I know I'm a little late to the gamne for reviewing PS2 games, but I'm a avid retro gamer here for other retro gamers. The Incredible Hulk - Ultimate Destruction has glimmers of fun moments. Some of the retrival missions can be very satifying, and it's hella fun to kick the crap out of the bad guys. You genininely feel like an unstoppable force of incredible strength, and the ways the game enables Hulk to use that strength is quite inventive. I was also surprised by the level of talent they were able to secure for the voice acting. Avid movie-goers will easily pick out big Hollywood names Ron Perlman as Blonsky and Neal McDonough as Bruce Banner. I suppose IHUD was developed during a period when everyone was trying to get in on the ground floor of an newly emerging MCU, before the real one came along anyway.
However the game is often hampered but two big things: excruciatingly frustrating gameplay and chaotic graphics. They really put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the 'destruction' part of the title, but virtually every fight, (particularily boss fights) have so much going on, that a lot of the time, I had no idea where I was, or what I was supposed to be doing. There was so much debris, limbs, smoke, etc. flying around that I couldn't see what was happening and would end up losing the fight. This was extremely irritating. And wherever someone would land a good hit on Hulk, he flys up in the air, backwards, on his back, in slow motion. What is the point of this? All you want to do is get back in the fight, but it feels like the Hulk is floating around taking a nap most of the time. This slow, plodding mechanic just further exaserbates the confoundingly disappointing gameplay of the fight sequences.
And then there's the graphics. They seemed pretty archaic, even by PS2 standards. Someone went really overboard on the anti-aliasing during delevelopment. So much of the game seems blurrly and hard of focus on. Especially in the title menus. The cutscenes look like something I would have seen on a PS1. I was definately expecting more.
Even though you feel pretty powerful in IHUD, it comes at a cost. Everything around you feels like paper, especially pedestrians. Innocent people and property are flying around like lemmings and the Hulk is supposed to be concidered a hero? And why do they only address this near the end of the game? It feels hollow and not very aware of itself because of this.
And isn't the Hulk virtually invulnerable? I know it's hard to make a compelling title when you're main character is unstoppable (looking at you, Superman), but it's kind of hard to get on board with a game that can take out the Hulk with a few missle hits. I think IHUD would have benefited from more goal-oriented missions and not so much emphasis on combat. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous in this case, but this is the Hulk we're talking about.... He's the strongest there is. Unfortunately, the game is one of the weakest there is.