The Incredible Hulk trailer looks incredibly bland

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 29th 2008 at 1:30PM }

We all heard the resounding groan that resulted when fans of 2005's well received Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction learned that Radical Entertainment and Vivendi would not be creating the video game adaptation for the upcoming cinematic stab at the muscle-bound, chartreuse hothead. Well, after watching this debut trailer for The Incredible Hulk, we'll see your groan, and raise you an extremely disappointed sigh.

Throwing Ultimate Destruction's havoc-wreaking formula to the wind, the adaptation will apparently focus on our favorite lesser-known pastimes of the green meanie: moving very slowly, getting repeatedly knocked over, and being stomped on by robots. If this trailer is any indication of what we can expect from the final product, we think we'd rather spend $60 to have Lou Ferrigno pummel us for a few hours. It would be much less painful, and he could probably use the cash.

(We're joking, of course. We love you, Lou. Please don't hurt us.)

Tags: edgeofreality, hulk, incredible-hulk, incrediblehulk, marvel, sega, theincrediblehulk, ultimate-destruction

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Psykoboy2 @ Mar 29th 2008 1:49PM

If there's more video elsewhere of the game, I'd like to see it. But based off of the VERY little shown here, I don't follow your reasoning of this being a bad game. I agree that the trailer itself is bland, but I just can't yet pass judgment on the game itself at the moment.

What I do seem to gather from this is a graphical upgrade of Ultimate Destruction. Hell, even the jump animation looks the same, as well as ripping the cars in half and molding them as fists for...well, ultimate destruction.

I'm not so sure I want a prettier UD, but I would like to see more of the game.

Mal F4cti0n @ Mar 29th 2008 2:43PM

Yeah, I thought the same thing; the game looks like a graphical upgrade of the older game.

Not sure what else they could do with the game, and with the theory of delivering the same formula that was previously successful, I would imagine they wouldn't change too much.

Maybe that is the reason for the collective groan; same old, same old.

meh

Vidikron (FU) @ Mar 29th 2008 3:21PM

Agreed. I don't know what Joystiq saw when they watched that trailer, because to me it looked like it played exactly like the previous game, but with much better graphics.

Gunner McGrath @ Mar 29th 2008 11:50PM

I second that as well.. joystiq, are we watching the same video? this is practically the definition of "sequel".

aristokrat @ Mar 29th 2008 1:49PM

I guess I shouldn't have gone into that looking for the Hulk to get knocked over and get stuck on his back, arms and legs flailing uselessly. That made that trailer look better than it probably was. Why do you build me up, Joystiq-cup...?

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 29th 2008 2:01PM

Hmm, so the Iron Man game looks shit hot, but after they did a Hulk game right, they decided to change the formula?

War Flame @ Mar 29th 2008 2:07PM

WTH your full of it joystiq this is just like Ultimate Destruction and he doesn't fall down at all in the trailer, he gets knocked back once. Seriously what the hell are you watching..

ApolloIV @ Mar 29th 2008 2:12PM

Someone beat Mr.McElroy up as a kid. His name starts with an H and rhymes with bulk

ZeroCorpse @ Mar 29th 2008 2:14PM

Agreed, War Flame. Did Joystiq watch the same trailer? This looks EXACTLY like Ultimate Destruction with prettier graphics, which is a GOOD thing.

He gets knocked back once, not "repeatedly". He doesn't get "stomped on" by a robot, but stops a GIANT robot from stomping him by shoving it's foot back rather forcefully, and he doesn't move any more slowly than he did in IH:UD.

Are you guys smoking idiots' underwear or something? That's about what we WANTED from a Hulk game: Ultimate Destruction in 16:9 with better graphics.

J-Boogie @ Mar 29th 2008 2:33PM

*ahem*

Yeah, guys? Are we remembering the same Ultimate Destruction? That awesome game that I feel is one of the best 'Superhero' games ever? Lemme give a bulletpoint or two of why this trailer is worrying.

- Hulk moves slow. But he did in Ultimate Destruction, too. The difference is that you had the speedrun button. They don't show any speed running here and that worries me because it was a useful thing.

- That jumping seems... iffy. At least when you were chain jumping in UD it seemed like you at least hit the floor before you leapt again. This could just be a fault of the trailer framerate.

- Move variety: *This* is my main worry. Ultimate Destruction had a wide range of moves and abilities that you unlocked and had as you went through the game. I want to know if the new game will have this or not. And the limited range of attacks shown in the trailer doesn't ease my worries about it or not.

I'm not completely knocking it yet. Smashing up buildings is sweet and the game looks really good, too. But it doesn't 'look' good if you understand my meaning.

People need to understand this isn't the same development team that did H:UD. They're working on Prototype. I was looking forward to this game *and* Prototype filling my sandbox smash-o-rama needs but if Incredible Hulk doesn't pan out, then I guess I'll just be sticking with one.

So don't knock Joystiq around, because they're probably seeing it the way I am. Ultimate Destruction was just that dang good and I wanna make sure this lives up to it.

Pajama_Man @ Mar 29th 2008 2:27PM

The Ang Lee / Eric Bana Hulk film was pretty decent movie. IMO it's one of the better comic-to-movie adaptations out there.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 29th 2008 2:40PM

Fuck yes. glad I'm not the only one who thought Ang hulk was good. Seriously people hate the movie because it wasn't 90 minutes of "HULK SMAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!"

Sir Fidlious Wong (Zeon Defense Force) @ Mar 29th 2008 3:00PM

I think people hate the movie because it stole an outdated design element when Dallas left the airwaves, story was decent enough without the last minute villian insertion, the more elaborate fight scenes took place in near absolute darkness, and Hulk stops in the middle of the desert to stare at a fucking bird in a tree....

I'm sure they had good intentions and truthfully, if the villian was removed, the film would have been much better, but all in all, Hulk was all about their pimp CG character and nothing else.

ComicShaman @ Mar 29th 2008 5:54PM

I thought it was about 2/3 of a good movie (and I really enjoyed the soundtrack). It sort of came off the rails at the end, and the introduction of the "absorbing man" father simply failed to make any sense. But it did a lot of things right.

ChuckD @ Mar 29th 2008 2:27PM

This doesn't look that bad at all. That giant robot sequence actually looked pretty cool.

jettoki @ Mar 29th 2008 2:33PM

McElroy posts a snarky, belittling and way-off-the-mark blurb about a game that actually looks pretty cool... and you guys are surprised?

A measure of cynicism is all well and good until you start bashing games merely for the sake of being cynical. Joystiq hasn't learned this yet.

J-Boogie @ Mar 29th 2008 2:36PM

Vidikron (FU) @ Mar 29th 2008 3:30PM

It's apparently just you and McElroy that came away with a bad impression. Literally every other person commenting thinks it appears to play exactly like UD. Sure, I didn't see any speed running, but that doesn't really mean much in a 1 minute trailer. And the jumping looks perfectly fine to me... in fact, it looks exactly like UD.

Rollins @ Mar 29th 2008 2:35PM

Yeah, I'm really not sure why there's so much hate by the OP. Looks pretty similar to UD to me.

Huma @ Mar 29th 2008 2:39PM

This game looks almost exactly like Ultimate Destruction.

What exactly is the author talking about? The similarity would be obvious to anyone who played even ten minutes of UD.

Very misleading title and story.

Looks like someone's expressing a manufactured opinion to look like they're in the know.

Vegeta (aka Ska Oreo) @ Mar 29th 2008 2:38PM

hmmm. It looks like a prettier version of Ultimate destruction. I'll have to see more gameplay before I make a final judgement.

shawn @ Mar 29th 2008 5:38PM

dont know why joystiq is complaining that trailer didnt look that bad,im a huge hulk fan and probably will pick this up but not for $60 i agree with that

Khash @ Mar 29th 2008 2:55PM

This game looks awesome! It looks exactly like Ultimate Destruction! Joystiq, what are you smoking? Hulk is even using many of the same moves and combos.

hyped1 @ Mar 29th 2008 2:59PM

Hey I own alot of superhero games, I just like the genre and this looks way better than I expected! It is very similar to H:UD but thats not actually a bad thing!

With all the Superhero games SEGA is developing I am just glad they didn't just make Hulk fight Sonic or something! Way to go SEGA but if either Marvel superhero game is weak I am blaming you guys for shitty work!

Baka @ Mar 29th 2008 4:12PM

was it just me or did anyone else see the Thing in that trailer? other things aside, that piqued my interest in this game some. not The Thing, but the hope for more guest super heros. after all, hulk and wolverine were buds.

Roofie @ Mar 29th 2008 4:29PM

Griffin, you owe us an explanation! Well, you don't owe us anything, but I'm sure everyone would really like to know what trailer you watched, because it couldn't have been the same one.

Seriously, please explain how the two games are so radically different as to make you write those things.

Griffin McElroy @ Mar 29th 2008 5:25PM

Here's my explanation:

First off, it's a terrible debut trailer. There's no voice work, no resemblance to the actual movie they're adapting, and a majority of it is composed of cliche, hype-up text. There's only thirty seconds of actual gameplay in there, and it isn't all that compelling. Hulk smash car. Hulk smash another car. Hulk smash robot. Hulk smash another robot. Hulk catch robot foot and throw robot back in what will no doubt be an oft-repeated QTE sequence.

If you did only have thirty seconds to sell your game, would you show your protagonist repeating the same actions, over and over? Would you show your character being flung to the ground by an enemy attack (which does, in fact, happen twice in the trailer, at :25 and :47, for those who think I'm making it up for some reason)? Or would you show him performing a variety of moves in a variety of different settings against a variety of different enemies -- that is, assuming your game has those things. Jesus, they even use the same sound effect of him roaring twice during the trailer.

The gameplay shown in the trailer just doesn't seem to flow well. The Hulk seems very static, he repeats the same attack animations over and over. Compare that to Ultimate Destruction, where you can fling your emerald meathead three stories above the ground, then send him crashing down onto an enemy, or some form of public transportation, which he would then turn into a skateboard.

To say that this trailer exhibits the smooth gameplay and utter chaos of Ultimate Destruction is preposterous. Watch the trailer I linked to in the story, and tell me the two trailers are equals. They are not.

I'm not saying with certainty that the game is going to be terrible. But this trailer is. And if the gameplay shown in this trailer is what we can expect from the finished product, if Sega doesn't have any other tricks up its sleeve, then this will be quickly thrown on the pile of mediocre comic-based-movie-based-games already rotting in the corner.

That said, I'm hoping to be wrong in this case, as I'd like nothing better than a current-gen spiritual successor to Ultimate Destruction.

Hamza @ Mar 30th 2008 11:35AM

Griffin McElroy, it's clear to anyone with a brain that this game looks exactly like Ultimate Destruction. So just let it go and step away from Joystiq for a couple days. If you wait long enough, everyone will forget that you made this article.

J-Boogie @ Mar 30th 2008 4:28PM

Now I don't think that's fair to Griff at all. While there *is* a cool thing or two in that trailer it still doesn't do a good job of proving itself being a worthy follow up to Ultimate Destruction.

Yes, there is smashing and bashing going on. But look at that Ultimate Destruction trailer linked in the article and point out to me in the Incredible Hulk trailer where it shows that kind of variety of action.

Ultimate Destruction was awesome for doing the Hulk right and giving a surprising amount of depth into the many different ways you can destroy things. I just want to know if I'll have that again.

rigby @ Mar 29th 2008 4:36PM

Has anyone here who claims this is going to be the next Ultimate Destruction ever played Superman Returns, either the game or the demo? Look more closely at the trailer. First off, there are a paltry few animations for Hulk's movement. There are direct rip-offs of ideas from Crackdown, only done less enthusiastically. There is little care put into making the buildings look anything less than blocky - and finally, there are NPC's wandering around who seem to be completely unaware or just vaguely aware of their surroundings.

This game is basically all that, with a bag of Superman Returns Part Deux.

Huma @ Mar 29th 2008 5:56PM

Rip-off of Crackdown?

They're rip-offs of Ultimate Destruction, which was out years before Crackdown.

bigd7387 @ Mar 29th 2008 7:04PM

I guess I missed something? Looked kinda good to me for a Hulk game and didn't appear to have a Superman 64 feel to it. Oh, well maybe Joystiq has played it or something?

Cian @ Mar 29th 2008 7:29PM

Yeah this just looks like a shinier Ultimate Destruction through and through... so I don't see how it looks worse... =/ The trailer isn't special but the game doesn't necessarily look bad...

Cyy @ Mar 29th 2008 7:51PM

Won't be better than Ultimate Destruction.

tc @ Mar 29th 2008 7:59PM

The Power
The Fury
The Rage

The Apathy

Travis @ Mar 29th 2008 8:58PM

Day 1 purchase...this game looks sweeeeet

t_m @ Mar 30th 2008 1:44AM

It looks just like Ultimate Destruction to me. Maybe about 10% slower paced (but UD was incredibly fast paced), but other than that i'm not sure what you are smoking.

Doesn't look world shatteringly amazing.. but looks like a next-gen UD.

j13 @ Mar 30th 2008 5:54AM

WTH? Hulk isn't chartreuse at all. He's more olive or mossy. What is this writer thinking?

I personally like how Hulk shifts his stance to get better leverage on the giant robot trying to make him into toe jam. I think I may have to check this out since everyone is speaking so highly of the last one. I will wait until I see some reviews first though.

NovaBlack @ Mar 30th 2008 2:51PM

"Hulk smash car. Hulk smash another car. Hulk smash robot. Hulk smash another robot. Hulk catch robot foot and throw robot back in what will no doubt be an oft-repeated QTE sequence."

err.. its the hulk.. did you expect him to sit and act out classic shakespearian literature?