The Incredible Hulk (1994 video game)

Gameplay

The player controls the Incredible Hulk while searching for the Leader. Five levels await ranging from city skyscrapers to alien landscapes. The Marvel Comics villains featured as the five levels' respective bosses are The Abomination (who appears as a sub-boss in every level), Rhino, Absorbing Man, Tyrannus, and the Leader.

The player navigates The Hulk through the 7 different levels, defeating enemies such as The Leader's robots to The Abomination as a mini-boss in most levels. Different power-ups can be collected, such as extra time in the level boss, super-health pills, extra lives, and tranquility pills. Tranquility pills can be stored and used at will, and their effect reverts The Hulk back to Bruce Banner. While in Banner form, the player has no form of attack, except for laser guns randomly found in a level, which only have 2 bullets per gun. The player's only other option is to evade any enemies by jumping if not possessing a gun. Bruce will transform back into The Hulk if any hits are taken while standing up on the ground. The player can also utilize Banner's smaller size to fit through small passages that The Hulk cannot fit through, leading to secret rooms. Through use of a cheat code, the player can swap through Banner and The Hulk at will during the pause menu.

There are 3 different endings in the game, depending on what difficulty the player has beaten the game on. The Easy ending has The Leader scoffing at the Hulk's power, further angering him, and then going to the credits. The normal ending contains The Leader leaving his hideout in an escape pod, and triggering the self-destruct sequence on his fortress. The Hulk escapes before the fortress explodes, then the credits play. The Hard ending can be considered the best ending, as it contains a lot of details from the Normal ending. The Leader attempts to escape once again, but The Hulk retaliates by throwing a chunk of rubble at The Leader's escape pod and sending it down. The battle is considered over, and peace is restored to the area.

If the player fails to continue the game, then the Leader takes over the world in an act of world domination. All versions of the game have a high score list.

Reception

The Incredible Hulk was well received by critics. GamePro gave the Genesis version a moderately positive review, commenting that the best parts of the game are the well-done graphics and the "old-fashioned, platform-style action/adventure levels, each with multiple paths". Mega placed the game at number 39 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time.

The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Game Gear version a 6.8 out of 10, commenting that "Game Gear continues to astound! This one has great graphics and the game play couldn't be better." GamePro similarly commented "The rock-solid Genesis game has been translated into one of the best-looking Game Gear games of the summer. Marvel's heroes don't always fully succeed as hand-held games (just ask Spidey), but The Hulk rocks." They praised the special moves, graphics, animation, and "imaginative" bosses, and remarked that aside from the sometimes inaccurate jump, the controls are perfect.

Reviewing the SNES version, GamePro again praised the praised the well-done graphics and solid gameplay, though this time they criticized that the game is too easy.