The Incredible Hulk : Ultimate Destruction (PS2)

Anyone who has read my review for Spider-man 2 can see my opinion of it and that should show you that this is a much better game than the rushed, cash-in effort of Spiderman 2. The graphics for Ultimate Destruction are alot more polished than with other games, fair enough the characters look terrible in the cutscenes close up, but the game itself plays like a dream and the vast cityscape is far superior to Spiderman 2 and just slightly better than Ultimate Spiderman.

I would disagree with comparisons to GTA and say this game is alot more like Destroy All Humans than GTA, so don't buy this looking for a GTA-type game. This game is similar to Mercenaries Playground of Destruction aswell.

The size of the cityscape is alot larger than what other reviews say, plus there is the addition of the desert level. I would certainly not say the game is samey as you get to do such varied things at each stage of the game, such as bonus challenge missions (car football, hangliding to a specific spot, jumping from building to building without touching the ground, etc) and using a truck as a disguise for the Hulk (check those green feet sticking out from under the truck - very cool). The bosses are tricky and the game sometimes feels like it's thrown you in at the deep end, but that's part of the thrill.

Mercy and The Hulkbuster controlled by General Ross are two of the toughest bosses (I've yet to reach Devil Hulk).

The definitive Hulk and Marvel game. Recommended to gamers everywhere. Superb.

Ultimate nightmare
Review date: 2006-03-21 Rating: 4 out of 10

Inevitably, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is going to be compared (unfavourably, it shall transpire) to Spider-Man 2, another free-roaming city-based superhero game. You see, unlike Spidey, Hulk is clumsy and brutish. Controlling the character is frustrating and lacks the subtlety and variation of web-slinging. Instead, Hulk's 'hook' is in that you can cause mayhem and destruction by the bucket-load. Running, jumping, scaling buildings, all leave massive trails of destruction in your wake. Vehicles, lampposts, trees, small bridges, helicopters and tanks can be flung afar or used as weapons to smash other things into pieces. Yet as unstoppable as the Hulk may seem, the game adapts by launching relentless attacks at you. Even small soldiers, barely a blip on your radar, will send Hulk hurtling from a blast of their rocket launchers. And once the big guns are brought in, with the only hope of survival being a mad dash around the city, lunging into aerial assaults, it all becomes a mess of carnage and not particularly enjoyable.
During the game's 'story' missions, you're put up against some of the most excruciating boss fights ever to grace the screen. The unsubtle combat is taken to infuriating new levels and is wholly unsatisfying, even when you're winning.
It's only the free-roaming sections in the city (the separate desert area pales in comparison) that have any sort of staying power, with random side quests that can be completed to gain more Smash Points (used to purchase new moves that you should ideally have from the offset); and even then, every single time you access a mission, you're given a lengthy loading screen - even when restarting the same mission in the same location. This lack of proper optimisation means that the 'free-roaming' illusion is shattered. Essentially, the game becomes a repetitive, broken up mess of tedious missions, separated by loading screens and a story mode so infuriatingly bad that it hardly seems worth bothering with just to unlock something that might turn out to be fun.
After seeing what can be done with a superhero license, Hulk is the biggest letdown imaginable.

The Fun Doesn't Last
Review date: 2006-02-12 Rating: 6 out of 10

As the big, green, wrecking machine you stomp around a city, destroying everything and completing missions in the hope of Bruce Banner FINALLY striking on the illusive cure for his curse.

Ultimate Destruction is fun! Absolutely anything is a target for the Hulk's insatiable thirst for carnage, from lampposts to skyscrapers. There's a fantastic array of upgrades to be added to the Hulk's arsenal that range from turning a car into a pair of boxing gloves to riding a bus like a skateboard and the enemies just keep getting bigger and bigger as the game progresses. Indeed, for your first hour of play, Ultimate Destruction seems like the most fun you've had with a computer game since Rampage first hit the Spectrum (or C64, for those who went that way).

Alas, there are only so many times you can bring down an attacking helecopter with an uprooted tree before the whole thing starts to get a bit samey. I never thought I'd tire of ripping the turret off a tank and battering a 60 ft mech with it, but I was wrong.

The problem with this game (aside from its lack of story) is there is so little variety. Yes, the list of upgrades is quite extensive, but once you've seen them all a couple of times, the thrill is gone. The city itself is also TINY. Gamers now being used to the grandure of San Andreas and Manhattan (in its various forms) will quickly tire of jumping around the same buildings over and over.

My advice to anyone is to RENT this game.