Insomniac Games: Are we ready for another Hulk game?

6. More Interactive Open-World

What set TIHUD apart from any previous Hulk game was its open-world gameplay. The previous standalone Hulk game, which was a tie-in to the 2003 Ang Lee film, was mostly linear. In contrast, TIHUD received positive reviews from the likes of GameSpot. The latter of the outlets commented at the time, “The move set makes Spider–Man 2 look like Super Mario Bros.”

What had been the key was interactivity, and that is what is clearly lacking in the ’08 movie tie-in game of yesteryear. Despite The Incredible Hulk being non-linear as such, this entry, as part of promotional material for the early MCU at the time, I played during my teenage years.

And while it was fairly enjoyable, it was frustrating that a player could not enter the interior of buildings and skyscrapers, except for the opening scene where Bruce Banner (Edward Norton) is chased by soldiers led by Captain Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), who was sent by General Thunderbolt Ross (William Hurt), in a South American town. This was Banner’s first transformation into the Hulk (Fred Tatiscore). And when you play as the green-skinned behemoth, you emerge out of stoned rubble and into a factory.

While the leaping ability was fairly easy to control as the Hulk, grabbing hold of objects was quite a chore, and maneuvering around the complex while swatting soldiers like flies quite a bore after 20 minutes or so of gameplay. It’s not as kinetic and for lack of a better term, “hulking” unlike its ‘05 predecessor. While TIHUD was renowned as part of its marketing to possess “unstoppable movement,” the movie tie-in was a mere shell of its former self with the grabbing of objects, NPCs and enemies feeling loathsome. Do not even get me started on the boss fights.

Gamers want to “lose control”, not just get charged up to fight another day. So make an open-world action-adventure game be the mainstay. Allowing non-linear gameplay is a must, but more malleable environments that are not just exterior that can be grabbed, thrown, chucked and of course, weaponized is the next step. The use of virtual reality like Xbox VR and PlayStation VR and motion-sensing technology found in Xbox Kinect, PlayStation Move and Nintendo Wii Remote can be options in this field. This could actually be the key platforms to allow for such immersive and gratifying fun, provided the gamers did not tire themselves out.