"The Incredible Hulk" (Playstation 2) Review

The Good

Great combat system, good character models, lots of side missions and mini levels, lots of unlockables.

The Bad

Poor locomotion system, difficult level select system, poor graphics.

I think, once it comes down to it, that we all have to admit that the Hulk has had a good home on the Playstation. There's not much you can do with the character, other than have a good combat system, and some good bosses, so I expected "The Incredible Hulk" to be a pretty dull video game, and I was glad to find out that I was wrong.

This game scores high with me. It has a constantly improving combat system, thanks to unlockable moves, Lots of fun mini games, like "Darts" and "Shop Till You Drop" (with minor changes for Hulk content), amazing Arial feets, and good, classic boss battles.

The story follows the movie, but also expands on it, to allow room for new bosses like the Enclave and Bi-Beast, as well as some new missions featuring boss battles with Army Hulkbuster Armour. Overall, the story isn't particularly interesting, but it is good to see some of the classic Hulk villains again.

The combat system is always changing, thanks to the ability to constantly upgrade your character. By accomplishing "feats", which can be everything from jumping for 10 minutes, to defeating the final boss, you unlock content and other things. This can be either attack and locomotion upgrades or new characters. The combat on the ground is pretty simple- punch and kick your enemies. However, when you fill your rage bar, you can unleash awesome moves, like thunder claps and ground slams. Arial combat is pretty enthrawling too, with a good mix of punches and throws to knock back enemy planes and hangars.

The locomotion system is entertaining for a few minutes, but gets pretty boring quickly. All you can do is climb buildings and bound around the city. There is no variety, and with the short distance a bound will take you, it no where near captivates you as much as Spider-Man's web swinging abilities in "Spider-Man 2" and "Ultimate Spider-Man", where there was lots of variety and different speeds at which you could travel.

The graphics for this game are disappointing. Only about half a mile in front of your character, the island Manhattan will fade into gray, so most of the time you cannot actually see where you are going, particularly if you are high in the air. Most of the space was used to create good character models and boss fights, so car explosions do not look as good as their next gen counterparts. Also, the FPS will stutter occassionally, instantly yanking you out of the game. Manhattan is proportionately inccorect, but this will delight users who were overwhelmed with the size of Manhattan in "Spider-Man 2". There are a few glitches here and there, but nothing that will impede you.

The Extras, however, are amazing. You can change the skin of your character to make yourself look like different versions of the Hulk, there are lots of little mini games that will keep you occupied for hours, as well as in-game jump tests. Unlike "Spider-Man 2", you can also replay levels, with some difficulty in choosing them, as they are displayed by location, and descriptors do not always indicate whether it is a boss battle or not.

All in all, "The Incredible Hulk" is a game worth buying for all video gamers, and will no doubt generate lots of replay value and countless hours of enjoyment.

Overall

Combat System: 10/10

Locomotion System: 4/10

Maps: 7/10

Music: 10/10

Story: 8/10

Graphics: 7/10

Extras: 10/10

Overall: 8/10