HULK ultimate Destruction

 Hulk cause significant property damage without providing adequate reparation funds

So we all know Hulk, right? I'm being serious with the question, because whilst I feel like we've all heard of Hulk, given how the modern world's understanding of the Marvel Universe is almost solely formed by the machinations of the MCU, there's a chance some out there might not know this big green guy used to be the star of his own stuff too. Heck, Hulk even got 2 movies back in the day. (Two!) One of which used to put me to sleep regularly, and the second one (which acts as, but is crucially not, a sequel) starred an annoyed Edward Norton who found the popcorn material too limiting on his immortal form and shed the franchise before it could become officially part of the MCU, despite it still having one of those old school Nick Fury stings at the end. Actually, Marvel's What If has confirmed now that second movie (and my not-real proxy the first one too) is still part of the MCU, by animating one of the big action set pieces from the film with Mark Ruffalo recast into it. (Which, I guess, makes Banner's infatuation with Natasha an act of infidelity against Betty Ross, then. You don't think these thing through before you implement them, do you Marvel?)

You'd think this big green boy would be a perfect fit for games, given how the juvenile destruction-driven green alter ego of Bruce Banner lines up with the typical annihilation driven desires of your average video game enjoyer. But somehow there's only been a couple of Hulk games throughout the years too. (And I've played both, for some reason.) The 2003 Sony PS2 Hulk game was actually a part of my childhood, and I distinctly remember myself playing that very game the day I jumped on my bed too high and made a dent in the ceiling. (It was plasterboard, I'm not The Juggernaut) So take it for what you whatever you will, the fact that I'd rather cause bodily harm on myself than play that Hulk game, but (perhaps due to that very crash) I remember the game even less than the corresponding movie which, remember, I've fallen asleep during every time I've watched it. All I can remember is a fight against what my hazy memory is telling me was Red Hulk, but logical deduction says was most likely Abomination. Either way, it was so tough I genuinely thought the game was sentient and becoming harder each time I fought him. (That impression stuck through the concussion.) 

But then there was the other Hulk game, coming from 2005, so still on PlayStation 2, only this time based on the comic book licence. The Incredible Hulk Ultimate Destruction was a Hulk game smart enough not to make us endure extended sections where we play as Bruce Banner. I didn't think that needed to be learnt by society, but the original Hulk video game proved that otherwise. In fact, whereas that original one was based around levels which you spent mostly indoors trying to fight against small fire arms that really shouldn't so much as dent an unstoppable behemoth like yourself, Ultimate Destruction had honest to goodness free roam. I kid you not. They just set your Hulk free on two different playgrounds, one in the desert and the other in a city, and let you go absolutely hog wild in whatever way you wanted to. (Wow, remember how different things were when developers played games too?)

I've no stories of grievous self-inflicted bodily harm whilst playing Ultimate Destruction and that's because the eye candy on screen was more than enough to keep child me entertained. I'm talking about the sort of gameplay loop here that has players going running through the streets, picking up taxis and chucking them down the road whilst the military presence builds in the wake of all your carnage, before you leap up a building just high enough to run diagonally up it's face, leaving footprint gouges as you go. True destructive freedom that harkens back to that primal allure of smash-'em-up games like 'Rampage Total destruction'. (Another game that live rent free in my mind shack of twisted childhood influences.) Any one with even a passing liking of the Hulk has dreamt about what that sort of power would be like to wield, and short of buying those plastic Hulk fists that make the noise when they touch something, this game is the answer to that age-old conundrum.

I can't pretend to have been some sort of diehard Hulk fan my entire life. My biggest connection to the character goes back to that old 1996 cartoon with the iconic thudding drone behind the main theme of "Hulk, Hulk, Hulk, the incredible, Hulk, Hulk, Hulk". But I'd like to imagine that if I were a marvel comics Hulk aficionado, this game would have appealed directly to my comic nostalgia bone. They included, oft overlooked character, Doctor Samson, (Pre-Sasquatch, unfortunately) Abomination (obviously, can't have a Hulk anything without that dude) Hulkbusters (Not the Stark suit, the military versions) and even a surprise appearance from Devil Hulk, a character so obscure during this point of the lore that, despite my reverence for this game, I totally forgot his presence and boss fight prior to writing this blog. (I even watched the fight, no memories sparked whatsoever.)

Visually this is a game that really does show its age, but one of the boons of deciding not to base your game off of a movie but instead try for the comic iteration is that there's this lovely comic-book heart to the artistic style that ages much slower than the hardware powering it. Just look at the exaggerated gasp of strain that Hulk performs as he swings Abomination around by the head, that looks good even by today's standards. (Hell, FromSoftware still doesn't have NPCs that can open their mouths outside of cutscenes) In fact, for a 2005 game I have to say that Hulk doesn't look bad at all, but then when I compare it's contemporaries (RE4, Chaos Theory, Timesplitters 3) I guess 2005 was just a year for games that aged gracefully. It just makes me all the more sad that this is one of those titles that disappeared from licensing before it got a PC launch, because I would love to load up this smasher once more.

One of my favourite things about it, the reason I still bring it up to this day whenever there's a conversation about good super hero games and the sorts of building blocks you'd need to make another classic in the future, was the levelling system. Now I know, every modern adventure game and their Karen side-cut sporting mother has a levelling system and typically I find them annoying and badly conceived. But back in 2005, during an age where we knew how to make action adventure games a bit better, (as we should, every other game was one) levelling and upgrades had a lot more impact. I remember being so excited when I finally unlocked the ability for Hulk to lift up a large truck and bisect it so that he could fashion each half into boxing gloves. That move is my single most vivid memory of this entire game, and it was an unlock which made me feel so powerful for having pursued it. Why can't we have more stuff like that nowadays, rather than boring stat gains or buffed healing rates? (Some modern games do it right, but Ubisoft is not one of them. Which is strange given how heavily they've jumped down the throat of RPG levelling systems.)

Unfortunately Hulk is another game that I couldn't play, making this not a review but more a wistful guide into a loving memory I once had. A memory of a superhero game that was cool for being exactly what you wanted from this character. I didn't care much for the villains, or the heroes, or even the story at large, (as is evident from the fact I totally forgot the major appearance of the, now mainstream comic badguy, Devil Hulk) I just wanted to blow things up and this was game that catered to that in spades. We don't really get many comic book hero games anymore (thanks Disney) so it's nice to reminisce about the good ones now and then. Especially given Bruce Banner's bench-warmer status in the MCU pretty much dooming the character to not have star-power for any project in the near future, we may never get another Hulk game again. And that might make me sad, but I have a feeling there's a fictional bespeckled nerd living out of an old run-down church who finds that news very angering. And the thing about this nerd- you wouldn't like him when he's angry.