The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is a 2005 action-adventure video game developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Vivendi Universal Games (VU Games) for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The game is based on the Marvel Comics superhero the Hulk and showcases an open world with destructible environments. The narrative follows the Hulk as he is subconsciously influenced by his human alter-ego Bruce Banner and his psychotherapist Leonard Samson into assembling a device that will mend Banner's psyche and prevent the emergence of a darker personality. Aside from advancing the game's story, the player can engage in side missions and purchase new abilities for the Hulk.
Development of a sequel to Radical Entertainment's Hulk was revealed when the developer and VU Games announced a partnership. Ultimate Destruction's direction was influenced by critical reactions to Hulk, which resulted in free-roaming gameplay that emphasized environmental destruction while omitting stealth elements. Marvel Comics veterans Paul Jenkins and Bryan Hitch were recruited to create the game's story and provide visual design respectively.
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction was positively received, with reviewers praising the visceral satisfaction of wielding the Hulk's powers in an open and destructible environment. The challenge level, controls, move set, character and effect animations, and audio were also commended. The missions and story received mixed responses, and the environments were criticized. The game was less commercially successful than Hulk, which was attributed to its lack of a film tie-in. However, it served as an influence on the subsequent The Incredible Hulk game released in 2008, and it has been ranked among the best Marvel-based video games.
Gameplay
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction is a third-person action-adventure game in which the player controls the Hulk, the super-powered alter-ego of scientist Bruce Banner. Influenced by hypnotic suggestions from Banner's psychotherapist Leonard Samson, the Hulk is tasked with gathering resources for a machine that will cure Banner of the infliction that causes his transformations into the Hulk. Between each story-based mission, the Hulk can freely explore the game's open world as well as engage in side missions such as playing rounds of golf with giant balls and clubs or carrying an ambulance to a hospital. His location in the world is tracked by a radar on the bottom-left corner of the screen, and a variety of icons on the radar indicate mission objectives; for example, a red fist indicates something that must be destroyed, while a blue shield indicates something that must be protected. Samson's base is indicated by a green house icon.
The Hulk can jump great distances, run up and down walls, and climb, as well as a series of basic attacks and grapples to use against enemy characters. The Hulk can grab and use several objects as weapons, such as wielding a lamppost as a club. Larger objects, such as cars and tanks, can be picked up and thrown to dispatch groups of enemies from a distance. The Hulk's health is represented by a bar on the upper-left corner of the screen, while a second bar below it increases whenever the Hulk takes damage or destroys property. When this bar is filled, the Hulk enters a "critical mass" state where he can make his most powerful and devastating moves. However, using these moves depletes the bar, causing the Hulk to drop out of critical mass. When his health drops to a certain level, the Hulk will enter an "adrenaline surge" state similar to critical mass, in which he can use the same moves without depleting the critical mass bar.
If the Hulk causes wanton destruction during the free-roaming gameplay, the spokes of an "emergency response meter" on the screen's upper-right corner will extend. When the meter's center lights up, a military strike team will be dispatched to combat the Hulk. Accomplishing missions, destroying property, and defeating enemies earn the Hulk "smash points", which can be used to purchase new moves at Samson's base. Such moves include new ways to weaponize objects, such as using two halves of a car as steel gloves or a flattened car as a shield. Each mission that is completed unlocks additional moves to purchase. Some moves have dependencies and are unavailable until the moves they are based on have been purchased. Hidden throughout the world are sixty collectible comic book covers from the Incredible Hulk series that unlock a variety of rewards, including artwork, skins, and cheats.
Plot Scientist Bruce Banner has spent years in semi-isolation researching a potential cure for an affliction that transforms him into the Hulk when he is angered or stressed. He has created an experimental device intended to modify his subconscious and repair psychological damage inflicted upon him by childhood trauma, thus subduing the Hulk as well as another, more menacing personality that is emerging within him. Working alongside psychotherapist Leonard Samson, Banner nearly completes the device, but military forces led by Emil Blonsky destroy his forest hideout. As Banner escapes in the form of the Hulk, Blonsky takes the device from the hideout's remains and is exposed to gamma rays. Banner regroups with Samson, who equips Banner with a device that implants post-hypnotic suggestions and artificially induces episodes of rage, allowing them a degree of control over the Hulk. Samson sends the Hulk on various errands into the city and the badlands to help construct the machine or hinder Blonsky's ever-growing presence.
Meanwhile, Blonsky's superior, General Thunderbolt Ross, chastises him for overstepping his authority to secure a mysterious prisoner, "Mission Directive", in a secret military research facility known as the Vault. Following this argument, Blonsky transforms into a reptilian monster known as the Abomination and goes on a rampage until the Hulk arrives and defeats him. As the Hulk escapes, Blonsky returns to normal and claims to his men that the wreckage is the Hulk's doing. While retrieving fuel rods at a nuclear power plant, the Hulk encounters Blonsky's bodyguard Mercy. Upon her defeat, Mercy attempts to divulge the true nature of Mission Directive, but is killed when Blonsky orders an air strike on the plant. Although Banner escapes with his life, the stress of the situation takes its toll, and his evil alter ego, the Devil Hulk, begins to emerge.
Under the Devil Hulk's influence, the Hulk destroys civilian buildings and kills many innocents under the illusion that Samson is ordering him to destroy military locations. After fearing the threat of an out-of-control Hulk, Samson lures the Hulk into a military test site, where Ross faces the Hulk in a gigantic Hulkbuster mech. When the Hulk emerges victorious, Samson renders the Hulk unconscious with his hypnotic device. Banner is taken to the Vault, where Blonsky prepares to peel open Banner's mind in search of the secret to controlling gamma-based transformations. The agony of Banner's interrogation draws out the Devil Hulk's power, and the Hulk breaks free. Blonsky transforms into the Abomination when the Hulk corners him, exposing his identity to Samson and the military. Blaming the Hulk for ruining his life, the Abomination flees the Vault, as does the Hulk. Banner confronts Samson for betraying him, but forgives him when Samson reveals that he used Banner's captivity as a diversion to secure a vital component of the machine. As Samson makes the final adjustments, the Hulk defends the base from Ross's forces. Using the finished machine to venture into his psyche, Banner defeats and banishes the Devil Hulk.
Meanwhile, the Abomination breaks into the Vault to retrieve Mission Directive. The Hulk follows him, but discovers that Mission Directive is Blonsky's now-deceased wife Nadia and their unborn child; following Nadia's diagnosis of ovarian cancer, Blonsky exposed her to gamma radiation as part of a government program influenced by Banner's research. Blaming Banner for Nadia's death, the Abomination departs from the Vault and heads for the local dam, planning to destroy it and the city below. The Hulk and the military pursue the Abomination, but fail to prevent him from breaking the dam. As the Abomination disappears under the current, the Hulk causes a landslide to stop the water and save the city. Despite this heroic act, Ross publicly blames the Hulk for the dam's destruction to cover his mistakes. After lamenting this turn of events, Samson offers his help again, but Banner turns him down, believing the world will never trust the Hulk, and sets off on his own.
Development and release VU Games and Radical Entertainment jointly announced a partnership in February 2004 under which Radical would create six license-based multi-platform games published by VU Games, including a sequel to Hulk (2003) tentatively titled The Hulk 2. The partnership was influenced by the commercial success of Hulk and The Simpsons: Hit & Run (2003). Michael Pole, executive vice president of worldwide product development for VU Games, confirmed that The Hulk 2 would not be based on any theatrical production, and was slated for a mid-2005 release. Another working title, The Incredible Hulk, was revealed in December, as was its status as a free-roaming game. The final title was revealed by Marvel Studios in a webcast conference on March 7, 2005. Producer Vlad Ceraldi subsequently clarified that The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction would not be a sequel to Hulk, and would instead be an original story based on the comics.. The development team peaked at around 45-50 people.
The game's direction was based on reactions to the previous Hulk game; the development team built upon the game's feeling of controlling the Hulk's power, combat style, and environmental interaction, drawing from the tutorial level as a particular influence. The free-roaming element and the omission of Bruce Banner from the gameplay were based on negative responses to the previous game's limited corridor-based level design and stealth levels, respectively. To achieve an authentic comic book experience, Radical collaborated with Marvel Comics veterans Paul Jenkins and Bryan Hitch, who were heavily involved in the game's development: Jenkins wrote the story, script, and in-game dialogue, and provided suggestions for the gameplay, while Hitch provided visual design for the main characters, concept art, and the box art.