Crossover: Hulk

In honor of the World War Hulk crossover which is currently rocking the Marvel Universe, I figured it was only right to examine a game starring the big green guy. One of the great unfortunate laws of our society is that way too many summer blockbuster movies have crappy video game tie-ins released to rob gamers of their hard-earned money. It's sad, but true, though occasionally we get a decent console entry which manages to surpass its celluloid inspiration.

2003's Hulk, by Ang Lee, was -at best- a number of well-made parts that joined together to form a dissatisfying whole. I have to admit that I would have enjoyed the movie a great deal more had the last ten minutes been better, but hopefully the upcoming sequel with Edward Norton will manage to surpass the problems of its predecessor and leave comic fans without a bitter taste in their mouths. Around the same time, Vivendi Universal managed to publish a surprisingly decent action-adventure title to tie in to the Hulk's film franchise.

What the game did best, perhaps, was that it pretty much ditched the movie's plot and created a better one on its own. Instead of focusing on the ridiculous storyline surround Bruce Banner's abusive father and those moronic Hulk Dogs, it instead followed a plot which featured some way cooler villains including Madman and Hulk's longtime nemesis The Leader. A number of other characters out of Big Green's comic world made appearances as well, and the overall narrative felt a lot more enjoyable for anyone who had actually read the comic series.

While the gameplay wasn't nearly as strong as the later Ultimate Destruction game by VU, the action sequences were an enjoyable -if overly simple- series of levels which featured the Hulk running amok and beating the stuffing out of his opponents. The problem was that a number of rather dull stealth sequences starring Banner were peppered through the game in a failed effort to spice up the overall play experience by providing a couple of different gaming modes. Still, even when the game was dull, it managed to look smashing thanks to a modified form of cel-shading and sounded fantastic thanks to some solid voice-acting (including Eric Bana reprising his film role as Banner).

Overall, Hulkis one of those games which is still decent even after four years of shelf life. It's by no means amazing, not that it ever was, but since it's one of those games which lasts for less than ten hours and costs less than ten dollars these days... well, let's just say that it's still an enjoyable gaming experience.