fantasy

The marketing blitz for the Hulk Move has been phenomonal. Cereals, magazines, toys, and of course computer games. The Hulk actually is fairly good, with a balance between Hulk smashing and Bruce Banner puzzle solving.

You know the story. Smart scientist. Strange mutation. Turns into fury-filled Hulk monster. So the game goes back and forth between Bruce using his mind, and Hulk using his fists.

Both could have been really great, and there were hints of potential there. A neat number-swapping code breaking puzzle seems fascinating at first, but when you realize that it's just a matter of sliding numbers from right to left, the challenge vanishes rather quickly. The stealth usually involves crouching and standing behind boxes - a far cry from Splinter Cell.

On the hulk side, the destructable environment is neat and brings to mind the Matrix and Red Faction games. But the Hulk's attacks get boring VERY quickly. Every soldier takes a punch-punch-punch and goes down. Don't you think one punch would flatten them? His remaining attacks aren't much better. So you wade through a pile of people. Punch punch punch. Pick up a box, smash. Punch Punch Punch.

There are moments that are sort of cool. You see a pipe - grab it - now water sprays out and you use the pipe to baseball-bat your enemies. But those moments are few and far between as you plod from room to room just bashing your way through. At least in other mindless-bashing games like Diablo you had a wide variety of weapons and armor and other skills that were constantly increasing. With the Hulk, there's just him and his green fists.

Good for a weekend rental, or for casual gameplay. But even in the "mindless bashing" category I can think of many other games I'd rather pick up for a few hours to release aggression.

Movie tie in games have a bad history. Typically they are lousy games that try and change parts of the movie into settings that can fit in with game and don't really add anything new to the universe or gaming. Thankfully, The Hulk is different. Set 1 year after the movie, Bruce Banner continues to look for a cure to his gamma mutation. An old mentor contacts him with a possible solution and invites him to his lab. It's here that the game starts, with the player in the role of Bruce who must sneak around corners and hack computers. However, Bruce has been tricked- the following cut scene reveals that his 'friend' only wished to harness the powers of the Hulk for himself. This results in him becoming a light-green coloured hulk who then flees. Banner Hulks out- the chase is on and the fun begins. As the Hulk, you smash through levels with your super strength, pummeling anything in your way. Oddly, army soldiers can take 3-straight Hulk punches before going down. Just about anything can be picked up and used as weapons, from cars to soldiers. The Hulk has a basic range of attacks such as punching, ground-shaking leaps and a Gamma clap.

The Hulk is what all movie tie-ins should be- fun and interesting. Buy a copy now, it's a great stress buster.

Good: Solid Graphics, nice gameplay, great cheat codes, more gamma characters.
Bad: Sometimes the Hulk appears seethrough or transparent,no backround music playing, Lacks realism from movie and not consistant with movie.
This game has many positives. Although it has many negatives as well. This game appealed to me because of the Hulk smashing things and kicking some a**. The new gamma creatures are strong and difficult to kill which makes you strive for a better game. The gamma created dogs, three in the movie, are numerous and attack in groups of 3. This was a real letdown considering there were only a total of 3 dogs in the movie.
Playing gets tiresome towards the end a little bit of music could have done this game wonders. After the game is done you just put it down and forget about it. There is not much extra to do than repeat the levels.
All in all if you dont think you will get tired of the smashing and smashing and killing and smashing then get this game, or if you are a Hulk fanatic.
-Out