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Hulk
Score: 71%
ESRB: Teen
Publisher: VU Games
Developer: VU Games
Media: DVD/1
Players: 1
Genre: Fighting/ Action

Graphics & Sound:
It's obvious Marvel Comics is hoping to strike gold twice, much like they did with Spider-Man the movie and the video game. While I myself cannot say anything about The Hulk the movie, I think they may have gone to the well one too many times for Hulk the video game. But that's for the next section to explain. First things first, the graphics are outstanding in Hulk. All of the characters are drawn up and look as if they are out of the comic book. The animations of the big, green machine copy that of a Marvel Comics cartoon. Plus, everything... and I mean everything... is up for destruction on every level. Walls, floors, pillars, cars, people, you name it. Everything can get wrecked.

Hollywood's latest superhero actor lends his voice for this video game remake. Eric Bana, who stars in The Hulk, is the character voice for Dr. Bruce Banner. I'm not too sure on who they got to fill in for the Hulk's 'Aaaarrrrhhhhhh' but it sounds realistic enough. Then again, I'm sure it wasn't too hard to impersonate. The sound guy probably put a microphone next to his bed, and then recorded his own yawn the next morning. Meanwhile, I liked the sound effects for all of the destruction. If things exploded, there was a big boom. If a wall crumbled, you could tell. When the Hulk got angry, everyone knew it. I did find the background music a little cheesy, but really, who's listening for the background music?


Gameplay:
The storyline for Hulk goes as follows: one year has passed since the movie, and Dr. Bruce Banner is still looking for a cure to stop transforming into you-know-who. However, in his quest for inner peace, Banner/Hulk has to fight some new villains who are not so surprisingly, trying to take over the world. There are two different approaches to beat the game. First, you obviously become the Hulk and break everything and everyone in sight. Second, you walk around as Dr. Bruce Banner and use your intellect and stealth-like ability to sneak in and out of places.

Now, as I mentioned before, since everything can be destroyed, things can get pretty violent. I'll admit it, at first, I got a kick out of smashing through walls because I couldn't fit through the doorway, or throwing evil henchmen off the tops of buildings. But somewhere between the third and fourth level, I thought to myself, 'What's the point?'. I mean seriously, nothing changes besides the enemies you face. There's no strategy to this game whatsoever. If you were to create a game where you're a bully, and you walk around a school looking to beat up nerds for lunch money, this is basically the equivalent. Some people might argue that's what becoming Dr. Banner is for, but who cares? Walking around, hoping NOT to turn into the Hulk, is NOT fun. At least give him a dart gun or something. However, for those that insist on constant violence, you can harness your skills by unlocking and playing different Challenge Modes. Also, for those of you that are interested, you can also unlock Special Features that show behind the scenes stuff from the movie.


Difficulty:
Hulk offers three levels of difficulty: Easy, Medium, and Hard. On the Easy level, it's fairly simple to cruise through each level. Medium definitely got more challenging throughout the game, and so on. Plus, you can play through the previously mentioned Challenge Modes for practicing purposes.

Game Mechanics:
The controller configuration is so simple, even the Hulk could figure it out. Basically, hit the square button to hit someone. It's that easy. For the few combo moves available, you only have to press a couple buttons, which is again, pretty easy. I got a little frustrated with the game menus, because you have to stamp down on the button for the game to recognize that you pressed it. The loading time is fairly quick, and since there is only one thing to save, your memory card is spared.

Maybe it's just me, but the repetitive violence got old pretty fast. I think Spider-Man was successful because it had more to offer with a storyline and actual gameplay. Hulk is a rental at best.


-Red Dawg, GameVortex Communications
AKA Alex Redmann

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