Overview

Excelsior!

Yes, as a matter of fact I am a comic-book geek. I’ve been a Marvel Comics true believer since 1974, when my mother got me a large format reprint of Spider-Man taking on the Sinister Six. That book is still part of my comic archive, which has grown over the past 29 years to include some 20,000 issues. And it’s still growing, to the tune of $20 a week on new books at my friendly neighborhood comic shop and whatever else I spend on trade paperbacks at eBay. Okay, so it’s a bit of a sickness.

Meet Bruce Banner

You wouldn't like him...

...when he's angry

But it’s a sickness that a good chunk of the world has picked up of late. Marvel movies have dominated the box office the past few years, with the X-Men and Spider-Man franchises giving the comic-book creators a veritable license to print money. The latest addition to the ever-expanding list of Marvel heroes making their silver-screen debuts is the Hulk, who of course gets a computer game just in time to goose the box-office receipts. Surprisingly, the game does just that. Where monstrosities like the recent Enter the Matrix and last year’s mediocre Spider-Man have practically driven people out of theaters, Radical Entertainment has done a great job moving the not-so-jolly green giant from big screen to monitor screen. It may be a simple beat-em-up with an occasionally annoying control system, but it perfectly captures the spirit of the old Incredible Hulk comics.

Hulk Smash Axl Rose

That spirit is best seen in Story mode, which follows scientist Bruce Banner as he continues to flee from the US military a year after the events depicted in the movie. In a desperate ploy to rid himself of his verdant, XXXXL-sized alter-ego once and for all, he meets a former co-worker who claims that the gamma radiation can be removed from his body. Of course, the whole thing is a trap, and Bruce’s supposed pal uses the situation to take the gamma rays for himself, turning him into a Hulk-like creature called Ravage. At this point, you turn into the Hulk and go after him, setting off a merry chase through many levels that causes more destruction than even a cancelled Guns ’n’ Roses concert. (What decade are you living in, old man? -ed.)

Hand-clap sonic boom

Soldiers begone!

Coco-butt

Games don’t get any more lightweight than this, although it’s hard to complain too much when you’re holding bad guys with one giant mitt and bitchslapping them with the other, and throwing Buicks into helicopters. That’s pretty much the game in a nutshell when you’re controlling the Hulk, who has to smash and bash his way from Point A to Point B in every level. There isn’t a whole lot of finesse to playing this game, which is probably as it should be considering the subject matter. One button punches, another grabs the nearest baddie, another activates a special gamma-radiation move, and another jumps. You can string together some rudimentary combos by quick-tapping certain buttons. Two meters need to be watched. One shows your current life force, which can be bolstered by picking up gamma power-ups left by defeated enemies, and the other your rage level. Top up the latter and the Hulk goes into a frenzy, opening up access to special attacks and making regular attacks more powerful.