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Hulk Smash! Lacks Subtlety

Posted by Zonk on from the needs-a-little-more-thought dept.

Joshuah Bearman's, over at the LA Weekly, continues to impress with his 'Pass the Paddles' column. This week he offers up an analysis of why 'Hulk Smash' needs a little more thought put into it. From the article: "If superhero games are so often terrible, it's because they're saddled with the flattening reductionism of superhero film adaptations. But superheroes aren't so simple. The principal disappointment with the film version of The Hulk was that it lacked the mythical gravitas, graceful action and ultimate spiritual reward of Ang Lee's previous masterpiece, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film Hulk's oedipal and rage complexes were ham-fisted, and the action boringly brutish. In other words: Crouching Tiger was a better superhero story. (And should have made a better video game; sadly, that title was a disaster.)"

7 of 31 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Teh fr0sty p1ss! by Fr05t · · Score: 4, Funny

    That is a lie! I gave you none of my piss!

  2. Exactly! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, a game like this should allow the player to get into the head of the superhero. They should understand Hulk's motivation for smashing. What is he trying to accomplish by smashing? Without that kind of deeper interaction with the character, superhero games will always seem like a pale shadow of the stories we all know.

  3. Jack Thompson has an apoplexy by DrSkwid · · Score: 3, Funny

    Marvel Comics Presents Hulk Smash: A game where you play a giant monster that goes on a oedipal rage driven killing spree. Go for teh win by killing your father and fucking your mother.

    ESRB : teen

    yeah, sure, go for it

    =)

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  4. Should've gone back to the comics by tepples · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Many players would call GoldenEye 007 for Nintendo 64 the Best Movie To Game Conversion Evar(tm). It was greatly improved by the fact that the level designers took a lot of their cues from John Gardner's novelization, filling out details that were only implied in the movie. Likewise, the developers of Hulk video games could have referred to the comics.

    1. Re:Should've gone back to the comics by Intellectual+Elitist · · Score: 2, Interesting
      > Likewise, the developers of Hulk video games could have referred to the comics.

      Yeah, really. They could have maybe gotten someone like Paul Jenkins, who'd actually written the Hulk comic before, to work on the game with them. And maybe even base the game off of one of his comic book storylines. And they could have even gone the extra mile and done a comic book miniseries based on the game. Oh, wait -- they already did.

      Granted, Jenkins was hardly the best writer the Hulk had ever seen, and the translation of the story to the game wasn't the best, either -- but the game itself was extremely solid and enjoyable, and immensely replayable.

  5. ZOUNDS! by Deitheres · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You mean that a game titled "Hulk Smash" lacks subtlety? With a name like that, I thought Bruce Banner would be reading Shakespeare or something... ;-)

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  6. Write your own movie, then. by VGR · · Score: 2, Insightful

    For some reason, the Hulk movie is a movie people love to hate. I liked it. Sure, it isn't perfect, but it's damn good.

    Leave it to an LA publication to compare it to Crouching Tiger. If there's a place where people are in love with rehashing the same thing until it's run into the ground, it's LA. "Take no risks! Just write and direct another Crouching Tiger!"

    The movie isn't like like Crouching Tiger because Ang Lee didn't want to make another Crouching Tiger. God, it's like people telling Robin Williams to do some Mork lines.

    I do feel like Banner's repressed violence should have been portrayed more subtly, but we all know how things like that hit the cutting room floor. Critics may be won over by subtlety, but general audiences can barely spell the word.

    To stay on topic... I very much agree with his assessment on the games. The Banner element is good as long it's not more than a tiny part of the gameplay. For instance, I might like a game where you play as the Hulk constantly but are haunted by Banner's thoughts and must piece them together. And obviously just smashing a city is going to wear thin, for players over the age of ten. A really successful game will be one that can find a balance.

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