SOFTWARE REVIEW

Communications Report:

The Incredible Hulk

Category:
Action

Players:
1 - 4

Type/#:
Cart / 1

Graphics and Sound:

As the Hulk movie hits theaters, many related products hit the shelves, and one of these is The Incredible Hulk for the GameBoy Advance. In a nutshell, Hulk is an average game, where nothing really stands out.

There is nothing really special about the graphics, and it is very similar to some games I remember on the original GameBoy (except of course, in color). As the Hulk, you will rampage around military installations, caves, deserts and other areas, but all the areas will be basically the same. The 'skin' of the level will really be the only thing that changes. Let me put it this way, it took me a little over an hour to figure out that the military personnel that were throwing explosive rocks at me, were actually tossing hand grenades. There isn't really anything pushing the limits of the Advance in this game.

The sound is about par with the graphics. Nothing really special, and you will most likely not remember them after you have turned the GBA off. The sound effects are basically one or two clips played constantly. You would think with the amount of punching and explosions that goes on in this game, there would at least be a variety of sounds, but alas, such is not the case. I found that I got just as much enjoyment out of the game with the sound on or off.

Gameplay:

As far as the gameplay goes, The Incredible Hulk doesn't make you stand back in awe here either. The game starts off by revealing The Hulk's origins, which you've probably heard a million times by now: the gamma radiation bomb, the noble Bruce Banner saving a kid on the testing field and being transformed into a seven foot tall green goliath, blah, blah, blah.

The first level or so is the Hulk's escape from the military installation, and the next couple of levels consist of the Hulk looking for Banner's secret lab in the mountains (which is something that has bothered me in the past - what is a well respected scientist like Bruce Banner doing with a secret lab deep inside the caves not far from the military base??).

Throughout the Hulk, you will go after several of his villains from the comic book like The Leader, Tyrannus, The Executioner and The Abomination, as well as all of their minions (everything from Mole Men to Humanoids).

In every level, you start off with your basic abilities, the Rush, punching, jumping. But as you do more damage, you earn 'upgrades' to your abilities. If you do a lot of damage at one time, you will earn either a 'Super Smash' or a 'Rampage' where you gain stars, one for 'Super Smash' and two for a 'Rampage'. After a certain amount of stars, you gain one of three abilities, 'Two-Handed Thunderclap', 'Overhead Smash' or 'Jump Smash'. Which one you use depends on which ones you have unlocked in that level and how much you have filled your Rage Bar.

As I played the game, I couldn't help but notice that it consisted mostly of me running into wave after wave of enemies (enemies that literally come from nowhere, believe me I know, I saw them pop onto the screen) and constantly pressing B (punch). Although a nice little trick I found to gain stars quickly is, after getting the Thunderclap ability, walk around a large number of enemies, they will start following you and when they are all in your immediate area, use the thunderclap. This will cause most of them to die, and you will get a 'Super Smash' or a 'Rampage.'

There is also a Multiplayer mode, where you can use the GBA link cable to play against 1-3 other players. The Multiplayer mode is Hulk vs. Hulk as you and your friends throw objects at each other until either one Hulk is left standing, or the predetermined number of kills has been made.

Difficulty:

The game consists of walking around and hitting everything around you, not much to it, but the seemingly endless waves of enemies will bog you down, and make levels a little difficult for you. At first, I thought the game was incredibly easy (I went 70 minutes and three levels without dying once when I first picked it up), but after getting past the initial levels, I found I had to play each one several times to get past them.

Game Mechanics:

The controls for The Incredible Hulk are simple, you move around with the D-Pad, punch with B and jump with A. If you have filled your Rage Bar some, then you can use the Left Shoulder button to Rush, and if you have gained any of the other abilities, you activate them with the 'Rage button', that would be the Right Shoulder button. Although something I noticed is that no matter how filled my Rage Bar was, and even if I had unlocked the three attacks in the level, the only ability I was able to use was the Thunderclap. According to the manual, 'When the Rage button (R Button) is pressed, the relevant rage attack is performed based on the level of the Rage Gauge'. I never saw any of the other moves in action, but I am sure they looked awesome and did a lot of damage (note to self, find a way to impress sarcasm in reviews).

Though the Hulk doesn't really stand out as a game that future GBA games will be compared to, there isn't really anything wrong with it. It is an average game with a licensed title. If you like the Hulk in general or are a devoted follower of the comic, then pick the game up, but don't expect anything spectacular.