"Everyone's a critic." (long review)
Given it having its own plot, you might find yourself lost if you're unfamiliar with comics although then again this is a game you'll most likely look into if you're a hardcore Hellboy fan, like me for one. The basic plot sees big old Red hunting a crazed witch in Romania until he also stumbles upon yet another Nazi conspiracy, of who which you'll also fight against in a couple of prequel missions. Sadly its somewhat paper-thin, and much of the revelations of the Nazi plot is revealed in very few dialogue sequences, much found in the last level and comes about quite suddenly. Most of the more interesting aspects of the story are in the flash back missions as they aren't to tied to the main premise. Its not a bad story in the sense that its confusing or over the top, rather that its to basic and lacking in comparison to most other Hellboy media. Its more of an excuse for Hellboy to travel to exotic locations and beat the inhabitants into pulp.
However you might now be wondering if there's any reason to watch the cinematics other than the justification for why you're in a Japanese Forest or a Romanian Cave... well the real reason is the classic Hellboy charm. With the excellent Ron Perlman providing his voice for Red once again, you'll get many wisecracks, sarcastic comments and good old all round wit to make your battle with evil more fun. Given its mostly a single player affair, the most other frequent voice talent is from the character Herman Von Klempt voiced by... er... a man? Either way its nowhere as near as memorable as Ron playing Red despite being an interesting character in his own way. If you play co-op you can control Abe or Liz, both of which are voiced by the actors from the film to. Even though neither can fully express their talent due to a lack of cinematics in co-op but they'll still shout here and there in battle, of which is also good enough. On top of the voice acting is the soundtrack. The background music consists of orchestral anthems and battle drums/horns... sounds impressive but then again name me a game without one these days... Although while not unique its by no means bad. It does justice to the combat that will drag out so it helps to be hearing something appropriate in the mean time.
Graphically its somewhat of an oddball. You know in RTS game where the graphics become worse when you zoom in? In Science of Evil its the other way around. During the cut-scenes, the graphics are of a reasonably good quality. You can do hell of a lot better on the 360 or PS3 but then again you can also do worse. During the game however the textures are more blurry/pixelated in comparison. To be blunt its more or less on par with last generation consoles. While it would have been better to of seen a greater spectacle on the more powerful consoles (notably given Hellboy II was as such), its not really an ugly game per say, its just it does scream rushed tie in with some rather bland levels and character animation. Unless you don't care so much about graphics, it might be a ho-hum experience visually. In terms of design however there are some redeeming qualities. First of is the rag doll and damage physics. Its not Half Life 2 but its always a plus to fire a heavy round into the chest of an enemy only to seem then fly through some metal scaffolding and go slat against the wall only to slide down straight after... Ok thats a bit of an exaggeration but trust me it can get crazy when foes and scenery are in the right place. In terms of enemy variety you get about 3 different opponent each chapter, maybe 4 or 5 in the later. Of course that doesn't sound like much... and thats the truth sadly given the vast array of abominations Hellboy and co have fought over the years of comics and other media. Yet what you get is still unique and classic Hellboy. There will be the usual suspects like robot Nazis and frog monsters, along with the cyborg gorillas but also werewolves, mummies and Oni demons. The Nazis and mummies aren't anything special but its hard to complain when you're up against Japanese demons armed with maces or giant yetis with chain guns for arms.
Now onto what the game is all about, beating demonic and Nazi forces. Beating is also the correct term even though you may at first think its similar to God of War and Devil May Cry, which it is to an extent with combat style and quick time events but they on the other hand offer mass slaughter due to the fast paced action, Science of Evil on the other hand consists of brawls more like the arcade side scrollers of yore but in 3D (like Fighting Force... or the many other comic/movie tie ins). Your basic attacks are heavy and quick strikes that when mixed up create differing combos... even though many look the same as they all end with a slam on the floor. The more fun aspects of combat are the grapple attacks, finishers and the Samaritan pistol. Grapples and finishers are the real combo attacks and if you don't enjoy grabbing a Nazi by the throat, punching him over and over in the face before pulling him in half then you're looking into the wrong genre, period. The Samaritan, Hellboy's trusty oversized 6 shooter does feel heavy as each shoot causes kickback for you and of course throws the target when hit and with a choice of 9 bullets its fun to experiment with each... but I should point out however its somewhat weak most of the time so its more for effect than use in combat. Now repetition is a word used a lot in reviews... and this one is no exception. One problem however is the issue that repetition is entirely opinion based given anything can be repetitive depending on the player. For example the Japanese like repetition with the many Final Fantasy and Dynasty Warriors esc games so naturally people the West might to. Science of Evil is best player in small doses, and since most reviewers don't/can't when reviewing, its no wonder this game got such bad press. In tiny bites rather than mouthfuls the game can be fun if not really easy (think more of a stress reliever than Ninja Gaiden) and the short time on top of the production values means its not worth the starting full price but this now leads me to the crunch of this review and the inevitable cliche "all in all" conclusion: this game is for Hellboy fans and them only, no one else. If I was playing this as a generic warrior or bruiser I would be unimpressed due to the basic gameplay. The fact its Hellboy is a great plus given there's no video games featuring big Red (no don't mention Asylum Seeker... that wasn't even a game in my opinion) and fans will eat it up, slugging Nazis and other monsters with the Right Hand of Doom! ...all I recommend to would be fanboy buyers is wait for a price cut, a big one that hopefully won't be to long given the trend of cuts of tie ins, because as a game its nothing special.
And multiplayer? I'll be brief and blunt here. Like most games its always better to play with someone else, just remember Hellboy is better to play as than Abe and Liz...
"All in all" this feel like a Hellboy product in the sense of design, style and writing yet lacks the better conventions of a game like in depth gameplay and detailed graphics, and the story is disappointing for both medias. So Hellboy: Science of Evil doesn't escape the trend of bad tie ins (despite not technically being one) but you do have to remember that people who buy these things are fans and fans only. You can get enough thrills if played in portions rather than stretches of time but this game can be better, Hellboy deserves more than this and with his increasing popularity we might get there eventually... but in the mean time with have this and as a Hellboy product its as closest and good as we've got in terms of a game and that means something (sort of) if you need to become Hellboy through the means of a controller.
To Hellboy fans only: Look into it when cheap.
Pros:
- Its Hellboy!
- Great soundtrack and Ron Perlman voice acting
- Interesting characters, enemies and locations
- Co-op good enough
Cons:
- Gameplay will get repetitive
- Cakewalk difficulty
- So so graphics
- Very short
- Lacks proper story