RAAR Hulk smash controller in anger!
Written: Sep 20 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Graphics are nice, not the worst game ever
Cons: Boring gameplay, the Hulk is a wuss
The Bottom Line: IH isn't the worst game on the console, or even of its genre, but it's so bland I don't see any reason why anyone would want it.
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: The Incredible Hulk for Sega Genesis |
I recall this game coming out, and me being really excited about it. I was well into Marvel Superheroes, and one I always had a particular soft spot for, despite not reading many of his comics, was the incredible Hulk.
We all know the story of the Hulk don't we? if not here is a brief re-cap.
Dr.Bruce Banner was a brilliant scientist who was exposed to experimental Gamma rays while saving a young man from the same fate. From that day on, every time he became angry, he would grow into the Incredible Hulk, a colossal green giant that is stronger than anything else on the planet. The downside being that when in Hulk mode, Banner had little control over his actions, as the creature was fairly primitive of mind (to start with anyway), and routinely smashed things up, leading to confronatations with the army and other superheroes. But at heart, Hulk is good, so he spends a lot of time fighting evildoers, most notably The Leader, a man whom gamma rays also mutated, but it was his brain that was amplified.
The plot of the game isn't exactly bestseller-worthy. The Leader is out to take over the world, and knows that to do so, he will have to first dispose of the Hulk. To do so, he enlists the aid of the Hulk's Russian counterpart, The Abomination, sometime Spiderman foe The Rhino, demented Roman sorceror Tyranus and the dastardly Absorbing Man to help take down the jade giant.
For god-only knows what reason, US Gold decided to make the Hulk game a platformer. When you have a character whose catchphrase is "HULK SMASH!", the instant idea that pops into my head is a Beat 'em Up along the lines of Streets of Rage. But not what the people making the game decided to go with.
The idea is to negotiate your way through several stages, jumping up and climbing down, defeating minor enemies, squaring off against the Sub-Boss Abomination and taking down the actual stage boss.
To help you on your way, you can collect Gamma capsules to transfrom into an even stronger Hulk. One feature I liked, is that when your energy is depleted, instead of just dying, the Hulk reverts to the weedy form of Bruce Banner. While Banner can be killed in a hit, he can access areas the Hulk cannot reach, and if he finds gamma capsules can turn back into the less-than-jolly green giant. Capsules to transform Hulk into Banner without energy loss are also available, in which case you have to be attacked to 'get angry' and transform again.
Sadly, the gameplay is for the most part uninspiring. Jump from place to place, punch some enemies, jump to next place etc. And in one of the most baffling moves ever, it takes several hits from the Hulk to kill even the weakest of enemies, which are pretty feeble looking robots. I mean, come on, he is the Hulk, "RAAR HULK IS STRONGEST ONE THERE IS!!" etc, he should be able to dispose of all but the strongest of enemies with a slap.
And this also infuriates the other way, the enemies are armed with machine guns, and once they hit you, they wont stop until your fairly unimpressive health bar is empty. The guns are pathetic! this is the Hulk for christs sake, a creature that would keep walking through a tank blast!
While there isn't anything in particular wrong with the game's engine, it is just so un-like what you would want from a Hulk game, and so generally unoriginal, that I can't help but be pretty disapointed with the engine.
The Hulk has several moves at his disposal when you go into Super-Hulk mode, such as sonic claps and piledrivers, but they are mosty just more cumbersome ways of killing enemies, given that when you are in Super mode, your punches become a bit stronger, as in a little behind what the Hulk's strength should be.
There are also the odd things to pick up and throw, like phone booth's and jeeps, but these are few and far between, and seem like last minute tack ons to try and make it more Hulk like.
In all fairness, the graphics are actually pretty good. The Hulk sprite is fairly large on-screen, although he should have been a bit bigger in comparison to the other characters, but on the whole the sprites and animation are all of a generally high standard. It isn't exactly Earthworm Jim level graphics, but they are really quite good and far better than your average licensed 16-Bit Platform game.
The backgrounds are also very well created, and all very distinctive from the last. A shame these graphics couldn't have been put to use in a more spectacular game.
Sound in the game isn't brilliant, but it is acceptable. Hulk's roar is pretty cool, but the music is incredibly forgettable, and what of it that does stay with you stays for the wrong reason, given that it is far too bland, and really isn't very good in any way. It's hard to put your finger on what is wrong with it, it isn't upbeat, it isn't downbeat, nor atmospheric, its just plain bland.
Controls in the game don't take much thought, A is Punch, C is Jump, and when holding an enemy B is throw. To hold an enemy, you have to walk up to them. Thats as flawed as it sounds, given they usually unload whatever variety of projectile they are packing as soon as you get near them.
As I mentioned, being in Super Hulk unlocks better attacks, such as the Sonic Clap, which is performed by pressing A+B+C.
I don't really have any control complaints either, although using B is grab enemies in the first place may have been a good idea. But in way of responiveness and layout, I have no complaints with the game.
As you can probably tell, the Incredible Hulk isn't by any means a terrible game, it just really has nothing about it to qualify it as being even slightly better than average, and given it's poor use of the character, it actually seems worse than it is.
To be honest, I don't really see why anyone would want to own the Incredible Hulk. It just generally isn't up to scratch in comparison to some of the excellent platform games for the Megadrive/Genesis, and it's poor use of the character means it won't even hold much appeal for Hulk fans.
But when all is said and done, the Hulk also doesn't qualify as a bad game, and if you were purchasing a Genesis/Megadrive and it came with no games other than the Hulk, it would be fairly playable until you got your hands on something better.
So yeah, Three stars and a not recommended is my opinion. It gets the three stars, because I am willing to acknowledge that it isn't a terrible game, but doesn't get any higher because it is incredibly unremarkable and there are plenty of much better platform games for the console, but it gets the no recommendation because not only is it a decidedly average game, but it's waste of the titular character ensures that it won't even appeal to many Hulk fans, those whom the game were probably aimed at.
Recommended:
No
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flash-hammer
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