Software development and movie development have begun to slowly merger into one another. Enter the Matrix was developed right alongside Matrix: Reloaded, and fans of the Matrix ended up with a nice addition to the movie, but a mediocre game. In a similar manner, The Hulk from Universal was developed in conjunction with the blockbuster motion picture. The crews for the game and the movie worked together to give players the best possible gaming experience. Enter the Matrix turned out to be disappointing from almost every viewpoint, but The Hulk raises the bar, even if only slightly.

The game picks up presumably where the movie ends, with Bruce Banner fleeing to the jungle. After a short pseudo-training stage that teaches you some of the basics, you're off and running. The Hulk plays very similar to an old school brawler like Final Fight, only in 3D and with a big green protagonist. To give players that movie feel, Eric Bana was brought in to handle the voice of Bruce Banner. He'll chime in from time to time giving you the feeling of being inside Banner's head.

While the basic brawler action will keep you entertained for a little while, it's just not enough in the current generation of software. Even though it's rather entertaining to pick up miniscule guards and beat them a few times, then walk around a bit holding on to them and finally toss them into a group of more guards... it can get old after awhile. This is especially so when you consider the fact that there isn't a wide variety of enemies. Hulk can pick up a nice assortment of poles, concrete slabs, helicopter remains, and other random items, but the development team knew it wasn't enough.

To relieve the monotony of brawlers, Hulk has the ability to shoot a beam of radioactivity to stun foes, and even power up to unleash a super attack of sorts. However, due to the game's simplistic levels and ignorant A.I., the stun beam serves no real purpose. That leaves the super attacks to mix things up, but they're just not enough. The developers did add a few stages as Bruce Banner in which you have to sneak around avoiding guards and mutant dogs, but these are more tedious than helpful.

One thing The Hulk does have going for it would have to be the graphics and animation. As you run around controlling either the Hulk or Bruce Banner, you get the sense that you truly are controlling them. They run, jump, and attack fluidly and without restraint. As Hulk, you'll even leave damage in the ground when you jump around. But all of this is countered by a lack of responsive controls.

Picking up a guard and hitting him three times sends the Hulk into an automatic animation of tossing the guard away. However, if you only hit the guard twice, all of his energy will be gone, and you can still apply a beating, or toss him into some other enemies to clear your way. Unfortunately, hitting the attack button twice at a normal speed doesn't usually result in two punches. At the same time, if you delay too much, then the hordes of enemies around you can commence their attack and disrupt your guard beating. It's very frustrating to execute the correct attack, in the correct direction. This is further compounded by a less than stellar camera angle.

Half the time Hulk will be running toward the camera, so you can't see what's coming in front of you. Other times you'll need to throw an enemy in a certain direction that's either off camera or just at a difficult angle to judge. You can utilize a targeting system, but when you can't even see where the target is, it's not very helpful. A first-person perspective is also available to players, but you have a limited time to toss certain enemies, and going in and out of first-person mode is too time-consuming to be of much use.

Once you've gotten past The Hulk's shortcomings, it won't take you long to breeze through the game. As you work your way through, you will unlock behind the scenes features, and promotional material for the movie and the game. While these make nice extras, and they're very easy to unlock given the lack of challenge throughout the game, they aren't extras that can be enjoyed multiple times by most gamers. One watch is all you need for most of the unlockable features.

The Hulk is better than Enter the Matrix and one of the best brawlers in the current generation. It's unfortunate that brawlers just don't have the gameplay value of older generations. Making your way through the levels saying, "Hulk smash!" to yourself is only fun for so long. When you can make it to the final level in one sitting without using any continues, this further adds to the fact that The Hulk is meant for a rental and nothing more. If you're a fan of the movie, you will probably enjoy the unlockable features, and the addition of Eric Bana's voice work. But even with these additions, the game just isn't worth more than a few hours of playtime. On the positive side, those few hours can be rather enjoyable, so take the time to give this one a rent.