Though the threat of having my name added to some secret government watch list is a possibility, I’m going to say this anyway: I love terrorizing New York City. In The Incredible Hulk, bad moods are easily satiated by spending a few moments tearing around New York as a mutant beast. Quenching your thirst for enriching gameplay is another story.
The Incredible Hulk begins with the green one busting out of a military compound. By helping the Hulk escape, you learn how to run, jump and fight. If you are successful, the Hulk evades capture and finds his way to New York City. Actors from the movie — including Edward Norton — lend their voices to the game, but Norton’s famous monotone fails to energize the static loading screens, and his digital face looks like he spent a night at Fight Club.
Hulk’s primary mission is defending a recreated New York from ruin at the hands of the Enclave and the Abomination, but because of his size, Hulk’s helpful acts often lead to bigger problems for the city’s infrastructure. All objects are fair game, including highways and landmark buildings found in the real New York, as well as the Marvel universe. With Hulk’s superpowers, I took out the Guggenheim’s smooth round frame, flattened the Flat Iron building and divided the United Nations. Oh, glorious carnage.
Hulk’s power makes commuting difficult. You will find that merely making your way across the city causes damage to everything around you. While there is no harm in smashing a few hotdog vendors, when the Hulk stomps around the city, his threat level increases until the Army follows him like a swarm of angry groupies. Here is where the subway systems come in handy.
The subway is designed as an easy way for Hulk to get around the metropolis, but it is much more fun to jump or run to your destination rather than be immediately shuttled there. It is only in times of combat — when a parade of military vehicles just won’t leave you alone — that a subway stop can be a convenience. By stepping near the terminal, you can transport Hulk away from the cops and to a new location.
Sadly, the free-for-all obliteration of New York is the game’s biggest perk. The Incredible Hulk suffers from glitchy gameplay and repetitive missions as well as a bland array of supermoves and innate abilities. Battle consists of the same few objectives: Protect a friend or location, survive the army, destroy the target, and demolish Enclave bases. Fun at first, but after a few times around, these missions all feel the same. Minigames attempt to keep the game open-ended, but even racing against the clock and smashing the crap out of everything becomes repetitive.
The problem with special moves is that they just don’t make the gameplay any more exciting. Sure, ripping a car into a pair of gauntlets is cool the first few times around, but the novelty fades fast. Hulk also has a healing ability, but his invulnerability makes the game too easy and even works against other features in the game. For example, there are 100 health canisters located around the city to collect, but there is no reason to spend time looking for them if healing comes naturally.
Despite all these half-hearted attempts at variety, there is a huge hole where multiplayer gameplay should be. Excluding any versus or cooperative play is downright lazy. The Incredible Hulk lacks replay value, and city-smashing with a friend sounds like a good time.
As with any comic book franchise game, unlocking achievements like jumping the length of the city opens comic book covers, art, videos and secret characters. Though this is super exciting for hardcore Hulk-lovers, those pieces of Marvel history are just not enough to keep average players interested for long.
As I mentioned in the first paragraph, the game has several glitch and freezing problems. At certain points during boss battles, Hulk suddenly flies through the air and sits there, continuing to fall without ever hitting the ground. The few times he fell into the river, he jumped out and continued to jump until my authoritative button pressing stopped his unauthorized leaping.
With all the problems, it is hard to say that The Incredible Hulk is worth a look, but the destructive power of this green legend against the unsuspecting urban landscape is worth at least one night in the PlayStation 3.
