The Incredible Hulk (Xbox 360) Review

Posted by Rod Oracheski on 06.17.2008

The gamma-powered monster is destroying the box office, but does the 'movie-inspired' game have the muscle to back its big-screen brother?

While the feature film side of the Hulk franchise needed a reboot following Ang Lee's angst-filled Hulk movie, that's not the case on the video game side of things. The Jade Giant's last game was The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, released in 2005 on the last-gen systems. That game, developed by Radical Entertainment, featured large play areas, hordes of enemies, and a slew of attack options - bucking the trend of licensed games being terrible.

So what do we get this time around, when the game is doubly cursed by being a licensed property and one based (albeit loosely) on a movie?

Gameplay:

Well, instead of large play areas we get one huge play area - a recreation of the Marvel Universe version of New York City that includes comic landmarks like the Baxter Building and the Latverian Embassy alongside real-world notables like the United Nations building. The hordes of enemies make a return as well, with two major groups pestering the Hulk at the drop of a hat...or building, as it turns out.

Causing damage within the city will raise the Hulk's Threat Level. Smashing buildings until they crumble and fall, throwing cars at pedestrians, even throwing pedestrians at cars - it all bumps that Threat Level up. Once you hit Level 1 Threat, you'll trigger enemy response. The military will, as usual, try to make Hulk's life miserable - and that's true to both the comics and the movie.

There's also a secondary group of enemies: the Enclave. This group (responsible, in a little bit of a nerd side-note, for creating Adam Warlock) is separated into four subgroups - one for each of the founding scientists. Each group in the game has a unique focus for their research, and create their own weapons for taking on the Hulk - spending more on research as the Hulk continues to trash their best efforts using his own ever-expanding arsenal of moves.

That's the final piece of this 'spiritual successor' that developers Edge of Reality nailed - letting players unlock new attacks and combos through the Feat system. Remarkably similar to the Achievement system, right down to the Feat Accomplished banner that pops up at the bottom of the screen when you unlock one, this system rewards you for doing specific in-game tasks like throwing cars into buildings, jumping [x] miles, defeating enemies, and an assortment of other activities.

Each Feat has a progress bar showing how close you are to accomplishing it, which is a welcome touch. Some Feats require multiple tasks to be done in order to unlock them, with some tasks contributing to multiple Feats, so frequently checking the list of things to be accomplished is a good strategy for those who want to unlock everything quickly.

One thing this game lost from Ultimate Destruction is the comedy bits - squashing down a bus into a skateboard to ride, or taking a hamburger off a fast food sign and turning it into a bowling ball, then rolling it into traffic. It's not all lost, however, as the Hulk will, as in the movie, turn cars into a high-damage version of brass knuckles. For some, these omissions won't be a big deal. Personally, I never really liked the idea of the rampaging Hulk riding a bus as a skateboard, though hamburger bowling is a loss.

At the basic level, the game works very well. For motion, you have a jump button (and you can charge up super jumps, chaining them together to travel through the city quickly) and the sprint function as an unlockable.

On the combat end of things, Hulk has both a Light and Heavy attack - with both offering charged versions. There are also a slew of combos available, and if you're good with the timing you can charge up each punch in some of the combos - doing massive damage. The Right Trigger offers up a block function, though it's something I rarely remembered to use.

Hulk also gets four separate Super Moves - healing, ground slam, thunderclap, and rampage. To use these, once unlocked, cause enough destruction to fill the Rage cells required for the ability, then hold Y+B. With the exception of healing, which is self-explanatory, each ability allows the Hulk to cause incredible destruction. Ground slam and thunderclap are one-time damage moves, causing a massive amount of damage to everything around you (ground slam) or to anything roughly in front of the Hulk (thunderclap), while rampage allows the Hulk to do triple damage while the effect lasts.

Unfortunately, outside of boss battles, you don't really need to use Super Moves very often. The base-level enemies are fairly weak - something that Ultimate Destruction also suffered from - at least until the Enclave have powered up their weapons through research. Once you're facing full-powered Enclave it seems more cheap than dangerous, with a slew of knockback effects from projectiles and personal shields that can leave the Hulk juggled into the air - unable to defend himself.

Graphics

Visually, The Incredible Hulk is a mostly satisfying affair - with decent texture work and a good view distance, especially from the tops of New York's tallest buildings. The Hulk model looks very good, with a slew of alternate skins that are also well done - though the Savage Hulk model is a personal favourite.

The destruction is implemented well, with buildings showing a variety of damage (though oddly in roughly 10 foot by 10 foot sections at a time) before finally starting to crumble and fall with a huge cloud of dust at the foot of the building and large chunks raining down from above. I was surprised to see the level of collision detection on those chunks of building includes having them bounce off the Hulk and even off a vehicle he's holding.

Vehicles show a few damage levels as well, with tires and doors flying off before it switches to the generic 'burnt car' look. The explosion you get when you throw a tanker truck was very nice, and quite unexpected.

The nicest thing about the graphics is the detail work found here that's often overlooked in similar games. There are the common street details like newsboxes, fire hydrants, and hot dog stands, but it was the fire escapes on the side of buildings that really appealed to me. Bounding through the streets and hopping down an alley, shredding fire escapes like they weren't even there and leaving them tumbling down behind me, accompanied by a sound like falling chains - that was pretty cool. Sprinting through the streets, smashing cars and destroying everything nearby simply by running past - it really put home the 'living in a world made of paper' feeling that the Hulk should have.

The game's framerate suffers a bit when confronted with heavy action or moving through the city at a fast clip. Try chaining super jumps through the city streets and you'll encounter heavy stuttering while attempting to turn, something made worse if there are a number of enemies chasing you down.

There are also a few issues with the camera when fighting multiple opponents, though the lock-on function works well once you get everything under control.

Sound:

The game surprisingly features almost every actor from the movie, including Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, and, though they're not given much to work with in terms of dialog, it's nice to see that involvement. The Hulk doesn't have much in terms of 'dialog' of course, but his roars are well done, if lacking in variety.

Explosions and weapon effects are OK, but not pushing any limits. It's a bit disappointing that they didn't do more with the sounds of destruction, with the game so focused on leveling everything in sight.

Lasting Appeal:

The unlock system offers up quite a bit of replay, as it's unlikely you'll finish everything in a single shot through the game's story. Once done the story, you can choose to simply roam the city and finish up Feats - another nice touch. Though the story mode isn't anything I'd want to play through twice, there's something to be said for firing the game up and just enjoying some mindless HULK SMASH fun every so often.

Fun Factor:

Leveling buildings with your bare fists is just a good time, if you're into mindless fun. Don't approach The Incredible Hulk with hopes of a charged storyline that ends with you crying at how unfairly people treat the Hulk. It is, like the movie, a great summer action game that aims at letting you blow off some steam and just have fun smashing through troops and buildings alike.

There's something to be said for super jumping down the block, smashing concrete (or unfortunate vehicles) beneath your feet as you bound away without even seeming to notice, or picking up a pedestrian and, with a toss, using him to take down an attack helicopter. Very therapeutic, in a twisted way.

The 411:

If you enjoyed Ultimate Destruction, picking this one up should be a no-brainer. It's a polished version of that last-gen gem that, though lacking some of the humour, makes up for it with an extensive system of unlocks. Hulk fans will also get a kick out of the unlockable skins, though it would have been nice to see each skin have different abilities.

I'd love to see a sequel, made without the constraints of a movie license, that offers up more classic Hulk villains and less generic foot soldiers.

The Incredible Hulk (Xbox 360) footage from Rod Oracheski on Vimeo.

Graphics	7.5	A lot of fine details in the city, combined with a good view distance. Some choppy framerates though, once things get crazy.
Gameplay	8.5	The combat and motion is solid, but it would be nice to see more variety in enemies and their abilities.
Sound	8.0	Good explosions and you get voice work by most of the actors in the movie, but it's pretty standard stuff. More Hulk roars would have been nice.
Lasting Appeal	8.0	The unlock system is solid, with progress tracking and a good variety of bonuses to earn.
Fun Factor	8.5	If you've been waiting for a next-gen Ultimate Destruction, this is it.
Overall	8.0   [ Very Good ]

Screenshots
All 11 The Incredible Hulk Screenshots