The Incredible Hulk - PS3 review

30 June 2008 16:00 GMT / By Stuart Miles

With Hulk hitting the big screen, can a small screen adaptation for your PS3 strike home? We got angry to find out.

Following in the same footsteps of the movie as well as adding additional elements, The Incredible Hulk on the PS3 sees you running around New York city protecting your mate Rick, defeating the bad guys and basically trashing the place.

It's trashing the place that takes centre stage and surprisingly is the more enjoyably element of the game.

You're given the ability to damage buildings, streets, cars and anything else the Hulk can get his hands on. Sod protecting the good guys, instead you'll find your gaming time using your clunking fists to destroy entire skyscrapers or hurl a random pedestrian into a passing bus. The thing that amazes us the most, however, is that there seems little consequence in your actions good or bad as you leave destruction in your wake.

While moves are limited, the more fighting you get involved in the more that becomes accessible to you. Getting around the free roaming maps is done in three ways and vary depending on how much time you've got to waste.

The slower, but more fun option is to throw yourself at a building and then smash your way up it pretty much trashing it on your way before you attempt to leap from building to building Spidey-style.

The missions themselves are the usual kill everything in sight fare but a radar map viewable at all times with baddies and checkpoint locations removes any real challenge in trying to find out where that last bad guy is shooting from. In fact just like a typical Hollywood blockbuster, The Incredible Hulk requires virtually zero thinking.

Early levels are all smash and grab, while later levels require precise combos and timing of a ninja to beat the baddies rather than you having to think about what you are really doing in a puzzle solving sense.

The graphics are standard rather than stunning, and the game on a whole is let down by poor cutscenes and unenthusiastic voice acting. We expect more than a still shot of a voice recorder with Ed Norton stringing together what's about to happen next from a next-gen console title. Heck even live action cutscenes from the movie would have been better.

Verdict

Bruce Banner always had to become angry to turn into the Hulk and you're likely to experience the same rage here if you've spent your month's pocket money on this title.

The game is a movie tie-in its worst, with lacklustre gameplay and a mediocre storyline.

While Hulk does benefit from the voices from Norton and company from the film, giving it some credit (not much mind you), stilted cutscenes and repetitive gameplay make the excitement short-lived.

This isn't one Marvel quest we would recommend unless the thought of spending 10 minutes smashing up New York really appeals.

Score

Review Recap

Made by: Sega
Price as reviewed: £49.99
The good: Get to smash stuff up, replay the film
The bad: Mediocre storyline, standard graphics, no online or multiplayer action
Quick verdict: The game is a movie tie-in at its worst with lacklustre gameplay and a mediocre storyline
Score