$20 Game of the Week: Hulk – Ultimate Destruction (Xbox, Gamecube, PS2)

We have a new Hulk movie coming out this summer, and Sega is supplying us the prerequisite tie-in game to go along with it. Here is hope that it’s good, but with the flop of the recent Iron Man game, Marvel fans may have to prepare for the worst. However, there is a bit of hope for it, as preliminary screens indicate that the game resembles this 2005 classic from Radical and Sierra. That can be considered somewhat of a good thing too, as Ultimate Destruction was the first really good Hulk game. It helped bring players into the role of the Hulk the same way that Activision’s Spider-man 2 video game did. It (along with Scarface:The World Is Yours which came a year later) also proved that Radical entertainment was adept of creating good open-world experiences that weren’t rip offs of Grand Theft Auto.

Ultimate Destruction is a sequel to Sierra’s previous Hulk effort, which had caught heavy criticism for several gameplay issues. The biggest among these issues were the painfully slow-paced stealth levels where players controlled Bruce Banner. Ultimate Destruction rectified this issue, and you play as the not-so-jolly green giant for a majority of the game. Aided by Doc Samson, Bruce Banner attempts to find a cure for his condition. However, things get complicated, and you’ll soon be dealing with General Ross, the Hulkbusters, and the Abomination.

Gameplay takes place in an open world environment. You’re free to either take the missions at your will, take on the various challenge missions, or just roam the city causing chaos. Like any good open-world game, the most fun to be had is in randomly causing chaos, and Hulk has a lot of ways which he can do that. He has several attacks and combos which can be purchased using points you earn during the game. He can lift up objects and make them into weapons. For instance he can make various objects into a shied by flattening them, rip a car in half and make a pair of steel fists out of it, or simply use a large object as a bat. The Hulk is surprisingly agile. He can run up the side of walls, scale buildings, and jump long distance. Similar to Spider-man 2, he can charge his jumps to leap higher. There is also a wealth of unlockables to find, including comic book covers, files on enemies, and hidden costumes.

Just like the various Spider-man games, the Punisher, and even Marvel Ultimate Alliance, Hulk Ultimate Destruction does an excellent job of placing players into the role of a super hero. You can find it just about anywhere, and most stores have it for below $10. If Sega’s effort turns out half as good as this, then Bruce Banner’s alter ego will have one less thing to be angry about. By the way, this is backwards compatible on the Xbox 360.