"Hulk SMASH! RRRAAARRGGG!"

[Morfiend]

Gamespy Hulk Review.

I think I am going to pick this up today on my way home from work. Just wondering if any one had played this? They keep saying its a lot like Spider-Man2, and I really enjoyed that game.

If no one has played it yet, maybe I can drop a minireview up later.

[Shockeye]

I picked this up at Blockbuster yesterday.

It's basically Spiderman 2 (the game) with Hulk in place of Spidey.

I do have a gripe. You can do bonus missions which can include saving people from burning buildings or delivering a broken-down vehicle somewhere. The problem with that is, when you're not doing a bonus mission you can kill innocents and destroy their vehicles willy-nilly and be rewarded with points for it. So what is it, boss? Kill 'em all or save the innocents?

The story so far is meh, pretty much like the first game.

It is fun to run around the city and destroy things but it does get old after an hour or two.

[MrHat]

The story is terrible.  Terrible.

But ya, what he said.

Fun to smash stuff around for a while, controls aren't as smooth as spidey was.

[stray]

They need to make more Spidey games (Spider-Man 2 gameplay, that is). Waiting for each subsequent movie release is not enough.

[Jain Zar]

There is an Ultimate Spider Man game due sometime this fall.  Not sure if it will be good or anything though..

[stray]

That's great news. I just checked and it appears it's being made by Treyarch (makers of Spider-Man 2). It's definitely going on my list then.

I didn't realize that they made the original Tony Hawk and Kelly Slater games as well.

[NiX]

The cool thing about Ultimate Spider-Man is that it plays like a comic. There are movie scenes where spidey will get hit through comic strips going from panel to panel until he hits a wall. When he gets up he's in the last panel of the comic/movie and then you start to play. So far it looks really cool and along the lines of Spiderman 2.

[Morfiend]

And you can play as Venom.

[stray]

Hmm...Well, that sounds uninteresting.

But I haven't read the Ultimate Spider-Man version of Venom before, so maybe I'm wrong.

[Aenovae]

The team that made Ultimate Spider-Man is different than the team that made Spider-Man 2.  Their management, design direction, and art direction are completely different.

[stray]

Well, I can understand the art direction being different....It's Ultimate Spider-Man, after all.

As for the rest, I just assumed it'd be similar to Spidey 2 since it's coming from the same dev and publishing companies. Different team or not, at least I'll know that they can reuse ideas from the previous game.

They can scrap all they want --- Except the webslinging.

edit: I suppose this IGN preview clears some things up:
 

It's a damn good time to be a videogame-loving, comic book-reading fanboy. And now there's Ultimate Spider-Man, the latest title from developer Treyarch (Spider-Man 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater) and publisher Activision. It promises to refine the cooler aspects of Spider-Man 2 and present them in a wicked-cool new style.

Of course, you're not required to do anything about it if you don't want to. If you just want to swing from skyscraper to skyscraper all day you can do that too. Manhattan won't be as large as it was in Spider-Man 2, but it there'll be more stuff to experience, such as famous Marvel landmarks like the Baxter Building and Empire State University. In a sense, Ultimate Spider-Man plays like Spider-Man 2, minus the fat. Plus, the storyline takes you into Queens this time around, so there's even more to explore.

And tidbits from Gamespot:

The web controls, much like the combat, are similar to the previous Spidey games and are easy to pick up. You'll be able to double-jump, shoot, and swing from web lines, quickly move forward using zip lines, and boost your swing and climb your web lines to gain altitude. The system is a variation on the mechanics seen in the Spider-Man 2 movie game and are easy to pick up.

Good enough for me.

[stray]

The only thing I have a problem with is the whole Venom thing. Not only are they starting the Ultimate series in the middle of comics it's based on, but they choose one of the more recent characters to do it with.

I can understand not wanting to cover some of the origin story material again (though I wouldn't mind), since they did some of that in the Spider-Man 1 game --- But why this? Before moving to Venom, how about Kraven, Sandman, the Kingpin, or the Lizard...Something. There's 40 fucking years of Spider-Man history, but for some reason, the best game they can come up with is "Venom will be a playable character!".

Anyways, I'll still buy it for the webslinging, but this kind of casts a shadow over the whole thing. It tells me all I need to know about what crowd they're trying to cater to here.....

[edit]

Btw, sorry for the derail Morph  I was going to rent the Hulk the other day, but instead I got another game (I won't say what  :-().

I'll check it out..

[Shockeye]

Btw, sorry for the derail Morph  I was going to rent the Hulk the other day, but instead I got another game (I won't say what  :-().

Keep your tentacle porn game to yourself, sicko.

[stray]

Nah, it was something more offensive to you guys:

Madden.

I also picked up Darkwatch, but that turned out be more about vampires (the "kewl" kind) rather than the wild west.

[Llava]

The only thing I have a problem with is the whole Venom thing. Not only are they starting the Ultimate series in the middle of comics it's based on, but they choose one of the more recent characters to do it with.

I can understand not wanting to cover some of the origin story material again (though I wouldn't mind), since they did some of that in the Spider-Man 1 game --- But why this? Before moving to Venom, how about Kraven, Sandman, the Kingpin, or the Lizard...Something. There's 40 fucking years of Spider-Man history, but for some reason, the best game they can come up with is "Venom will be a playable character!".

In fairness to them, it probably has something to do with Venom's style (and, therefore, gameplay) being very similar to Spider-Man's.  They can copy and paste most stuff over.  But with someone like, to take from your examples, Kingpin, you're really creating an entirely different sort of gameplay that may or may not work within the game you've already created.

[Morfiend]

Ok, I bought the Hulk, but was unable to get more than 45 minutes of playing time due to my girlfriend "needing" to watch the VMAs. God did they suck.

So far the game seems pretty cool, but like the gamespy review said, you get VERY used to looking at the loading screan. Also, the Hulks jump is just not as cool as Spideys webslinging. Also, unlike Spidey, you dont ever really get a chance to rest, cause the police or military are always on your ass. (as they would be).

As to ultimate spiderman. I am really looking forward to this. I loved the freeroaming webslinging of spiderman 2, I still play it just to swing around and do stuns and stuff. I dont mind they started with Venom. I enjoyed the original Venom storyline better than the ultimate venom. The whole eat your brains thing is kind of silly. I still think if done right Venom will be really fun to play. Its just a bummer he doesnt use his suit to swing around like he did in the comic. The review said he jumps around more like the Hulk. Anyway, we will see. I'll but it for sure. Also, Im sure they wont, but how cool would it be if they added multiplayer Deathmatch kind of thing.

Where you could play as Spidey or Venom, or one of the other bosses. Man, I would dig that.

[schild]

You can be Venom in The Ultimate Spiderman.

[Morfiend]

You can be Venom in The Ultimate Spiderman.

And you can play as Venom.

I was talking about multiplayer.

[Velorath]

The only thing I have a problem with is the whole Venom thing. Not only are they starting the Ultimate series in the middle of comics it's based on, but they choose one of the more recent characters to do it with.

I can understand not wanting to cover some of the origin story material again (though I wouldn't mind), since they did some of that in the Spider-Man 1 game --- But why this? Before moving to Venom, how about Kraven, Sandman, the Kingpin, or the Lizard...Something. There's 40 fucking years of Spider-Man history, but for some reason, the best game they can come up with is "Venom will be a playable character!".

Anyways, I'll still buy it for the webslinging, but this kind of casts a shadow over the whole thing. It tells me all I need to know about what crowd they're trying to cater to here.....

I'm guessing it was Bendis' call to use Venom, but since he's a playable character (offering an alternate view to the storyline I imagine), there will be other villains involved also.  Rhino and Electro have both been mentioned so far.  Anyway, there's only been just under 100 issues of Ultimate Spider-man so far and since they tend to go in six issue story arcs, there aren't a lot of villains to choose from so far.