While buggy and shallow, this Hulk game is still decent fun as you tour New York Hulk-Style. **spoilers**
First off, the game, in its shipping form is buggy as all hell. After playing many hours over several sessions I found that the game froze on many occasions. This didn't really bother me at first as I traipsed around New York having Hulk-style fun. However, when you are in a mission, 90% complete an achievement which takes quite some time (ie. Destroy all buildings in a single neighborhood), or you lose all the canisters you have found since your last save, I was getting pissed. This is my single biggest complaint about the game and should it be addressed by Sega, this would be a mute point.
The graphics and presentation in the game are good but suffer in certain areas. The Hulk and the main in game characters/enemies are pretty detailed with nice textures which are X360 calibre. However the textures and presentation of the city are a whole other matter. The city is repetitive and really bland which is only exacerbated by the game engines inability to draw anything more than 20 feet in front of you. You are sprinting around and trees, cars, lamp posts and the like just pop onto the screen seconds before you are upon them. All that aside, I think these compromises have been made to allow for the fully destructible sand box playing field and should be somewhat overlooked. You can't have GTAIV class graphics for the city and then hope to destroy it at 30FPS.
The sounds are great. The Hulk has a great roar and the thudding bass of the game really gives the action some oomph. You punch buildings and you feel it with a nice sound system.
Having not seen the new movie as of yet, I cannot comment on how close the story is to that of the movie. However, I can't imagine it is too close as we get little tidbits of story via lame narrative over still images or in poorly conceived cut scenes. The story element is bad, plain and simple. I can't express how lackluster the voice acting is. Edward Norton is so uninspiring in his performance.
The missions in the game are really repetitive and consist mainly of finding army bases (which you destroy or find things in), dealing with the Enclave or protecting someone or something from either the army or Enclave. The escort/protection missions are lame, but the destroy missions are fun albeit repetitive.
On the X360 version of the game the achievements are well balanced between story based items and Hulk having fun in New York. Fun achievements include climbing the five tallest buildings, destroying all buildings in a neighborhood, killing enemies with an ice cream cone and more. I think this aspect of the game is the best and most redeeming part. You are "forced" ;-) to run around and climb, destroy and do all sorts of Hulk things and that is the best part of the game, just being the Hulk doing Hulk things.
Many have said that Hulk:UD is much better and yes, having played both, I can say it is. However UD wasn't perfect either but did offer a little more with regards to Story, Combos/Moves/Upgrade and diversity in environments. However, this Hulk offers better graphics (although not X360 caliber most times), a fully destructible environment and the same level of Hulk smashing fun. Both games suffered from lame missions although this Hulk is a little less varied and suffers more.
Summing this up is a little bitter sweet. I really hoped for more, but everything I know told me I was hoping for too much. This game is a movie tie-in and that sole reason is why this game is weak on so many fronts. Had the developers had more time, I think we would have seen more, but Studios need mass marketing and tie-ins, so they effectively removed almost all possibilities of this being an 8.5+ game.
In the end, the game is fun. Repetitive or not, being the Hulk and smashing things up, bounding around the city, climbing buildings and destroying them is a guilty pleasure. You easily get past the graphic elements and skip the story, just run and gun. If you are looking for a simple, not-to-deep weekend killer, this is the perfect rental for simple, mind-numbing fun. Word to the wise, wait for the patch Sega is reportedly working on.
This isn't worth the $59.99 they are asking, but would be worth every penny when it hits the bin @ $19.95.