for a beast that stands at 13 feet tall and can jump right over buildings without much effort, that's pretty big). Not only that, but the areas are riddled with NPCs: simple civilians roaming the streets, police patrolling, and plenty of traffic.

I bet your wondering how much destruction is there, in terms of "ultimate destruction". Well, almost everything you see can be taken down and it's rubbles can be used as weapons. Your environment is highly interactive. For example, you can pick up a car, tear it in two, then use the two halves as steel gloves increasing the damage you can dish out. Or, you can flatten a truck and use it as a shield. Then there's poles than can be used as clubs or as javelins. There are many items out there that are just begging to be used to bash your enemies' heads in. Also, just by moving around, the Hulk can cause damage. By jumping and landing, the Hulk causes damage to the ground he walks on, leaving indentations everywhere. Even better, every time you do a charged jump, when you land, there is a good chance you knock away items with your immediate vicinity. When your carrying items or weapons, you can damage buildings just by dragging the item against the wall, or when you grab onto the walls and run up them. It's subtle, but it just goes to show how fragile everything is when the Hulk's around.

Controls [8/10]
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The basic control map is pretty easy to manage. Attacks are based on two buttons: the square button (weak attack) and triangle button (strong attack). When you hold down these buttons, you charge up for an attack, increasing the damage you do. As you progress throughout the game, more moves are available to you, requiring button combinations to dish out some spectacular moves that cause incredible amount of damage.

My gripes against the game's controls deal with its camera. At times, it can be cumbersome to deal with when your trying to get a good view on everything around you (especially when you're trying to bunny-hop and navigate at the same time). But overall, it's not too much of an issue.

Sound [9/10]
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The voice acting within the game is commendable, and the background music is fairly well done as well. It's within the similar vein to its fellow comic book based video games (ex. Spider-Man 2). However, it is funny to hear NPCs suddenly scream as they see the Hulk, especially when he grabs them and throws them. You'll hear the chatter of the police and military as they plan on how their going to fight you ("call for backup", "destroy the item in his hand", etc). All in all, a job well done.

Gameplay [ 9/10]
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The game revolves around Dr. Bruce Banner and his ongoing struggle against his wild alter-ego, The Hulk. Banner was researching a cure to subdue the Hulk in seclusion when the US government (under General Ross and Emil Blonsky) came crashing in. His research was taken and now, he seeks the aid of his long time friend Dr. Samson to help him continue his research to stop the Hulk before it can take Banner over. At the same time, Banner must utilize the Hulk to do so by using hypnotic suggestion to "convince" the Hulk to do what Banner asks. However, Banner is being hunted by the US Army and other unexpected foes. Can Banner find a cure before he loses his mind and the Hulk takes full control? That's what you're hear to decide.

The core of Ultimate Destruction is being able to free-roam. The world around the Hulk is just a massive playground. Don't want to do a mission? You don't have to. You can just run around and smash everything. You even get points for doing so. These points (called "smash points") can be used in the game's store to buy new moves. So in essence, the game encourages you to break everything you see with reckless abandon.

In terms of missions, Hulk is "suggested" to doing things like fetching specific items (to build Banner's machine), breaking something, defending something, or fighting someone. Not very original, but very fun considering you have the Hulk's brute strength at your disposal. You'd think just smashing things would get very repetitive after a while, but it's actually a blast. You can get creative in your destruction. Take helicopters down by throwing a pole at them, or jump onto them and smash them to the ground (or ride them for a while before breaking it). When fighting groups of opponents, use the opponents as a weapon. Pick up a soldier and hurl him at another one, or grab an oil tank and clear the way. Even when running, the Hulk can be a battering ram (when running, the only thing that can stop you is a straight missile blast or a building, but then you can run UP that building, too).

The boss battles do lean on "epic", as the back of the box says, since most of the bosses are much bigger than the Hulk. In such case, battles will require a bit more creativity than charging in head on. This is where expanding your move list comes in handy. If you don't feel like doing a mission, there are plenty of mini-challenges scattered throughout the levels. Challenges range from racing from point to point, smashing things within a certain time limit, hitting humans like baseballs to see which go the farthest, etc.

Overall [9/10]
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In the end, Radical Entertainment has finally given gamers the chance to unleash the Hulk in all his raging glory. If you don't mind mindless destruction (accompanied with a good Hulk story), then Ultimate Destruction will appease the rage within you.

Score
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Graphics: 9/10
Control: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replay: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
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Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/29/05