September 6, 2005
@ 03:13 PM

I picked up The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction for the XBox this weekend and I've been hooked on it. The IGN review says it all

the development team has axed the structured, linear levels of its last Hulk adventure and opened things up into an expansive free-roaming world. While not based on any real-life city like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas or Spider-Man 2, Ultimate Destruction still maintains an authentic urban feel to it -- with bridges, hospitals, moving traffic, and pedestrians that all have one thing in common: they're certain unavoidable targets for the basketball-sized fists of Ol' Greenskin.

What makes attacking these targets so fun, though, is that just about everything you encounter is completely deformable: Various types of autos break and smash into pieces, trees and lampposts are uprooted from their bases, explosions go off in just about every direction, and sometimes even buildings themselves crack and crumble to the ground. "Ultimate Destruction" is exactly what this experience offers and as the Incredible Hulk himself, there's little you can't do to make the game live up to its title.

But if all you could do was run around the city smashing things up with a small repertoire of moves, then the Incredible Hulk would grow old pretty quickly...There are a number of combos, weapon strikes, grabs, throws, and chains that you can perform because of this, as well, and just about every single one of them are incredibly cool.

Want to smash a bus into flattened metal and then use it as a shield? Go right ahead! Would you prefer to shatter a radio tower and use the leftover antenna as a javelin? You can do that too! You can even crush boulders into near-perfect circles and play oversized bowling or clang two cars together to form makeshift boxing gloves that inflict additional damage. And just when you though you've seen it all, a new mission comes along that requires you to hop onto a harrier jet and wrestle it to the ground or bash a cargo truck over your head for use as a Metal Gear Solid-inspired cardboard box disguise for sneaking into military bases. Needless to say, the move progression system here is perfect (using a traditional purchase system not unlike Onimusha or Devil May Cry) and steadily transforms you from a mindless oversized pugilist into an unstoppable engine of destruction. I love it.

This game is fantastic and I'm surprised that it hasn't been rated higher in the various reviews I've seen. It's definitely the best game I've seen for the XBox this year.


 

Tuesday, September 6, 2005 5:04:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
I've heard so many good things about this game, but have so far resisted the temptation to pick it up. I'm not too keen on super hero games, as most of them are crap.

I may pick this up from Blockbuster and give it go....
Thursday, September 8, 2005 11:48:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
You aren't really a "hero" in this game. You destroy public property, battle with the US army and even clobber innocent pedestrians.

If anything this is a super villain game.
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