For what it is, The Incredible Hulk isn’t too bad. The problem is, it’s still bad. Sega risks turning PC gamers green with anger by continuing the trend it began with its Iron Man game - porting the PlayStation 2 version rather than the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 version, delivering graphics that might have looked good if released concurrently with the 2003 Ang Lee Hulk film rather than this year’s summer action flick.

The big green guy roams freely around a bland and boxy New York City, smashing everything in his path (and, thanks to poor hit detection, everything within about 10 feet of his path). Fighting off attacks from the U.S. Army and a supervillain group called the Enclave produces some satisfactorily destructive action - the Hulk can, for example, knock down buildings and beat enemies with other enemies - but despite regularly unlocking new powers, combat becomes repetitive more quickly than it should in an action game as lengthy as this one. Missions throw a large number and variety of enemies at you, but the AI is too simplistic to deliver an engaging or memorable fight.

And if you don’t plan to play with a gamepad, then don’t plan to play at all. TIH “supports” mouse and keyboard controls, but the key combos are clumsy, non-customizable, and often mislabeled in the tutorial text. For that matter, why not just play it on the PSP where it belongs?

PC Gamer scores games on a percentage scale, which is rounded to the closest whole number to determine the GamesRadar score.

PCG Final Verdict: 43% (tolerable)

Jul 28, 2008