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  Hellboy: The Science of Evil
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Also available on:
XBOX, PSP On A Gathering Storm…It’s summer time (in the northern hemisphere) and that usually means some kind of superhero movie is about to drop. This year we have already had several come out before the season even began, but the trend will continue with the release of Hellboy II. Like many superhero movies, a video game is being wrapped up in the package as well, hitting store shelves shortly: Hellboy: The Science of Evil. In general, big red flags go up for this writer whenever I see video games released alongside movies. Mostly because games that ship with movies have undoubtedly been rushed to the market to take advantage of the movie’s release date. Thus often but not always results in a game that has many flaws, bugs and shortcomings. The good news is that Konami, one of the best developers in the gaming league is behind Hellboy: The Science of Evil and that is always promising. Comes A Tall Handsome Man…Obviously, you will play as Hellboy, but the game does allow for a coop mode which will have a friend playing along side you as one of the other superheroes from the Hellboy universe. As the story goes (which we might add was written by the original creator of the Hellboy character Mike Mignola), Hellboy will uncover a sinister Nazi plot to take over the world and our hero will be pitted against the rather evil Hermann Von Klempt. There is not much information as to how connected the game actually will be with the movie. If we are to speculate simply by the title, we can thus assume that they are not connected at all as the new move will be called Hellboy II: The Golden Army. It could very well be a prequel to the move or simply just another Hellboy story. Just a couple more days and we’ll know for sure. With A Dusty Black Coat…The gameplay will be that of a traditional beat’em’up brawler, which can be a lot of fun, especially with a friend. One of the levels that we’ve seen thus far is set in a graveyard and has an army of skeletons coming out of the grave to attack Hellboy. The only way for Hellboy to stop the onslaught of undead bones is to toss their feeble little bodies back at their place of origin, thus disabling the enemy spawn point. Hellboy has many items aiding him in his quest to destroy evil or at least understand the science behind it. These items include his trusty red stone fist, a huge gun, and a chargeable power that can be unleashed, engulfing his fist in flames and upping his attack power. There are combo moves that can be pulled off, which look somewhat similar to the combos seen in games such as God of War. His gun can be loaded with different types of ammunition all of which provide a unique element to the gameplay. For example, different types of ammo will deal out great amounts of damage depending on what enemies you are fighting. There are puzzle elements in the gameplay, but they are kept on the easy side and won’t be a huge party of the game itself. There was one situation that showed Hellboy having to track down the proper type of ammunition to kill a gravestone that housed the gravedigger’s dead wife. As I said, these are not mind-bending puzzles that have you throwing the controller down in a brain melting fury; they merely add a nice addition to mindless shooting and punching. There were also tombs to find throughout the environment that when searched gave out power ups or ammo or other fun stuff. And A Red Right HandGiven my statements above are only a personal observation, Hellboy: The Science of Evil actually has a lot of potential to be a fun game either solo or with a friend. I don’t think that this game will be a Game of the Year contender, but if you are looking for a weekend of some good fun it might be worth a look. Hopefully Konami puts a good effort into making the game fun and exciting and doesn’t just try to cash in on the upcoming sales generated by a new movie. My guess is that this will be the perfect rental game and a must have for fans of Hellboy. |
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| At a glance |
| Another movie tie-in. We are hoping that this isn't just another drinks coaster. |