The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction Review

By Kristan Reed Published 9 September, 2005

Pure pop, videogaming style.

Version tested: Xbox

Wanton, gratuitous chaos and mayhem? Check. Undiluted carnage and unflinching destruction? Tick. The entire US military raining unlimited death on your gamma-mutated ass? Ding. More explosive button-mashing in the opening chapter than most games put-together? Nod. Tortured, sensitive scientist's quest to reverse gamma mutation makes it okay to kill several thousands of civilians and cause the systematic annihilation of an entire city? Uh-huh. But when you're dealing with a Marvel superhero game we demand bucketfuls of crazed nonsense that makes us grin like Jack Nicholson (and probably cackle maniacally like him too) That The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction delivers oceans of the stuff is precisely why we enjoyed the palpitating romp from start to finish.

As ever, Bruce Banner's unending search for a cure to the gamma ray mutation goes on. It can't be a whole lot of fun having to replace your wardrobe every time you lose your temper, but life for the genius scientist gets a whole lot worse once his secret research base/hideout is discovered by nosey government official Emil Blonsky.

To stop the secrets of his mutation research falling into the wrong hands, Banner flees the scene, destroying all his equipment in the process. Worse still, Blonksy's curiosity is met with a dose of the same gamma radiation that causes Banner to mutate into The Hulk - only Blonsky doesn't have the presence of mind to do the right thing. In the hands of Blonsky's mutated altered beast, The Abomination, the whole city is under threat, and so begins the fun.

Blonsky beat

Essentially the Paul Jenkins-penned storyline deals with the two-pronged quest for Banner to rebuild his research project as well as put Blonsky out of the picture. At the same time, the leader of the military forces General Thaddeus Ross sees it as his patriotic duty to protect the city from the perceived evil of The Hulk, and consequently unleashes the might of the United States military to see that Banner is crushed like a bug.

Being a Marvel Super Hero, though, mere machines are no match for The Hulk. Turning the dial marked 'frenzied combat' up to 11, Radical Entertainment has built a game that almost entirely focuses on being The Hulk and re-imagining just how much wild-eyed chaos and destruction one angry mutant could cause, given half the chance.

Unlike Radical's underwhelming movie-based effort from two years ago, Ultimate Destruction places you in control of The Hulk throughout; with Banner's role reduced to that of a narrative device. Evidently Radical got the message that gamers wanted to be served up massive amounts of mayhem, not sneak around in corridors. And talking of corridors, Radical has ditched them completely (bar one very brief section late in the game). Instead, the Canadian team has gone down the free-roaming, city-based road paved by GTA et al. But while the design premise is half-inched from Rockstar North's seminal classic in many respects, the feel is closer to Treyarch's Spider-Man 2, complete with light-hearted optional side-missions and island-based skyscraper-laden cityscape.

Crazed and confused

'The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' Screenshot digestive

The Abomination's digestive system is not what it used to be.

But while the feel of bounding around to vertigo inducing heights around a bustling metropolis delivers much the same initial impression of Spider-Man 2, the game does much more in terms of offering up combos and abilities that take the combat to an entirely different realm. Plenty of games down the years have offered up deep and complex combo-heavy combat, but few have ever gone as far into the realms of insanity as The Hulk.

Like most games, The Hulk deals with such matters by virtue of an upgrade system that enables you to buy new moves by cashing in the Smash Points that you earn through finishing missions and generally pummelling objects and enemies to dust. But unlike your typical videogame, there are literally dozens of utterly crazy new moves to add to your roster - some of which allow you to 'Weaponize' (horrible, horrible term) objects in the game.

For example, you can pick up discarded missile packs from air defences, rip them in two and create your own mobile rocket launcher system, skate around on a bus, or even use a giant boulder as a makeshift bowling ball. Radical never ceases piling on new combos and abilities, and it's this constant delivery of new toys that turns Ultimate Destruction into a true sandbox gaming experience. It gives you the environment to play around with at your leisure, the story missions to become immersed in, and the throwaway sub-missions to have a laugh with. Fancy punting cars over a moving goalpost? How about whacking soldiers falling from helicopters? Or punching missiles back to the sender? Or destroying as many aircraft as possible? Maybe some golf with a giant boulder and a girder? They're all there for a bit of light relief, they're all very throwaway, but it's a game where mindless entertainment is never far away.

Simple Mindless

'The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' Screenshot armour

Armour? Pah. Wimps.

But however mindless it looks at times, however many moves there are to remember, Ultimate Destruction never burdens the player with overly complex combos that require up, left, X and Y, touch your toes, pause for half a second and then backflip to a double A and a long B press to finish. If anything, seasoned gamers might find all of it a tad on the basic side, with most moves involving no more than two buttons. Even at their most fiddly, moves use repeated presses of the same button, or involve grappling, followed by another simple two-button combo.

Of course, by offering up so many moves, there's a degree of freedom in terms of how you go about tackling the game, and it's this stamp of individuality that marks it out as being an enjoyable festival of carnage that doesn't take itself at all seriously without resorting to self parody.

But let's not get too excited. As much as we loved jumping 50 feet into the air and bringing down an entire fleet of aircraft with a Sonic Thunderclap, or hurling a Juggernaut down onto the head of a foe, the repetition of constantly dealing with an improbable quantity of enemy desensitises you from the bombastic nature of what's really going on. Bounding high into the air and smashing a Chopper into shards of twisted metal soon becomes routine, as does swinging a tank around by its barrel and tossing it like a hammer. Weaponizing a car into Steel Fists becomes so first chapter that the only thing that really drags you through the game is the prospect of being able to buy some new moves at the end of a mission.

Back and forth

'The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' Screenshot dentistry

Mutant dentistry is a dirty job but someone has to do it.

The only genuinely disappointing thing about Ultimate Destruction is in the mission variety; i.e. there really isn't a great deal. Time after time you're slogging it from one end of the City or Badlands, dutifully performing yet another destroy, fetch and carry mission that involves legging it from everyone you can avoid, smashing up everyone you can't, and legging it back to your church hideout with some miscellaneous widget. The number of times you have to do this over the course of the 30-odd missions is astonishing; you'd have thought the designers would have noticed the amount of repetition and addressed it, but yet, almost right to the end you're doing the same things literally over and over.

Of course, there are some exceptions; such as having to protect someone getting from A to B, defending a building from some nefarious goon or mashing up a convoy, but it seems like Radical spent most of its time working on the combat engine rather than spending much time thinking of unique ways of utilising the dozens of moves at your disposal.

While all of this makes for valid criticism, and it's fair comment that more mission variety could make the game even better, Radical gets away with the incessant repetition by putting so much effort into its fighting engine. This is arguably the game's saving grace, or we'd end up spending entire paragraphs bitching about how the camera is often slightly unhelpful, or how we're not at all enamoured with respawning enemies. Fortunately, such unforgivable gaming sins as these are very few and far between, so on the odd occasions that they do crop up you deliver a swift Hulk SMASH and get on with it.

The eyes have it

'The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' Screenshot wallrun

Wall running Hulk-style.

It's also fair to point out that the visuals are hardly the best we've seen, yet somehow do just enough for it to never be a deal-breaker. The attention lavished on the game's characters generally makes up for any lingering misgivings on the lack of polish on the game's environments, and you'll probably be quite happy smashing everything up and admiring the excellent explosive effects to realise that, actually, the game engine's looking a bit tired. Roll on next-gen. Still, with US/importers/modders able to enjoy 720p on the Xbox version (and 480p on the PS2), there are some things left to celebrate.

One slightly disappointing or underwhelming area is the game's audio, though. Despite roping in the undoubted writing talents of former Hulk comic writer Paul Jenkins, the between mission cut-scenes are uniformly drab, sterile, and lack a clear direction. Again, not something to detract in any serious way, but it's a shame the game's cinematic standards weren't upheld throughout.

In terms of value for money, Ultimate Destruction is one of those games that's relentlessly enjoyable and hugely entertaining from the first minute to the last. You could bracket it firmly within the '30-seconds of fun over and over' school of game design. It's by no means complex or brutally challenging, either; even with over 30 missions it'll take you no more than 10-12 hours on the first run-through. Sure, there are unlockables (such as the hard mode, a special version of Banner to play as, and the ability to play as The Abomination) but by then we'd had our fair share of button mashing super heroics. Like a satisfying Hollywood action flick, it's instant, thrilling and gratifyingly disposable. It's the three-minute pop song of videogames, with all the hooks in just the right places, and for that we salute Radical for giving us a game that really does deliver Ultimate Destruction.

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (64) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Razz #1 7 years ago

    WOW!! 8/10! Me Wants :)

  • trevd72 #2 7 years ago

    It is a v cool mindless action game. there is also a certain artistry to the destruction that can be caused. john woo hulk perhaps. The kids love it.

  • drumbaby #3 7 years ago

    Does look good. May play this next after Genji.

  • Vin #4 7 years ago

    Yeah, it's a good one, this.

  • Ecanem #5 7 years ago

    Tempted.. maybe something I could enjoy with my kid...

  • Rizo #6 7 years ago

    wow 8/10 Vivendi Universal advertising on eurogamer pays off.

    This is a 6 at best and you guys know it a sad day indeed.

  • bloke #7 7 years ago

    Yawn -

    Eurogamer takes backhanders
    Elvis is alive in Wolverhampton
    The Moon landings were faked

    C'mon - just say you disagree with the review and leave it at that, eh?

  • Blerk #8 7 years ago

    Reviews of this one appear to be somewhat 'mixed'. I've got a demo somewhere... guess I ought to play it and see for meself. :-)

  • Lothar Hex #9 7 years ago

    Picked this up today. Enjoying it immensely.

  • Derblington #10 7 years ago

    Do I buy it now for the GC or wait until I get a 360 and get the Xbox version?

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #11 7 years ago

    wow 8/10 Vivendi Universal advertising on eurogamer pays off.

    Rumbled!

  • escapedape #12 7 years ago

    Ooh, Paul Jenkins is not actually a particularly interesting writer. Which may go some way to explaining why the cut scenes are so dull...

    He's a British writer who's kind of riding on the coat-tails of the whole cool Brit writer thing in US comics (that means Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis, Alan Moore for example). Dull as dishwater.

  • prettyboytim #13 7 years ago

    RAAAAAHH! TIMMY PLAYS! RAAAAH!

  • Ceatlan #14 7 years ago

    The demo for me was a definite 5 out of 10, too little structure, too little variation and too little thought required. I've never read any of the comics or been interested in the Hulk universe and I found the completely indescriminate venting of Hulks power and rage quite offputting, regardless of whether its correct for according to the comics.

    However I can definitely see how some people would really enjoy it, and as such don't have any problems with the review.
    Edited by 2 at 09/09/05 @ 14:40

  • spidermanalf #15 7 years ago

    Completed this last night.

    Thought it was brilliant, it is great just running around lobbing buses at cars and Hulk Destroyers.

    Sometimes you want to just play something that is FUN!

  • Tyronne #16 7 years ago

    The picture which goes with the review on the front page makes me think that the hulk is having a huge dump,what with the brown rock like thing behind him and the strain on his face.

  • fkh #17 7 years ago

    You can actually attack the US military?

    I`d call that an added bonus.

  • MBar #18 7 years ago

    wow 8/10 Vivendi Universal advertising on eurogamer pays off.

    This is a 6 at best and you guys know it a sad day indeed.

    Thats not what this says.

    If anything, 8 is below average for this game.

    So, nergh :p

  • oerhoert #19 7 years ago

    Then again, most gaming journalists don't know nothing about what make good games, so I guess your gamerankings link is pretty much irrelevant.

    As for the game? Well, I haven't played it, so I don't know. My sources tell me its perfectly average, though... Average as in entertaining, but unremarkable.

  • MBar #20 7 years ago

    Then again, most gaming journalists don't know nothing about what make good games, so I guess your gamerankings link is pretty much irrelevant.

    Thats a very sweeping generalisation, and one for the most part I found to be untrue. Different situation with movies, but video games are more ... obvious.

  • Hurleybird #21 7 years ago

    Erm surely a "Smash Hit"! Well according to the quote on your ads! :-)

  • oerhoert #22 7 years ago

    <em>Thats a very sweeping generalisation, and one for the most part I found to be untrue. Different situation with movies, but video games are more ... obvious.</em>

    No, I mean it. Most gaming journalists seem to only have one criteria: if it's <em>entertaining</em>.

    Just take a look at the reviews for Spider-Man 2 from last year: most praised the game very much, and delivered their nines or eights, while the game's only good point were the controls and the city swinging. Missions, animations, story were all below par, but that didn't seem to register.

    Most games are "entertaining". That don't make them good. Interesting art direction, engaging control systems, well designed symbols and satisfying responses do.

    As such, those simple, uninteresting superheroes aren't very well suited for making actually worthwhile games out of. Well, they may have powers well suited to make satisfying responses to how you treat the game world (in the case of Hulk, it's obviously satisfying to destroy things which such power as his). But the most important question remains: Why should you care about this character? Why should you care about what happens?

    Just to clarify, I'm not talking specifically about this Hulk game here, or criticizing Eurogamer's review, as I still haven't played it. :) Just explaining why I don't think gamerankings is a relevant source for actual game quality.
    Edited by 2 at 09/09/05 @ 16:19

  • krudster #23 7 years ago

    Read my Spider-Man 2 review, then come back to me; I do take the point, though, that in general reviewers were way too kind to Spidey and I agree with the points you make about it.
    Edited by 1 at 09/09/05 @ 16:30

  • PearOfAnguish #24 7 years ago

    "No, I mean it. Most gaming journalists seem to only have one criteria: if it's entertaining.

    Just take a look at the reviews for Spider-Man 2 from last year: most praised the game very much, and delivered their nines or eights, while the game's only good point were the controls and the city swinging. Missions, animations, story were all below par, but that didn't seem to register.

    Most games are "entertaining". That don't make them good. Interesting art direction, engaging control systems, well designed symbols and satisfying responses do. "

    Christ, what an utter load of twaddle. Do you talk bollocks professionally or is it just a hobby? Thing is, sparky, that the point of a game is to be entertaining. Your opinion happens to differ from some other people, that doesn't make the writers wrong nor does it mean that games journalists 'don't know what makes a good game'. Muppet.

  • gaijin #25 7 years ago

    oh come now Pear. Surely the people best qualified to assess games are either the developers (and not the mincy designers with their trendy footwear and rimless glasses, but the coders) who know exactly how complex that finite state machine was to progam, or self-proclaimed ludologists who can see the whole thing from an objective intellectual standpoint and assess the significance of the memes and conceptual tropes that the game underscores in "wider" society? I mean, who wants a game to be enjoyable, when dissecting it can be a sterile intellectual exercise in one-up-manship?

    /returns to phd paper on "Exploding the myth: particle modelling in Elite - retro chic or lots of little dots"

  • oerhoert #26 7 years ago

    You win the prize for intentionally misunderstanding! :)

    Of course I don't mean that games don't have to entertain. What I mean to say is only that they have to do more than entertain (i.e. <em>engage</em>;) in order to be worth my, and everyone else's, while. We've come that far now.

  • PearOfAnguish #27 7 years ago

    Come back when you've played it and give us some constructive criticism.

  • oerhoert #28 7 years ago

    <em>Come back when you've played it and give us some constructive criticism.</em>

    I never said I was criticizing the game. I was reacting to another comment. I thought that was obvious.

  • Glazius #29 7 years ago

    Actually, I think there's only one real criterion besides "is this game entertaining", and that is "do you run out of fun before you run out of game"?

    Things like art direction, engagement with the story, fluid and responsive feedback - all of those forestall the natural decay of fun over time. If Hulk randomly doesn't respond when there are 50 things buzzing about onscreen to blow him up, you can ignore it the first couple of times, but as you encounter the situation more and more it eats at you. The only two questions operating are "does the fun last long enough to beat the game" and "by the time you've bought everything you care to buy with Smash Points, are you sick of smashing". These are of course personally variable, and don't pretend they aren't.

    Still, if the game satisfactorily answers both those question I think it merits "a fans of the genre in most cases will still warrant serious recommendation to go out and buy, while even people into other genres will probably still draw plenty of enjoyment".

    (And if you want complex superheroes go read Astro City. I like the series where the post-Fordist economy tangles with post-colonialist communism in the Third World.)

    --GF

  • krudster #30 7 years ago

    For what it's worth, I found the solution to seemingly impossible situations was never that far away. That's always the sign of a game that's *designed* to be consistently entertaining.

    Spider-Man 2, on the other hand, had some hair-tearingly terrible moments that were so ludicrously badly designed I'm getting the fear thinking about them.

  • absolutezero #31 7 years ago

    Played a friends copy today, after about 20 minutes I got seriously bored of doing the jump up into the air and throw down car move, which basically kills anything.

    Theres was nothing there to make me continue playing either. I guess it does'nt help that I find Hulk a boring character with little to set him apart from the Marvel canon.
    You could replace Hulk with a baby and change all the buildings into lego models and it'd pretty much not change the game. Its vacuous, if I want a fun game to ill play Katamari, kthnx.

    Not that im agreeing with the guy that said EG are taking bribes but some of the huge major faults have just been sweept under the carpet, Hulk kinda fits into the same catagory as Crimson Tears, in that its fun to play for about 30 mintues and then you realise this is all it is for the rest of the game.

    Fantastic voice acting though, well for the most part.

  • Ecanem #32 7 years ago

    Got it, played the first mission (after the training level).. and it felt rather shallow already.. I don't like Hulk in the first place but the open environments sounded good.. sadly they're no where near the quality or design of San Andreas.. controls are good though.. Only based on this first two levels its a bit dissappointing.. =/

  • gamesb*tch #33 7 years ago

    "I found the solution to seemingly impossible situations was never that far away"

    Defo 8 material then :p

  • mash the x button #34 7 years ago

    "wow 8/10 Vivendi Universal advertising on eurogamer pays off".

    "Rumbled"!

    Sussed!

  • captain-future #35 7 years ago

    I'm a bit surprised at the high rating...

  • admir #36 7 years ago

    this game sucks i played it

  • Lothar Hex #37 7 years ago

    About 7 hours in, still enjoying it.

  • byron_hinson #38 7 years ago

    It's had good reviews in most places so thats unlikely, its a fun title, remember them? Does the UK version support 720p too?

  • Darren #39 7 years ago

    I've been told that the PAL version of this game unlike the NTSC one does NOT support 720p, only 480p. I think the review should point that out.

  • The-Bodybuilder #40 7 years ago

    Why was the EG review score advertised before the review?

    Pre fixed me thinks.

    Either way, thier is only one way I can make my own review....

  • SlackMaster #41 7 years ago

    I've been playing this game for about the last 3 weeks on import on and off and it's great... no better way of releasing a bit of stress... really fun and the best superhero game released IMO.

  • krudster #42 7 years ago

    The EG review score wasn't advertised before review. I only finished *writing* the review yesterday!

  • Derblington #43 7 years ago

    I got the *only* copy for the GC my local game got in yesterday. Great fun game - the movement is superb, and plenty of little touches that really give life to the Hulk. Enjoying it a lot at the mo.

    edit: just completed the 1st chapter and have bought loads of new moves (and there's still some available to me). It's just so much fun moving around off mission causing trouble - more fun than GTA et al - and the new moves keep you wanting to experiment.

    So far defo worthy of an 8.
    Edited by 1 at 10/09/05 @ 15:48

  • admir #44 7 years ago

    i dont konw why this game got 8 i would give it 5 every time you do a new mission or one of those bonus missions it has to load come on they could have fix that spiderman 2 is much better game

  • Lothar Hex #45 7 years ago

    Right, just completed the game, and JESUS, the last few levels are hectic! You have to pursue The Abomination through a canyon while military forces bombard you BOTH. Tanks, helicopters, SSM launchers, harriers et.c all gunning for you while you're trying to beat the crap out of The Abomination.

    Not ONCE did I get tired of the game, like the reviews by GamesTM and Edge suggested (too far up their own arses to enjoy a game that isn't "art";). Like Spider-Man 2 there are side-missions, but while a few are the same they are no where near as repetative. And a lot of them are brilliant fun, like smashing a 20ft high golf ball across the city using a giant golf club, or seeing how far you can hit a soldier and getting rewarded the further you go. There's a few "nice" missions, such as rescuing people from a burning buildign which are a bit dull, but I suppose they had to put those there since Hulk is supposed to be a good guy (despite the fact you plough through people easily).

    And the best thing is, you can replay the story with all the moves you have, so that's what I'm going to do.

    Few minor niggles, there was one bug which saw me fall through the city floor and move around under the streets, but it only happened once in the entire game and jumping out solved the problem, still shouldn't have happened at all. As previously mentioned some of the side-mission are dull. And sometimes you get into seemingly impossible situations, such as the previously mentioned pursuit of the abomination which is incredibly overwhelming, that is until you find a solution, in that case being smashing a SSM launcher and weaponising it so you can fire the missles at the oncoming helicopters and harriers.

    I'm gonna start a second run-through tomorrow, and the forthcoming review will be quite positive.

    I think it's just about the right length too, any longer and I can definately see the game dragging on. Still I didn't get sick of it, and I'm starting second run-through tomorrow. Definately a sign of a good game, right?

  • The-Bodybuilder #46 7 years ago

    "The EG review score wasn't advertised before review. I only finished *writing* the review yesterday!"

    Really? Because I remember a few days ago seeing the little bannert to the right stating ""a smash hit" eurogamer 8/10". But yet I searched for the review and found nothing.

    And I'm not going crazy. I'm sure I saw that.

  • Blerk #47 7 years ago

    Tried the demo at the weekend. Seriously underwhelmed. Absolutely nothing to make me want to play more than the demo itself.

    /checks for pulse
    /gets coffee

  • krudster #48 7 years ago

    The Smash Hit quote was from our first impressions piece. There was no score attached to that.

    Clearly this is a game that's divided opinion. Comparing it to Rogue Agent is seriously wide of the mark, mind. Lothar Hex knows his onions!

  • kangarootoo #49 7 years ago

    To follow on from the comparison rhythm made to Spiderman 2. I understand where you are coming from regarding having "seen it all" in the first few hours, but with Spiderman 2 I was OK with that as the swinging about mechanic was so well done I was happy to do that purely for fun. I got all the way through and then bailed when the ridiculous end of game boss battle became a chore.

    Now I've not played Hulk, but if it has a good moving and smashing mechanic I may well be happy, even if it doesn't do much else. It may still disappoint me, but it seems that this game divides people into two camps. The ones who enjoy the smashing, running and jumping side of things enough to stay in the game, and those who need more progress and variation.

    Both groups are right of course, you can't tell a bored gamer they aren't bored and vice versa. Seems to me the review is the honest view of someone who falls into the first camp. There are clearly readers on here who loved the game, so to start suggesting bribes etc just because not everyone agrees with the score is a bit odd. I haven't seen a review yet that everyone agreed with on any website, so why has this one been singled out for suspicion?

  • krudster #50 7 years ago

    It's par for the course whenever people see ads. It goes with the territory, but hopefully the regulards can smack down that sort of talk on our behalf.

  • smelly #51 7 years ago

    (sorry about the caps, but i feel like shouting)

    WHAT IS IT WITH FORUM NERDS AND THEIR INABILITY TO READ PAST THE BLOODY SCORE?

    READ THE WORDS!!!

    Then once youve read the words you can decide if its your type of thing. The number at the end is just a summary for gawds sakes.

    It makes me wonder why websites/magazines even bother with writing long reviews if all people are going to do is look at a meaningless number.

  • PES_Fanboy #52 7 years ago

    it's not a meaningless number though, is it?

    It is the reviewers' opinion of how 'good' a game is. If a game came out of a genre that you liked, yet it roundly got panned with 3/10 etc, would you even contemplate buying it?

    Exactly. That's why, for someone like myself that no longer gets much time to play games, let alone read reviews, the review score is absolutely vital.

  • zErOb_cOOl #53 7 years ago

    "Exactly. That's why, for someone like myself that no longer gets much time to play games, let alone read reviews, the review score is absolutely vital"

    Exactly. We don't have time to be arsey/nit-picky about games =)

    We just want a short blast on something cool that is entertaining, and I think Hulk looks like it fits the bill.

    GOW is also good for this reason. Even though its short, its polished, highly enjoyable, a game you can easily do in short bursts, and basically gave me pleanty of entertainment for 30 smackers. More so than DVDs or something that I watch once/twice most of the time, before leaving it to gather dust for a couple of years.

    Anyway, way away from my point here. Basically, review scores are important to some people, and 9/10 times they are bang on.....now how accurate was my probability? Hmmmmm.

  • Furbs #54 7 years ago

    PES, I understand fully about the lack of time to play games, but surely you dont place a £35 purchase on the basis of a 3 digit number? You must have time to read the review?? If you only went on the number, you'd end up with all sorts of tat you didnt like.

  • PES_Fanboy #55 7 years ago

    Furbs, if it's a game that has got a decent score, and the kind I like, then yes of course I read the review.

    I don't, however, read reviews that have bad scores. I look at the scores before bothering to read reviews.

    Believe me, there's plenty of wasted £35s in my collection, because sometimes hype can get to every reviewer (StarFox), also I don't read reviews of every single game I buy (Championship Manager - the latest one - for example) - for various reasons.

    £35 is far less than the missus spends on shoes, and some of those she never wears. Should've read the review!

  • Dr_Actually #56 7 years ago

    " most gaming journalists don't know nothing about what make good games, "

    "As such, those simple, uninteresting superheroes aren't very well suited for making actually worthwhile games out of. "

    WWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwanker!



    "i dont konw why this game got 8 i would give it 5 every time you do a new mission or one of those bonus missions it has to load come on they could have fix that spiderman 2 is much better game "

    And I would give you a 2 out of ten for punctuation - did you type this in with your crayons?
    Edited by 2 at 12/09/05 @ 12:58

  • zErOb_cOOl #57 7 years ago

    "but surely you dont place a £35 purchase on the basis of a 3 digit number?"

    Actually you don't. The PS2 version is £25 from Play.com

  • kangarootoo #58 7 years ago

    @oerhört

    I think you might have a different definition of "entertaining" to the rest of us. In my book it covers things like "engaging". We could arm ourselves with dictionaries and argue the semantics of it, but I would say that IMO a game's only function is to entertain (edutainment type titles aside). It may entertain by informing the player, scaring the player, challenging the player etc, but its all in the name of entertainment.

    As for your comment about journalists not knowing what makea a good games. I'm not even quite sure what you mean by that. Are you saying they wouldn't make good developers? In some cases that may be true, and in others it is quite apparently not.

    But I don't think whether a journo understands what makes a good game is relevant, as their job is to report on their experience of playing a game, not build their own. The journalist reports in an informative way on their playing experience, giving mind to the likely experiences of their readership. I think the EG staff do that very well almost all of the time.

  • admir #59 7 years ago

    Doc _ A

    yes i did
    do u have a problem with taht
    Edited by 1 at 12/09/05 @ 22:39

  • Dr_Actually #60 7 years ago

    "Doc _ A

    yes i did
    do u have a problem with taht"


    Yep, yes I do - a massive problem the size of a galaxy. there you go.

    I have a problem with taking the opinion seriously of anyone who expresses themselves like one of the infinite monkeys. Anyone too bone-lazy to not bother to hit the shift key and turn 'i' into 'I' is obviously too lazy to truly engange their mind, so all your views are invalid. All of them. every single one you've ever conceived.

  • kangarootoo #61 7 years ago

    Hehe.

  • ABXY #62 7 years ago

    Played a demo of this, really get a buzz out of flying up buildings and smashing down on the floor destroying virtually everything.... pretty good frame rate on the xbox considering.....

  • Chtulie #63 7 years ago

    The graphics do lack any sense of style, but they have the right scale, and a functionality that's quite artistic. For all the stuff happening on screen, the action stays surprisingly clear (camera willing), even little touches, like items Hulk carries overhead becoming transparent so it won't abscure vision shw that a lot of thought went into the way the game is presented vidually from a practical standpoint at least.
    Audio has some great, great effects for stuff crumbling and crashing and the ambient is thankfully a lot more prenent then the at times eerily quiet spiderman 2.

    It's recommended to upgrade with the moves for running first, as these make sure you can keep moving and, well, combo-ing.

    I'm liking it very much, it does what it says on the tin and it does it very well without any actual mistake, so a score like Halo (which pretty much did the same thing, going for a pinnacle of quality gameplay rather then artistry of gamedesign) seems about right.

  • crashVoodoo #64 6 years ago

    little problem i have with this game is when i get surrounded by tanks and missile launchers and i just get completely spammed to death. you try to react or charge either a puch or jump to get the hell out of there or fight back and BANG! down you go again ... its a bit aggrevating to put it mildly. turned it off in disgust the other night and fired up burnout:revenge instead ...