This has been the year of movie licensed videogames. Is that good or bad? Well we are about to find out. How much has changed since the past failures of video games with movie license rights? Quite a bit you can rest assured. Now this notion is nothing new, but the final result has come a long way since Gizmo, Wolverine, or Yo! Noid graced the console.

In the past it was thought that with a movie license and a few characters from the movie (with a similar story line to unfold as you play) you could instantly produce a great game. This has been proven false many times over. Actually it’s safe to say blockbuster movies strayed far from the video game industry scene on purpose. One notable example on this look to LucasArts, lately they have had some great hits, but I recall a lot of pc games that people bought solely because it had the brand name ‘Star Wars’, did that mean you bought a quality game? We should all know the answer to that!

With solid releases like Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, and Spiderman, the timing for The Hulk release couldn’t have been any better. Now this title itself won’t ‘sink or rise’ what happens in the future with regards to movie/video game licensing, but it may help clue publishers and movie head-haunchos into what exactly makes a good game and a great game.

The game begins in a desert where Hulk (also known as scientist Bruce Banner) is tearing apart helicopters, slaughtering soldiers, and destroying everything around him. Right off the bat you were thrown into the smash/bash aspect of the game. Everything you see on your screen is fully interactive. That means you could pick up the nearest pipe and swing or toss it, lift up cars and anything else your ‘raging green heart’ desired! Even though the smashing aspect of Hulk was nothing less than sheer joy, the second part of this game was far less enjoyable. That part would be stealth; believe it or not the Hulk needs to creep around at certain points in the game. Of course he does it in his far less psychically superior form, which is the weakling scientist Bruce Banner.

One of the biggest draws this title has is the mindless bashing you do from stage to stage. Oh lord it’s fun! There were a decent variety of attacks like the plasma release, tossing foes, and bashing them into the ground or into your other fist. Better yet, while you continue to smash away unworthy foes, you collect power ups that increase your rage meter. When this finally fills up, you are literally invincible for a good sixty seconds. During this time you will do massive damage to everything in your way, each move you do splashes damage to everything around you. Yet while you’re smashing things as the Hulk you will notice one part of the mayhem that could have been developed better. That would be the attack combo’s; they are only three buttons long! Which in some cases isn’t bad, but it does create a very repetitive feeling to this specific game. It was pretty wild to see people smashed into the floor, thrown at other enemies, and the like, but what was given could have been expanded. When I hit one button twice and hit a second button once in order to kill someone it leaves me feeling things are a bit simple, or maybe aimed at a younger audience. I guess the scientist over at Universal Interactive made the Hulk more than just incredible, but rather a one man wrecking machine!

I felt this could have been just as great without the stealth missions, but all around it does add depth to the storyline as the game progresses. When you play as Dr. Banner (AKA the weenie) it will dawn on you just how much he needs his green alter ego. The guards will shoot you down in about four shots. If you engage these guys one on one you will easily be overwhelmed. So to survive you have to walk around cautiously and sneak up on each guard and perform a quiet kill from behind. You can still interact with the background (such as moving boxes, climbing up things, pulling levers, hacking a computer) as the human counterpart to The Hulk. If there was any draw back to the stealth process it wasn’t the controls, or the complicated steps behind getting to each point of the stage, it was more that the camera angles left you stranded. I found myself switching between first and third person view to try see what’s around the corner, what was in front of me and the like. Aside from my few quirks with typical errors stated earlier, the game is about as solid as you’d expect from a green guy who has pectoral muscles the size of my whole body!

Graphically this is one of the most unique looking titles that has hit the market yet. This is the true strength of cel-shading and could it be reached on a better title? I think not. You will witness the first use of pastel based watercolors that were merged with simply awesome cel-shading techniques. The end result is something like a comic book coming to life before your eyes. For the most part the cel-shading is focused on the characters, but the background is more of a digitally enhanced backdrop. With a few exceptions like the pipes on the wall, the boulders on the ground, and other goodies you interact with.

Both Hulk and Bruce Banner flow through the levels with plenty of animation, and look as realistic as you would expect from a comic book that was playing on your TV. The real eye candy though is when you finish destroying everything in your path, and your about to go to the next level, I wager a bet you will find yourself smiling at the destruction you caused. I sure took glee in my destructive work. Everything you destroy and interact with remains the way you left it. Simply said, ‘what you break stays broken.’ If you were to jump in the air, you would cause a huge dent in the cement below your feet.

Well, I had my Dolby surround sound ready. I didn’t expect anything spectacular but what I got was nothing less than a comic book fans ultimate treat. Even though the sounds alone were just above average, there were many decent things to keep you marveling. First off the game was packed full of high quality voice acting to emphasize all the gunshots and smashing/bashing sound effects.

One of the main highlights to the voice covers was Bruce Banner’s dialogue. Though he thought things to himself they were spoken aloud letting you truly see how he struggled with himself over dilemmas. Oddly enough the music score mimicked Bruce Banner and how he felt at certain points during the game. It didn’t blow me away, but it was fitting for each development throughout the game. When the action subsided and you were treated to some more dialogue you were left drooling for the cut scenes.