The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction - Hands On Preview

With Vivendiâ??s previous Hulk videogame enjoying as much critical acclaim as Ang Leeâ??s 2002 motion-picture adaptation, the prospect of yet another comic-book tie-in hardly fills us with glee, in fact fearing yet another generic license adaptation itâ??s fair to say that the Hulkâ??s wrath and anger would be no match for ours...

However the fact remains that The Incredible Hulk sold well for Vivendi-Universal and Radical Entertainment with over 3 million units shifted to date, so a follow-up always seemed to be on the cards. This time around however thereâ??s no movie license to restrict the developers creativity, and with Spider-Man 2 raising the bar of expectation, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction has changed around somewhat.

Firstly you can say goodbye to mind-numbingly meaningless Bruce Banner stealth sections and cell-shaded visuals, instead Ultimate Destruction focuses entirely on recreating the Hulk faithfully â?“ his power, the carnage, intensity and perhaps a little of his softer side. Generic action gameplay has been replaced with an open-ended experience, placing the Hulk in an environment where he can leap anywhere, climb anything and smash everything â?“ bringing structures crumbling to the ground and tossing jet-planes around like yo-yoâ??s. The main emphasis for the team is to replicate the Hulkâ??s strengths, to the point of the team being adamant that all gamers will feel a sense of power when it comes to picking up the pad; having enjoyed a number of occasions with Ultimate Destruction, itâ??s fair to say that the team have most certainly achieved this goal.

The Hulk has a huge variety of moves at his dispersal and he does feel powerful, more importantly the gravity defying leaps have been faithfully incorporated within the game, ensuring the intensity along with the Hulkâ??s strength has been accurately recreated for possibly the first time in a videogame. Certainly swinging around Manhattan in Spider-Man 2 proved to be more enjoyable then the actual game; equally itâ??s fun to just leap around and smash things up in the Ultimate Destruction, however Radical are taking one step ahead to ensure that the actual game keeps you coming back long after the initial buzz dies down.

Specific details on the storyline are being kept a closely guarded secret for now, however we do know that it has been written by Eisner Award-winning comic-book writer, Paul Jenkins, and pits the Hulk in a battle against time as he faces up to his inner demons. A previous interview with the team at Radical during the gameâ??s announcement shed a little light, with confirmation that Emil Blonsky appears during the start as head of â??The Divisionâ? tasked with capturing the Hulk; presumably things donâ??t go to plan as the appearance of Abomination in the gameâ??s trailer proves.

The story unfolds throughout 30 different missions divided up into 8 chapters throughout the City and Badlands environment; however itâ??s the 40+ side missions that are likely to keep you coming back for more â?“ one particular example say the Hulk donning a peak cap and chequered trousers tucked into the socks, picking up a steel girder to play out his own take on a golfing driving range.

Possibly the major feature of the game and certainly one that has had a lot of attention focussed upon it is the â??Weaponizationâ? system, which essentially turns the world into a weapon and allows him to utilise virtually any object within the game to his advantage. Examples include ripping a vehicle in half to use each half as iron boxing gloves, or perhaps picking up a bus to act as a shield and then throwing it to the ground and using it as a makeshift surfing board â?“ Hulk style... The environment has been aptly designed around this feature and so youâ??ll come across plenty of signature Americana advertising objects such as huge spheres and billboards to pick up and use.

Naturally the Hulkâ??s also got an arsenal of super moves at his dispersal, requiring a certain amount of energy to charge and activate which can be replenished by collecting green orbs across the map. Weâ??ve yet to see the full extent of these, however one trick that did pay off is the Atomic Slam, which sees the Hulk charging up a slam in mid-air, come crashing down to the ground and the action slowing down to stylishly depict the devastating results of the technique. Over 150 moves are featured within the game to give some indication of the depth of the combat system to be found within Ultimate Destruction, more importantly itâ??s just fun, fun, fun on a grand scale.

At this stage the sheer fluidity of movement, combined with the Hulks intensity and power along with an awesome arsenal of moves provides the most satisfying aspect of the game; a lot of your time can seemingly be idled away just wrecking carnage on the streets and having a good time with it. In keeping with the living, breathing city design, various military forces will soon show up if you unleash the Hulkâ??s more aggressive side, however itâ??s entirely up to the player â?“ grab hold of an innocent civilian and hear their screams, leap up to the top of a skyscraper and deicide whether you want to pop them back down to ground with a pat on the head or throw them as far as the eye can see. Whether or not thereâ??s more to the good/evil side other then ramping up the military force against the Hulk remains to be seen,

One aspect that Ultimate Destruction looks easily to accomplish is presenting truly epic boss encounters to the player. Weâ??ve only seen brief snippets from these, however itâ??s fair to say that they will test the Hulkâ??s strengths to the extreme; billed as one of the â??smallerâ? bosses we saw the Hulk square up against a mech of some sorts that towered into the clouds!