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The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction Review: Is It Worth It?

A picture of The Incredible Hulk, drawn to look like a comic panel. Hulk is looking toward the camera and screaming as he smashes through a wall.

The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction Review: Is It Worth It?

For those that like all the smashing and crashing that went on in Godzilla: Destroy all Monsters, thye are going to love 2005’s The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. The developers at Radical Entertainment know what Hulk does best: fight and smash things. They’ve packed this game with enough raucous mayhem to satisfy all of the community’s destructive urges, and then some.

Radical Entertainment must have seen enough potential when they did the movie-inspired version of the Incredible Hulk (simply titled The Hulk) that they decided to make another game featuring the character. It’s not a sequel so much as it is a revisiting of the legend. They’ve listened to the criticism from the first game, and have delivered a game that’s full of action – which means it’s short on Banner and long on Hulk. This is the best Hulk game yet made. 

A screenshot from The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, featuring Hulk throwing a rocket at an enemy.
The Hulk smash continues in this game.

Destructive Environments and Improvised Weapons

Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction takes place in a city and out in the badlands. In both environments, there are plenty of things to smash. There is a freedom to the game that evokes GTA, though the city isn’t as large as the maps in that series. It’s kind of like a big movie set. There are limitations to where players can go and what they can do, but the non-linear approach to the gameplay allows players to discover the adventure on their own. In this way, players are the Hulk, and events are triggered through their actions.

 While players can run around and smash things such as cars, lampposts, trees, fences, bridges, and buildings, there’s some strategy to the gameplay; they can actually use some of the things that they destroy to help. For instance, players can use items such as a bus for shields. Or they can knock down a radio antenna and hurl it like a spear. The Hulk has lots of moves that make him very flexible in combat. With combos, chains, weapon attacks, and throws, the Hulk is able to defend himself against a variety of enemies and their weapons.

A screenshot of The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, depicting Hulk fighting some mechs.
Different kinds of enemies force players to adjust tactics.

A Variety of Enemies

His immediate enemies are the local law enforcers who shoot at him with various guns. Later on, he faces the army that is armed with tanks, rocket launchers, missiles, harrier jets, and choppers. Hulk can jump and avoid some of these attacks, but he’s eventually going to have to get a hold of some of these weapons and destroy them with his bare hands. Controlling him as he singlehandedly brings down a harrier jet is satisfying, to say the least.

Bosses, which are peppered throughout the campaign, increase the level of difficulty. Some of these guys can take out an entire city block with one attack. At one point, Hulk takes on a giant mech specifically designed to destroy him. Other enemies such as the Abomination and Mercury will definitely give players’ button-pressing skills a workout. It’s not that the gameplay requires button mashing as much as it requires a methodical approach to using the right moves and combos. This may stand in contrast to The Hulk‘s portrayal of a wild behemoth, but remember that his fighting skills are almost supernaturally controlled. If there’s one thing the Hulk is hard-wired to perform instinctively, it’s combat. It’s going to take some time to perfect but even just practicing skills is fun. The free-range mode lets players get in as much practice as they need without the pressure of completing missions.

Screenshot from Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, showing Hulk smashing a city street.
The Hulk doing what he does best.

Great Talent Involved

Comic book author Paul Jenkins lends his writing talents to the production, and Ron Perlman provides us with some excellent voiceovers. The result is a game that looks and sounds good, with a storyline that would do Marvel proud. It’s like a “greatest hits” of comic book scenes come to life.

Final Thoughts

There are some flaws here and there, but they’re few and far between and mostly minor enough to overlook. The game can be repetitive at times, but the core gameplay is enjoyable enough that it never becomes boring to repeat the same tasks. Plenty of unlockables and a documentary of the making of the game included on the disk will ensure people get their money’s worth. Overall, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is well worth the investment for fans of Marvel Comics or action games in general.

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