Every once in a while a game comes along that exceeds all of our expectations. It thrills us with a deep and engrossing narrative or an incredibly cinematic atmosphere. The graphics blow us away, the setting mesmerises us for every second that we play and the experience is so satisfying and so fulfilling that we want to come back to it again and again and again...

Within five minutes of playing Hellboy: The Science of Evil, I could have told you, categorically, that this is not such a game. This is a bad game. I refuse to make bones about that fact. It's a game that could have been very, very good. The subject matter - drawn more from the Hellboy comics than the movies - is so rich and deep, the character of Big Red himself so well drawn and greatly liked, that when this game was first whispered about it must have hummed with ripe potential. Hell, potentially it could have rivalled God of War as an action title. Instead it merely apes the monumental achievement of Kratos' blood-soaked odyssey with all the charm and dedication of a fat guy in a flasher mac, painted red with a giant foam finger on one hand. It's lazy mimicry at best, downright insulting at worst.

The problem is not one thing. It's lots and lots of little things, a few medium-sized things, and one great big joy-robbing flaw all rolled into one - a great big flaw that we'll come to soon enough. First, the little things. The first thing I disliked about Hellboy was the lackadaisical opening. Not only because the graphics were appallingly last-gen but also because it serves as a precursor to the complete disregard for any real exposition or narrative. You'll travel from the crypts of the first chapter through forests and caverns and deserts and you won't care at all where you are, where you're going or what's in the way. The idea is to traverse each chapter's area and defeat the boss at the end of it whilst smacking the snot out of various undead and/or supernatural enemies. The backdrops aren't entirely bland but neither are they particularly detailed or attention-grabbing, and since most areas are of the "keep killing things until a magic barrier drops" variety you'll eventually get so bored that you could use a little sightseeing to brighten up the proceedings a little.

The combat is exciting for the first group of bad guys then it's briefly exciting again the first time you can use the Samaritan (Hellboy's converted Magnum), then it becomes just another exercise in button mashing. Basic attacks are mapped to the X button while holding down Y produces a charged hit called a Boom Attack. Squeezing the left trigger fires the Samaritan and the right trigger grapples the nearest enemy, allowing for stronger or even fatal attacks. The enemies come thick and fast and, later in the game, often take a good long time to go down for good. Again, this would be great if it weren't so… well, dull. Health comes from vanquished enemies, as does the energy that allows for powerful strikes - and in the earlier stages of the game you'll easily power through dozens of foes without coming too close to biting the big one. Later on, however, Hellboy's sluggish movements and his complete lack of grace make some of the larger group fights a pain. This is something else that the developers could have played upon; Hellboy's famous strength could have been used to make every attack feel meaty and visceral; his legendary stamina and characteristic knack for surviving even the heaviest of hits could have been utilised in-game to create an avatar that feels like he's taking punishment and getting back up to return it tenfold. Less would have been more where the enemies are concerned; having them all mill around you, waiting for a kick-in just isn't fun. Even the boss fights against - among other things - giant hellish worms, lack any sparkle or a real sense of danger.

The scripting is admittedly a little better. Securing the talents of Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones adds a touch of class and familiarity to proceedings but all three are underused. Most of Perlman's deadpan lines are delivered with the same flair as fans of the films will be used to - but a lot of the time he's really just saying "Oh, crap!" Depressingly apt. As for Blair and Jones, their characters only appear during co-op mode and therefore their lines are limited, as is their usefulness in the game itself. It would be nice to live in a world where "movie-tie-in" didn't translate into "any old bag of cack as long as the actors from the films do the voices." A lot of actors have the integrity and career-knowhow to avoid bad film scripts, but it seems none of them know much about videogames. If they did, perhaps developers would be forced to make better games to attract the big name talents instead of getting away with selling any old crap on the back of a movie star's popularity.

Earlier I mentioned a great big flaw. This game, the one I'm reviewing, Hellboy: The Science of Evil, released in 2008(!) is marred by something we thought they had buried years ago… a fixed camera. I mean, what the hell? This is the next generation of consoles! These machines are capable of running Oblivion, Halo 3, Dead Rising… What the hell do we need a fixed camera for? It's restricting, creates barriers where there should be none and completely removes any real chance of exploration or free will. You go where the game wants you to go, every single step of the way - and at times you can hardly see Hellboy himself because he's at the other end of the room and the camera won't zoom to follow him. I was not impressed. Neither will you be.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil is a game that should have been made completely differently. It could have been big and brash and open, drawing on all the Lovecraft-inspired lore of the comics and the relationships between the employees of the B.P.R.D (here almost completely ignored in favour of Big Red). Instead what you have is a game that lacks anything even remotely compelling, a short, repetitive, bland, dull mess of a game, the only redeeming feature of which is that Perlman's Hellboy is effortlessly likeable. Even the extras here - usually at the very least a distracting bonus in movie or comic tie-ins - aren't very exciting, just some unlockable art and behind the scenes stuff. As I said, every once in a while a game comes along that blows us away. The problem being the 'every once in a while' part, whereas so often these uninspiring, lacklustre, money-milking excuses for videogames can't even measure up to the promises on their box covers. I'm not talking quotes, I'm talking titles. When a game says that it's associated with Hellboy then that's what we damn well want: the look, the feel, the atmosphere, the fun and the excitement of the comics and the movies. This game, in all honesty, could have been based on anything and been the same; the very concept of Hellboy is, here, completely short-changed. I could go on, but I've said pretty much all there is to say. There is nothing redeeming here, and certainly nothing worth the better part of forty quid.

Every once in a while a game comes along that blows us away. If only games like this one were equally as rare…

Reviewed by Mick Fraser for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).