As the Hulk, you'll essentially be running from one end of a level to another, beating on a variety of opponents, smashing through walls, and generally running amok. You'll occasionally run into sections where you'll have to target something specific before you can advance, but for the most part, the action is simple, fast-paced, and fairly brutal. The Hulk has at his disposal a small yet potent arsenal of attacks. There's the simple punch attack, which you can tap for some quick three-hit combos and hold in to charge up your punches. The charge-up effect is pretty cool, especially when you use it mid-jump, as it will leave you hanging in the air for a couple of beats before you launch toward your target. You can mix up the three-hit combos a bit by using the Hulk's hand-clap attack, which creates a sonic boom that can knock down and disorient enemies. The Hulk is also able to grab enemies and knock them around a bit, or use them as projectiles. Actually, the Hulk can grab just about anything and use it as a melee or projectile weapon, and this ability is complemented by the game's semi-destructible environments. You can knock down pillars, break pipes, or bust straight through walls, which gives you plenty of debris to use against your enemies. The Hulk also has a rage meter that fills up as you give and receive damage. Once the meter fills, the Hulk gets even angrier, which temporarily gives his punches more wallop and allows you to trigger some special attacks. The game has joypad and keyboard support, and though a good joypad with analog support gives you a bit more precision, the gameplay in The Hulk isn't that exacting, and using the keyboard alone works surprisingly well.
The gameplay does an excellent job of making you feel like you are the Hulk. Simply jumping creates huge cracks in the floor, and your fighting will leave the environments in ruins. You also dish out absurd amounts of damage on your enemies, whose greatest strength seems to be numbers. Indeed, the game will throw a virtually never-ending stream of enemies at you, including regular army men, gamma dogs, a variety of gamma-enhanced soldiers, and even some anti-Hulk robots. If you do clear a room, it only takes a couple of seconds for more enemies to pour in, so your usual plan of attack is to beat back the opposition just enough to move on to the next area. Unfortunately, the game breaks up the simple-but-satisfying Hulk action with sequences where you play as the Hulk's alter ego, Bruce Banner. These sequences blend basic stealth action with some crate pushing and switch flipping, as well as the hot new gameplay mechanic for 2003, the fake-hacking minigame. In The Hulk, the minigame gives you two strings of numbers and 20 seconds to make them match up by switching the positions of two numbers at a time, which is neither challenging nor particularly fun. The Bruce Banner sequences in The Hulk really bring the whole experience down, as they aren't as engaging or as fully developed as the pure Hulk action sequences.
The story mode in The Hulk clocks in at well under 10 hours, and though the Hulk sections are good fun, the sheer simplicity of the gameplay will probably leave you pleased that it didn't go on any longer. Though, if you want to deal more damage as the Hulk, the game also offers a survival mode, a time attack mode, and the aptly named Hulk Smash! mode, which gives you a train yard full of destructible objects and a time limit.
The gameplay does an excellent job of making you feel like you are the Hulk. Simply jumping creates huge cracks in the floor, and your fighting will leave the environments in ruins. You also dish out absurd amounts of damage on your enemies, whose greatest strength seems to be numbers. Indeed, the game will throw a virtually never-ending stream of enemies at you, including regular army men, gamma dogs, a variety of gamma-enhanced soldiers, and even some anti-Hulk robots. If you do clear a room, it only takes a couple of seconds for more enemies to pour in, so your usual plan of attack is to beat back the opposition just enough to move on to the next area. Unfortunately, the game breaks up the simple-but-satisfying Hulk action with sequences where you play as the Hulk's alter ego, Bruce Banner. These sequences blend basic stealth action with some crate pushing and switch flipping, as well as the hot new gameplay mechanic for 2003, the fake-hacking minigame. In The Hulk, the minigame gives you two strings of numbers and 20 seconds to make them match up by switching the positions of two numbers at a time, which is neither challenging nor particularly fun. The Bruce Banner sequences in The Hulk really bring the whole experience down, as they aren't as engaging or as fully developed as the pure Hulk action sequences.
The story mode in The Hulk clocks in at well under 10 hours, and though the Hulk sections are good fun, the sheer simplicity of the gameplay will probably leave you pleased that it didn't go on any longer. Though, if you want to deal more damage as the Hulk, the game also offers a survival mode, a time attack mode, and the aptly named Hulk Smash! mode, which gives you a train yard full of destructible objects and a time limit.
