Hellboy is one of several super heroes (Spider-Man, Incredible Hulk, Iron Man) to receive the video game treatment in 2008. Konami's upcoming Hellboy: The Science of Evil bursts into stores June 24, just in time to compliment the July 11 release of the Hellboy II: The Golden Army film. And like most games of this type, it has the standard issue list of "impressive" features guaranteed to make fans swoon and us journalist types cynical.

To read the game's fact sheet, this is going to be one of the sweetest super hero games ever conceived. First, it doesn't follow the film, which is a plus, considering the long list of movie to game train wrecks. Second, its original story came from Hellboy creator Mike Mignola and the film's director, the celebrated Guillermo del Toro. There's two-player co-op, letting you and a friend battle enemies via split screen and online through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network; the second player can be Abe Sapien or Liz Sherman. And to top it off, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones will voice their characters.

That's an impressive list, at least to those who don't play video games. Us gamers know that there's no amount of golden, Hollywood features that can guarantee a quality gaming experience. After all, Atari's abominable Enter the Matrix was directed by the Wachowski brothers, while Activision's equally horrid Spider-Man 3 features the vocal talents of Tobey Maguire, Topher Grace and Bruce Campbell.

Most, if not all gamers have felt burned by these disasters, and at this point, we can't tell you that Hellboy will be any different. Konami appears to have solid game mechanics in place, but we grew bored watching just 15 minutes of footage. You've got your button mashing beat-em-up mechanics, standard issue puzzle solving and the tried and true "defeat all of the bad guys in order to break the cursed entrance", which God of War and countless other action games overuse.

On the positive side, The Science of Evil looks attractive. Konami and the game's developer, Krome Studios (Ty the Tasmanian Tiger) have done a nice job capturing the essence of the series, creating a dark, foreboding world populated by all sorts of evil creatures. Our first scene, with Hellboy exploring a graveyard, is a bit spooky, especially as he goes to investigate a crypt. Combine the pretty visuals with Ron Perlman and a story about thwarting a Nazi plot (and who doesn't love killing those guys), and you have a great presentation to look forward to.

Besides, it's not like the combat looks bad. It's just a safe, by-the-numbers approach that probably won't wow anyone, but also won't have game reviewers calling for Konami's collective head. So long as we have something that's mildly enjoyable to play, we're bound to throw a few hours into it. Prepare to send your enemies to hell June 24.

Related Links

Hellboy: The Science of Evil PS3 Game Guide

Hellboy: The Science of Evil Xbox 360 Game Guide