Here is my initial impressions of Incredible Hulk- after approximately 3hrs of game play *mostly free roam mode* I grew up reading Hulk comics, and usually fall for anything Hulk related. So, blame people like me for games like this.
It does try to incorporate Ultimate Destruction in many aspects, it just failed to reach UD's level of fun game play. It also borrows elements from CrackDown and Superman Returns for 360. Despite what sounds like a "2 out of 3 ain't bad" winning formula, this game deserves the low scores it is receiving.
Health and Rage canisters/power ups, are strewn about the city rooftops much like in Crackdown, and even make a distinct noise when you are close. You get boosts in both at 10, 30, 60, and 100 recovered. Even the stunt rings make an appearance AKA jump rings, there are 15 and the 5 I've found, unlike Crackdown, all required almost no effort or planning, to successfully, and literally, jump through the hoops.
It uses a target lock-on that is exactly like Superman and UD, and the camera feels more like Supes than CrackDown. The canisters being number at 100, reminds me of hunting for kittens in SM. Though you can see and hear the canisters much better than the mewing kittens, a small mercy.
Most of the gameplay tries to be UD, smash stuff in free roam and the strike team responds. You use subways instead of rooftop way points to quickly get around the city. Symbols on the map represent missions, goals, enemies, mini-missions, landmarks, subways, ect. Controller layout is similar and so are the combo and attack scheme. You don't get to select and purchase moves though, they are rewards, and one of several factors contributing to why I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as UD.
The destructible environment isn't nearly as satisfying as I expected. You can smash more, but it gets old fast. The graphics are Superman360 level, but yet I experienced quite a few frame rate issues. There were serious slow-downs and chop at times, and it sounded like the disc was being "furiously" accessed. The cut-scene character models are very sub-par.
In game feats are yet another area that mimics Superman more than anything else IMO.
If you haven't played Ultimate Destruction, maybe you will like this game more than I did? I don't know. But, I would recommend picking up UD for practically nothing, and playing that, before I'd recommend Incredible Hulk. You'd save time and money that way. My position on Incredible Hulk is this: It upholds the tradition of movie tie-in games being crap, and is more akin to Superman Returns, than Ultimate Destruction.
Edit: Even the jump rings, and most of the rest, could be argued to be loosely based on UD, given there were the orb power ups that required excellent jumps or the Gorilla balloon, but being a ring just screamed CrackDown to me. Same with target lock, power-ups, and so on. Elements just reminded me more of those titles, particularly Superman, than they did UD. Just wanted to qualify my remarks a bit more.
Also, The Hulk character model is definitely good, and some of the foes are fairly detailed too, but aside from that, I'll stick with the Superman360 level graphics comment.
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