New Hulk movie better, new game anything but incredible

When it comes to The Hulk, it's amazing that Universal Pictures and Marvel Studios even attempted another big screen adaptation, given that Ang Lee's original film was so boring and ILM's special effects were so lame. On a positive note, the game tie-in from Vivendi Games and Radical Entertainment, which was a sequel to the film, served up some solid Hulk action--although the David Banner stealth levels were horrible. In between films, gamers have had a truly incredible, non-movie licensed game, also from Vivendi and Radical Entertainment, called The Incredible Hulk: Incredible Destruction. Still available for a sony on Xbox, PlayStation 2 and GameCube, I recommend purchasing this one if you're in the mood for some Hulk gameplay.

The new Sega game from Edge of Reality, which is available on every platform, is anything but incredible. In fact, you can plow through it on a Saturday without any desire to go back for more. The game has a rushed feel, as many Hollywood licenses do. And although all of the actors from the film are on board for this game--they were able to get Edward Norton (David Banner) before he walked away from the project after a dispute on the final cut--it doesn't make up for the fact that there's not much here. In fact, the older Hulk game on Xbox looks better than the Xbox 360 game, as far as the environments are concerned. The Hulk and some of the other comic characters look good, but the actual environments like Brazil and New York City seem like afterthoughts.

The one cool thing this game does have going for it is the ability to take down entire buildings with moves like the Hulk clap and the Hulk slam. Watching New York quake and entire buildings fall down is quite a thrill. Of course, anything in the game, from buses to lamp posts, can be tossed at enemies. Causing destruction in this wanton way is a lot of fun, for a while, but the older game still did it better in many ways. For instance, climbing up the side of a building was simple and intuitive before. Now, it's a chore. That said, this Hulk adaptation is a far better game than Sega's recent Iron Man debacle.

As for the new movie, which this Hulk is based on, the good news is its not a snoozefest like the last one was. With a solid cast of actors, and a better blend of action, it moves much better (although still slower than I'd have liked). I know Norton walked away from publicizing this movie because he wanted a longer cut, but this movie could have actually used some more trimming, not more length. Unfortunately, as was the case with the last Spider-Man movie, Marvel allows the last reel of this film to be nothing more than a CGI monster mash. Granted, these CGI monsters (Hulk and Abomination) look good, but there's never a feeling that you're not watching more than two CGI characters battling each other (in Toronto, which doubled for the Big Apple). It's also never a positive sign when the cameo appearance of another Marvel superhero trumps everything you've just seen with the film's main superhero.

So fans of the green guy have a better, but still mediocre film, and a new, but in many ways inferior, Hulk game. True fans will want to rent the new game and then dig up, or order the older Ultimate Destruction game and wreak some havoc.