Avengers Throwback – The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction [Game On]

I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen The Avengers four times so far and I’ve zero reservation about going for a 5th.  However, one thing I did notice amidst heading out to the theater over and over to see one of my favorite super hero teams is that Hulk seems to just about steal the show every time I venture out.  Now, historically I’ve never been a big Hulk fan.  I don’t have anything against Dr. Banner, I was just always more of an Iron Man/Spider-Man guy.

That being said, I loved Hulk in Avengers and it got me thinking about my history with the character and I remembered playing Sierra’s The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.

Launched in 2005 on the original Xbox, Playstation 2, and Gamecube, it was a (semi) free-roaming Hulk game that gave you complete freedom to level entire city blocks if you wanted to amidst the regular story missions and a variety of side missions.  I played this game through to completion and highly recommend it based on just how masterfully they captured the essence of stepping into the over-sized purple shorts.

The story revolves around Banner, living in seclusion once more in a  small desert town trying to find a cure to stop his Hulk transformations.  While working in exile, he’s invited by Doc Samson to his hideout where they can build a machine together with the possibility of a cure.  Banner, naturally refuses on account of his not wanting to endanger anyone in the vicinity.  This lasts until mutant-bigot Emil Blonsky and Hulk’s classic foe, Thunderbolt Ross show up and throw a wrench in everything, forcing Bruce to transform, wreck everything around him, and allow the story to continue.

Tons of Hulk’s signature moves from thunderclaps to flying elbow-drops are present here.  Raging out as the Hulk is way more fun than you might imagine.  Enemies get slapped around effortlessly as you  move at breakneck speeds through sprawling cityscapes, completely obliterating anything dumb enough to be in your way.  If you’ve ever been curious what it would be like to pick up 2 cars and attach them to your fists as makeshift boxing gloves then you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.  While the PS2 version is fetching north of 70 dollars for a new copy, there are tons of used ones out there you can get for less than 20 bucks and based on the experience it’s more than worth the price of admission.

Again, back in 2005 I wasn’t much of a Hulk fan, but still loving comics and seeing how well the game was doing in the reviews I took a chance on it and I’m very pleased that I did.  You too should give this game a look if you find yourself unable to shake Avengers fever (much like the rest of the country)- just try not to scream, “HULK SMASH!” too loudly less you horrify your neighbors.

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