On top of this dreadful graphical weakness, ghost images of destroyed buildings can also be seen flickering and struggling against the skyline, while the characters wander and crash in and out of supposedly solid objects as if the system can’t tell what’s tangible and what’s not. The camera flails wildly and randomly – pointing a blank walls or down at the ground whenever the character’s movements get up to speed, and the textures repeat themselves so often there feels little point in actually exploring the city.
Blue and green should never be seen!
Awful voice acting and stilted animation also smacks not of lackadaisical programming, but of an early and incomplete rendering that was never intended to be included in the finished product. Instead of animated cut scenes, we’re simply expected to listen in on bugged telephone conversations, with a matt painting of a listening post as the only visual element. Equally, the depth of gameplay is shallow – never delivering on the potential that the missions, or indeed the sandbox world of crime and adventure, promise.
In Spider-Man we had rife street crime and emergencies that only the hero could do something about, but the Hulk sees none of this in his course version of New York city. Saving people from a collapsing building or runaway train, lifting up a falling bridge or thwarting a stolen tank would have been perfect opportunities to live a day in the life of the Hulk’s shoes, yet this game contains none of them.
It also makes the fatal error that so many Hulk adaptations suffer from. It overlooks a vital aspect of the Hulk’s personality that Stan Lee was very careful to fully develop before the monster ever appeared in the comic – Bruce Banner. There’s a reason the Hulk’s alter-ego is a pacifistic, intelligent scientist, and that’s to fully round out the monster’s character and grant a believable purpose for his inclusion in specific, dangerous situations. This Sega game takes the obtuse and lazy angle for adding conflict to the Hulk’s life – being constantly chased by the army without rhyme or reason. The extra dimension of using Bruce Banner, his scientific expertise and the inherent tension that he might suddenly lose control is more valuable than 1000 collapsible buildings, yet he never appears in the game. Slack, and inexcusable.
Look ma, hammer time!
With another two or three months of quality development, the Incredible Hulk adaptation could have been very enjoyable. It was never going to be amazing, but it could have provided the same superb escapist realisation of a beloved comic character as the Spider-Man games did, but clearly something went horribly wrong during the planning stages.
The original review can be found on GDN here
198 days ago
Anyone played this?