The gaming industry has always loved converting big-budget movies into games. Somehow, game developers must keep getting the notion that products based on big and expensive movie licenses instantly appeals to the mass market, because the sheer amount of movie tie-ins with overdone hype and minimal playability rides on an all-time high.
To be honest I’ve never been a fan of games spun off from movie licenses. To me it’s a formula for failure. Part of the problem of trying to build games around movie licenses is that somehow the game gets so caught up in trying to preserve the essence of the movie that the gameplay becomes stunted. You can’t design a great game that’s restricted to the mechanics of a movie storyline in the same way you can’t write poetry with an instruction manual. It takes a bold creative vision and a competence unhampered by pre-determined movie set-pieces to make a truly great game.
Still, I was all ready to be proven wrong by The Hulk, and thankfully it wasn’t just another blatant waste of time and resources. Sure, I’ll wager it won’t be the next big smashing success for the PC, but it’s actually got enough viscerally destructive fun to appeal to a good number of gamers howling for some incredible PC action.
Read the whole review at GameAxis.com
Jun 28, 2003, 07:03 PM
