Since the 8 bit revolution began over 20 years ago, there has been a marriage between movies, video games, and comics. Movies and video games have taken comics into their realms for over two decades and only a handful of times have they gotten it right. An even rarer occurrence has been a movie based on a comic being turned into a video game successfully. This is one of those rare happy occurrences that make geeks like me smile.
For years they had been attempting to achieve that ménage trios, like the dreams of the horny 19 year old college frat boy. Then came the game based off the first Spider-Man movie and geeks everywhere experienced their geek-gasms in unison. Something had been accomplished that we had always thought was a mere fantasy. A game based on a movie based on a comic and they all kicked butt. Then Spider-Man 2 came out and they did it AGAIN and they did it BETTER because of their experience. And like most men who can achieve the fantasy, once and you are lucky, but if you can achieve it twice then you are the stuff of legends. Three times is simply impossible unless you are Hugh Hefner.
Time passed. As expected in our collective geek sub-conscious, every game based on a comic book movie since has sucked. Iron Man was far too short and too simple. Spider-Man 3 regressed to something that might have fit on the N64 or 32X. Most other comic book movies never even made it past that phase because they sucked to begin with. We kept buying the games and seeing the movies, hoping something would change, knowing it was a fantasy that most of us would never even come close to seeing. Looks like someone just got their invite to the Playboy Mansion of geek-dom.
The Incredible Hulk video game is a throw back to Spider-Man 2 the video game. New York City is expansive and open-ended. You have a choice of which order you complete your missions and there is a slew of mini-games and side quests to collect points towards upgrades. The controls are a little unresponsive at times and the camera not always being centered behind Hulk becomes a bit troublesome at points, but aside from that this is a solid comic book movie video game. The most exciting part for me was much like in Spider-Man 2, when you leap from the Empire State Building and the buildings start whizzing by you as the concrete comes closer and closer and you actually feel it a little in your gut. It made you feel as if you were in the game and that is the purpose of movies and video games and comics. To immerse yourself in another world and when they successfully allow you to do that, in my mind, the product will be praised as a rousing success.
The plot follows the movie to drive it, but the addition of other Hulk villains such as the U-Foes and the Bi-Beast and allies like Rick Jones gives you enough of a comic book experience to leave even the hardest of Hulk fans happy. All characters that appear in the movie are happily voiced by their real life counterparts, but unfortunately the voice acting came across a little forced and the cut-scenes were not as crisp as they could have been. There was an overall lack of music from the movie, which saddened me greatly that the TV Theme was not used like it was in the movie. I do not know if Sega could not get the rights, but the lack of a musical score did hurt the overall experience. Overall, though, with unlockables out the yin yang, solid action, a great physics system, and a great representation of the Hulk’s strength and invunerabilty with classic rage attacks like the ground pound and thunderclap, I would call this game a must pick up for comic book fans much like the movie was a must see.Rankings are based on a score of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.
Graphics: 7.5: Not spectacular graphics, but that is what you get when you deal with Sega. They are so used to dealing with cartoons that they forget what it is like to try and render actual people and objects. A lack of explosions from cars, so-so smash marks on buildings, and people that just don’t look right and you can understand this score. The point that Sega shines of course is with the Hulk, U-Foes, Bi-Beast, and other unrealistic things because, again, they are used to dealing more with cartoons.
Audio: 7.0: A lack of music in the overall background and poor voice acting brings this score down. Liv Tyler and Edward Norton didn’t know how to handle themselves in front of a microphone? Come on! The least they could have done was throw me the TV Theme like in the movie. The SFX were really solid though. Very accurate and believable and that is what saves this score.
Plot/Plot Development: 10.0: They nailed this. They gave us everything we wanted. They threw us right into the Hulk’s shoes and followed an awesome movie script. Then they added in the obligatory extra villains and allies to flesh the game out and did a spectacular job of it. The missions all made sense and the story made sense. I give Sega kudos on this one.
Gameplay: 9.0: For the most part, the game did what I wanted it to do. The only problems really came about with the camera, which they should have maintained directly behind the Hulk at all times. Trying to work the camera in the middle of a brawl was a nuisance that I battled my way through just like the Bi-Beast or the Abomination. Otherwise, this was great. The physics engine was superb and like I mentioned before, when I feel like I am falling from the top of the Empire State Building, I am a happy camper.
Replay Value: 7.5: If you are a comic book geek then there is plenty for you to do after beating the Abomination. Trying to raise your score to obtain all the upgrades, finding comic books, collecting landmark tokens, jump challenges, mini-games, and of course maxing out your health and rage bars. If you are a more casual gamer, you are probably just happy with beating the game and letting it sit on your shelves. That is why this game does not get a perfect score, because it does not appeal to everyone. It only appeals to hardcore gamers and that is okay, but not good enough.
Overall: (not an average) 8.5: This was a great game and I loved playing it. Lack of the movie soundtrack and poor voice acting takes away from the experience. I cannot remember a game where I did not want to see the cutscene. Usually in games, that is your reward for doing a good job. With this, I just wanted to keep smashing stuff and that is where this game truly shines. The physics engine is superb and the thought of tearing NYC apart as the Hulk on a rampage brings a smile to my face just typing it here. The game lacks the necessary polish to make it an overall superb gaming experience though. Possibly Sega was rushed due to wanting to release the game with the movie. No excuses though. Next time maybe they should stick to their blue hedgehogs if they are not willing to put the necessary final touches on a game that was so wonderful otherwise. So close Sega, yet still so far.
-Ray Carsillo
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