My Ideal Hulk game
Superhero
games generally don't get a good reception and while some of that negative
press is justified, I do feel like there are some gems in the genre like
Volition's Punisher game, Raven Software's X-Men Origins Wolverine, The
Darkness games and one of my personal favorites, Hulk Ultimate Destruction.
Those few that follow me knows that I am a huge fanboy of Hulk Ultimate
Destruction. I generally am not a big fan of open world games, but Hulk UD was
a lot of fun. It captured, the spirit of the Hulk while also being an
incredibly fun game. Radical Entertainment also made a great combat system in
an open world setting which is no easy feat if you ask me.
A part of just kept wondering while Hulk UD's combat was very good overall, I
got to wonder how much better the game could've been if it ditched the open
world entirely and made for a more linear experience. I feel it would make the
combat encounters feel better because the developers can place different
materials Hulk can use as weapons in an open but carefully controlled space
rather than making it something the player randomly finds in an open world. I
would certainly use the ball and chain weapon more if the devs spawn more
trucks. I feel there would also be more enemy variety too since the devs aren't
too busy handcrafting the open world and focus more on the combat engine. Can
you honestly name an open world with a huge variety of enemies? They pack the
combat arenas with more stuff and opportunities to destroy you enemies. You can
have environment kills, even more weaponizations, have more carnage on screen
because you are having it in a controlled environment. Something a bit like
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic with the environmental kills and that would do.
Which is where my idea for my kind of Hulk game would come in:
Make it based on the Planet Hulk storyline. There are so many comic book
stories that take place on foreign planets and in space? So why the fuck don't
games take advantage of that? I am tired of cities being used for my superhero
games. I know Hulk UD had the Badlands but I find that setting uninteresting.
I picture it being a cross between Metroid Prime, God of War and Hulk Ultimate
Destruction. Metroid Prime for it's setting, and sense of isolation. God of War
for it's gory combat and pacing. Of course heavy liberties have to be taken
with the story since Hulk meets a lot of people in that storyline but I feel
Hulk being alone and isolated on a foreign planet would make for a fascinating
gameplay experience like Hulk would just get beat up by an alien overlord, and
then gets captured by slave traders and then runs off and escapes and finds his
way around the world. Hell, since GOW is an inspiration you can have it be
about Hulk overthrowing an tyrannical alien dictator. You can have the
gladiator parts but that is to break up the place from all the exploring. Hulk
can find different upgrades for his armor, get new weapons, and even bring the
weaponizations back from UD but with the environment and even some of the
weapons you find. Make the combat gorier too, Hulk is a violent character so I
would do what Raven Software did with Wolverine and have Hulk brutally murder
his enemies. It would lead for much more satisfying combat plus with the
impromptu weapons would and dismemberment system like Dead Space and you could
get some emergent combat encounters.
You can throw some puzzles along the way to break up the place like GOW and
even have Hulk visit landmarks of the planet. The Gladiator school Hulk goes to
in the comic can serve as a tutorial as well, I mention him being a slave
before but you can tie them in together.
I can go on all day but I feel like a Planet Hulk game has a crapload of
potential and am surprised has never got made. With Spider-Man PS4 being a
success, maybe we can get something like this get made. Please, no open world
Planet Hulk game...please.
