The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction
- August 29, 2005 11:22 AM PST
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Does The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction do the big man justice, or is it just another license gone wrong?
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It isn't easy being a comic book hero. First you must contend with whatever mutation the universe inflicted upon you, then you have to worry when some publisher is going to pump out bargain bin fodder featuring your visage. It's enough to make you hang up your ripped denim shorts.
Suddenly It's Easy Being Green
Sometimes they get it right, though, or close enough. The essentials are emphasized here: almost exclusively, the 30+ story missions each involve destroying, retrieving, or protecting. Not terribly inventive, granted, but they move the plot forward, and they set up the playground: beat the tar out of your enemies, and break as much stuff as possible in the process.
There are 40+ side missions if you want something more unique, like running vehicles up the side of a skyscraper, or saving civilians from a burning building, but the same controls that allow hulk to feel bulky yet responsive in the main storyline make him feel sluggish and unwieldy in many of these side quests. Though a high score is recorded for each, one time through is enough.
Hulk Smash Pretty Much Everything
Ultimate Destruction is accurate: everything is breakable, or a potential weapon. 150 moves can be purchased, some of which allow you to "weaponize" objects. Grab a car, break it in half, and sheath your fists in metal, or pound a city bus into a shield. Grind a fast food joint's giant ornamental hamburger into an enormous bowling ball, or wrestle a ball-and-chain out of a ladder truck's twisted carcass. Even your enemies can be used as projectiles. The multitudinous possibilities mean that no scenario in Hulk ever plays the same way twice.
Graphically and aurally, Hulk is solid, though shy of spectacular. The titular behemoth is rendered and animated beautifully, with loving attention to detail, but the areas through which he bounds can feel a little non-descript, even when peppered with debris and explosions. There are only two free-roaming environments--the city, and the desert badlands--and neither quite reaches critical mass with its detail, so the satisfaction of reducing each to rubble is dampened a bit.
Hulk's dialogue and voice acting are surprisingly lively, especially when so many game characters seem voiced by the same people that programmed them. On the other hand, while the music is sufficiently rousing, and the ambient sound effects convincing enough, one can't help but wonder why the Hulk himself isn't more vocally expressive. There's a grunt here and there, sure, but there's no sense of exertion when he hammer-throws a tank half a mile down the street, nor nary a "hulk smash!" to be heard. As fun as it is, it's this unfortunate lack of spirit that keeps Hulk from true greatness.
Collateral Damage
Hulk isn't quite the stellar action vehicle it could've been, but it's got more than enough solid fun to justify a purchase. If cathartic obliteration is up your alley, you'll find plenty to enjoy in Ultimate Destruction.
