Hulk is a movie tie-in game released in 2003 and is a somewhat loose sequel to the events that happened in the film. The gameplay is split into two different styles. The Bruce Banner levels which are all about stealth, skillfully disposing of enemies and flipping switches/ putting codes into computers to access certain objectives for that level,

The other half of the game is split playing as the Hulk, where you are mowing down waves of soldiers, gamma dogs, gamma soldiers and robots in largely destructible environments 3d beat em up style. When the game first begins, these are the fun levels (obviously) however, over the course of the 33 levels in this game you begin to beg for banner levels to break up the monotony of the hulk stages.

The longer you play this game, the more the problems show their ugly head and man is there some big problems. Most of the game’s woes can be broken down to three major issues.

Problem#1: The lack of any defensive mechanics for hulk to use.

- There is no guard button in this game, which may not seem like a major issue but because of how many enemies fill the screen in later levels you begin to take 50-60% damage in levels that inhabit small corridors. You begin to take this crazy damage not only because the developers didn't give us a defense mechanism against it but ALSO due to:

Problem #2: The Camera

-The game uses a fixed camera angle that switches when you enter certain sections of the level. This constant switching between camera angles when combined with some of the smaller levels in the game (which in a game with 33 of them, you encounter them frequently) gets you absolutely ATE UP by the opposition. Missiles that hit you because u simply cannot see where they are coming from, mutant dogs that bite you because just like the missiles, you ALSO can’t see them; attacking an enemy and in mid combo there's a quick camera switch that accidentally leaves you open for attacks you can’t avoid. Just annoying inconveniences that add up over time. If only there was a Lock-On system for us to see who we're fighting!

Problem #3: The targeting system and other mechanics.

- In the very first mission of the game we are introduced to many mechanics that we will use as the hulk later. The two main mechanics I want to focus on are the lock on system and the POWER MOVES. Let’s start with the lock on system. Holding the right trigger allows you to hone in on enemies and on objects, u can switch between them using the c stick. This mechanic on paper seems fine but in practice, it sucks, this just flat out sucks. You could be facing your opponent and holding the r button could lock you on to an object on the other side of the screen. It never seems like it works properly, it never locks on to what you want it to lock on. This dilemma gets even WORSE the more baddies that fill up the screen and let me tell you in some of these later levels you go through a GAUNTLET of enemies.

Next the POWER MOVES! Holding the punch button charges up a stronger punch, holding the special attack button charges hulks thunderclap. During a jump the charge punch remains the same, but the special attack fully charged is a stomp. These WOULD be nice little additions to the combat to break up the tedious combat I mentioned awhile back, only that you never use them. Charging your moves leaves you open to attacks from your opponents, especially in air. Even in the early stages of the game you will be interrupted and encouraged NOT to use it. The only power move worth a damn is the thunderclap (and even that has its limits). I honestly rarely used any of these mechanics, the lock on mechanic was only helpful for the Ravage and The Leader boss fights, the power moves outside of the thunderclaps actually NEVER got used after the first 40 mins of the game.

While these are what i believe to be the three biggest issues, there are more minor ones. The difficulty curve ramps up quickly as a way to pad out game time. I found the Banner pass-code sections to be quite annoying albeit they are short. The soundtrack is quite weak as well.

I just went through a myriad of things i don't like about the game, is there anything positive to say? Yes actually!

As a Hulk fan i was delighted to see his villains get their shine in this game, Hulk doesn't have the most notable villains outside of the leader and abomination so to see the likes of Madman, Flux, General Ryker and others really made me smile. The voice acting is also top notch. Although i have problems with the gameplay i cannot understate how much extra content is in this game. A destruction mode, two different time attack modes, two different enemy survival modes, cheat codes so you can replay the story a different way, bonus videos/art and the making of the game. This is really a nice package for 2003!

Overall it was a very mediocre experience but i didnt feel like my time was completely wasted playing this game.

I grew up with Sonic, Sonic and Knuckles on PC is probably the first game I've ever played. I have alot of memories replaying that mega collection back on the ps2 and I became a real big fan of the character, however, I remember being a kid and playing this game and this was my first time ever being disappointed with the blue hedgehog.

The team mechanic switching between characters sounds great as a concept but in practice makes the game very choppy and it doesn't flow together very well. The level designs are REALLY hit or miss for me, I really like the first three stages of the game, some of the best stages in sonic history for me, then you have stages like bingo highway and casino park which are down right AWFUL in my opinion. The games stages also are just too damn big, even for the ones that I enjoyed.

Playing through the game with multiple teams for the real was a pain in the ass as well, especially for those damn hide and seek chaotix missions, some of which took nearly 25+ minutes to complete.

In short, when the game is good, it's got minor flaws that keep it from being great, when the game is BAD, it's ANNOYINGLY bad

I never made it too far in this game, I'll change that some day. I've always looked at the legend of Zelda series as an action/adventure game with RPG elements rather than just looking at the game as an RPG. The action adventure segments of the game are really fun, looking for hidden secrets, going through dungeons, fighting whatever enemies are found there is a ton of fun. But the slight RPG elements where you have to go into towns and start talking to people to progress the story along are just....boring to me. Extremely BORING to me if I'm being honest. Those sections of the game take maybe 20 minutes but it's so draining to get through that they might as well take an hour to get through.

I do plan on replaying this game in the future one day to see what everyone else is talking about with this game.

I never liked this game as much as the second one of I'm being honest with you, and I didn't play this as much as I did the first 2 but I cannot deny this is the definitive Budokai game in every aspect imaginable except maybe for OST and the combat. Better roster, better presentation, objectively better story mode etc.

Some people don't mind the dragon rush mode which is just basically a game of rock paper scissors, I can't stand it, I think it's extremely repetitive and loses its charm after like the first 5-10 times you see it.

The very first game I ever played for my PlayStation 2, and what a game it was. This is a slight improvement over the first game and this is probably my favorite of the 3 original Budokai games. Some of that is nostalgia for this game, some of that is from some of the things in this game that I like more than 3, the soundtrack for example and I've always liked the board game story mode.

This is when you get your typical cel shaded look the DBZ games would have as a staple for the rest of it's releases. A great game

Growing up on the early/mid 00s there was certain games that if you didn't own them, you got a side eye from the people you knew; this was definitely one of those games. The original Budokai games all left you with something memorable and distinct between one another, for this game it's the graphics and cutscenes.

Starting off with the graphics, someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the only mainline Dragonball game on consoles that isn't fully cel shaded. I could be wrong on that in not entirely sure. That alone makes this one of the most unique looking games in Dragonball, pop this game in on a ps2 with component cables or a ps2 that's been modded for HDMI output and you've still got a really nice looking game on the PS2

The cutscenes in the story mode topped with the amazing OST is really a site to behold. Some say that even to this day it captures the feeling of the show better than any DBZ game after it. While I am inclined to agree, this game has always felt like the manga brought to life on screen, even more so than the game "Super Dragonball Z".

The fighting mechanics are definitely solid however they do improve in the later games in this series, this game really thrives off the charm of it's presentation rather than the gameplay itself. It's still as great a game now as it was back then