It lives up to it's name.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate destruction is a fairly straight forward, arcade-ishly fun time, that felt like a Side-Scrolling Beat'em up, except it was in 3D. It doesn't revolutionize the Super Hero Video Game genre, but it does offer enough entertainment to keep you playing until the end.
Here's the key items that I think impact the game-play the most.
The Hulk: He's in it; a must for Hulk fans. He's big, tough, and represented quite well I think (of course I'm admittedly not a Hulk aficionado). The game also makes sure that you play only as the Hulk. I'm sure it may have been interesting to have you play as Bruce Banner, maybe in a couple of stealth levels or something like that. At the same time, I don't think it would've been worth the variety, since people who buy a game with a name like this probably want to play as the Hulk as much as they can.
Damageables - You can pick up people, lamp posts, trees, concrete road barriers, cars, buses, and pretty much anything equal in size to or smaller than a tank or small mech suit, and use it as a weapon. You don't have to look hard to find something you can pick up and throw. Most vehicles will also show visible damage as you pound on them. Streets will crack when you land on them after a high jump. Bricks and concrete will crumble off buildings as you run up the sides of them. All very nice. Sadly, it's the larger mechs that disappoint in the visible damage arena. Sure, they'll light on fire, but I never really noticed much actual damage on them until they're about to explode. You kind of lose that sense of power you're suppose to have when your charged up flying fist attack doesn't even put a dent in the armor.
Side Tasks: There's plenty to choose from, and some of them are quite fun. One kind in particular has you searching the rooftop for soldiers with rocket launchers, and you have to take them out before time runs out. More often than not though, the bonus missions are more like mini-games. Some players may get a kick out of them, but somehow giant-inflatable-gorilla-sailing didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the game-play.
Camera: It's not great. It works best when your target is a few blocks away, and in front of you. When you get into close combat situations, you can lose sight of your target and lose sight of yourself. During some the more hectic scenes in the second have of the game, the busy scenes can cause confusion as to what's going on. In these tight situation, you just use the lock-on feature, mash the buttons, and hope you hit something.
Controls : Like the Hulk himself, they lack finesse. The lack of responsiveness can make it too hard to pull off precise moves, or change tactics in the middle of an action or combo.
Upgrades: Probably the best part of the game for me, there's plenty of new moves to unlock and purchase with the smash points you collect throughout the game.
After you've played through the story missions, and tire of the bonus objectives you can just run around the environment causing havoc, and raising your "threat level" until the authorities feel the need to try and put a stop to your destruction, and start throwing random bad guys at you.
It's the kind of fun that can probably best be described as "Weeeee!". Nothing serious and holds some entertainment, but wasn't overly memorable with a few frustrating battles thrown in the mix. It's worth a look if you're into super hero games, and it's probably a must have if you're a Hulk fan.Read full review
