February 23rd, 2011

Incredible Hulk: My issues

The Negatives

What I consider an incredible let down were the visuals and audio, two staples of any game. Now I am of the firm belief that “Graphics do not a good game make,” they are however what gives you your first impression of the title, and seriously reduce the “cool stuff with the Hulk” part of the game, as it’s supposed to look awesome. And I use that word specifically, as the Hulk is awesome in his might; we want to see that.

Visuals

What I was greeted with when I began the game for the first time, was an incredibly outdated looking title, with graphics that I would associate with a 2002 or earlier game. While the Hulk himself looks ok at best:

[The Incredible Hulk PC]
Click to enlarge

There are no shadows on any buildings, limited shadows on objects and people. Building’s look completely flat with all shop fronts being simply textures with no 3d aspect to them at all. Even the textures of said buildings seem low resolution, with them appearing blurry up close.

[The Incredible Hulk PC]
Click to enlarge

Vehicles aren’t varied much and some seem very common; I know it’s supposed to be New York, but do we need 20 taxis per street with rarely another car type appearing?

[The Incredible Hulk PC]
Guess what the two destroyed cars were?
Click to enlarge

Draw distance is a slight problem, things do “pop into view” occasionaly, but my real problem with distance is with the “blue fog” that appears at a distance of 100 in-game metres or so. I understand the reasoning for this, but does it need to be this extreme? It absolutely kills the visuals of the game; it kills them dead. I have climbed all 3 highest buildings in the city, and got to the top of each, hoping to look out on the city; instead all I could see in every direction was the blue fog. What a complete let down.

[The Incredible Hulk PC]
Click to enlarge

Elsewhere in the city, especially around the coast, there are huge expanses of nothing. Just green grass (I assume, as there are no grass objects, just a green floor texture), a few trees and that’s it. Looking towards the sea from this point offers the poorest visuals in any game I have played in recent years. At your feet is what effectively is a green carpet, and in front of you is a slight drop to what is nearly a static water texture, followed in the distance by a blue fog.

[The Incredible Hulk PC]
Click to enlarge

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6

Editorial . Gaming