Grrrrrrrr! AAARRRGGGHHHH! RIIIIIP! RAAAAAAAARRRRRRRR! Well, I don't feel any meaner, I'm definitely not any greener and I've just ruined one of my favourite shirts. I guess I should leave turning into a rage fuelled, ten-foot, massive mutant engine of destruction to Bruce Banner.

The Hulk truly is one of the greatest comic creations of all time - a conflicted scientist struggling to control his rage as he searches for a cure for his condition. I am really looking forward to the film and if the game is anything to go by, we're in for a treat. However, for those of you who always wanted to transform into the Hulk and smash everything in sight, this game will totally satisfy this desire. The action begins in the rest room of a gas station in the middle of the desert - Bruce is trying to stay calm but cannot and as the military arrive with helicopters, tanks and troops on tow, the Hulk smashes out of the building.

This first level does a great job of teaching you the basics whilst unleashing the Hulk's power and not worrying about the plot (at least not yet). You can run up to the soldiers, dwarfed by your massive, super muscular form, and crush them in all manner of satisfying ways. You have a number of awesome looking punch and kick combos, most of which will finish a standard soldier in one go. You can also grab a soldier and throw him at his comrades, give him a good pounding or super slam him into the ground. However, it quickly becomes apparent that there's even more fun to be had by using the scenery against your enemies. This game features the best ever destructible scenery - you can smash anything! Cracks appear in the ground when you leap into the air and then power down onto your foes below. Walls crack and chip, with some smashing through altogether. You can lift cars and use them to crush soldiers or swipe at them, knocking them flying. You can smash up tanks and use the pieces similarly, or grab the tank turret by its end and use it as a baseball bat to knock your opponents out of the ballpark! It really is an awesome feeling of power that you can do so much damage and this is conveyed to the player very well indeed.

It turns out that our desert battle is simply a dream and Bruce Banner awakens. Then an old colleague, Dr. Crawford, contacts Bruce claiming to have discovered a cure for his condition. Bruce reluctantly goes to investigate, but Dr. Crawford isn't trying to cure him at all, in fact he has found a way of extracting Bruce's radiation and using it to transform other humans into mutated beasts. He begins with himself, transforming from his wheelchair bound, frail human form into the massive green hulk known as Ravage. But he seems to still have his intelligence and wits about him, unlike our Hulk who just likes to smash things a lot. Hulk must pursue Ravage and stop him from using the Gamma Orb he has created to help the mysterious Leader raise a gamma mutant army.

Having not seen the film, I'm not sure how closely the game follows its story but the plot of the game flows very well and there are a number of gamma mutated foes, automated guns, tanks, helicopters and big robots to face - otherwise it would be a bit easy as the soldiers are no match for your might. The range of enemies, although limited due to the nature of the Hulk comic book, is nicely varied. The big gamma dogs are very vicious and quite a challenge in packs, whilst the big blue mutant soldiers are tough, especially when armed with gamma cannons. Automated gun turrets can be a real pain and the rocket launcher soldiers can knock you off your feet and are highly accurate. Tanks too create a problem, but punch their missiles back at them and they'll be smouldering wreckage in no time. There are also a number of mutants as big and tough as you to face, each with their own different powers and fighting style. Often you must smash up some machinery to give yourself an advantage, such as one foe who you must repeatedly throw into a generator to weaken him, but you must first destroy the generator's power cells to lower its impenetrable shield.

There are occasions where you must play through a level as Bruce Banner as well, either because you can't transform or because you can't afford to lose control and smash everything in sight. In these levels you are unarmed and no match for even the soldiers, so you must sneak and dodge your way through the level, performing tasks along the way. There are only a few levels that you play as Bruce and although they are not very eventful, they are well done and the need for stealth is a welcome change of pace from destroying everything in your path.

And just when you thought the Hulk couldn't get any angrier, you actually have a rage meter as well as a health meter! This gradually fills up as you beat up enemies and as you get shot or injured. Once it's full you glow green and inflict even more damage for a limited time. You can also activate one of two special attacks when in rage mode too - an incredibly powerful ground pound or a supercharged sonic boom (which you create by clapping your hands together). Both these moves are devastating to anyone in their range. You can also hold a move for a few seconds to charge up its power, which is especially cool for when the Hulk jumps into the air, hovers for a moment and then crashes down with extra force!

The graphics are excellent and perfectly stylised to look like a moving comic book. Instead of using the popular cel-shading technique, a bright and simple palette of colours and high resolution models are used and to great effect. The scenery is highly detailed too, with a reasonable amount of variety, although some more outdoor levels would have been nice. However, the fact that the scenery is so fully destructible means that you won't really care how it looks, as long as you can wreck it and then smack something with it! The sound effects are very good, with thundering crashes and booms for the Hulk's various moves plus some very beefy explosions. The music is cinematic in its style and complements the action, but is not particularly outstanding. There are a number of cut scenes that perfectly capture the comic book style and they are the most beautifully rendered comic book style graphics that I've ever seen - again they're not cel-shaded but the smooth, highly detailed 3D modelling combined with a very sparse use of colouring and emphasised shadowing creates a truly wonderful effect, better than that of the game's graphics engine.

As well as the main story mode, there are other modes to unlock that are a lot of fun to play - Endurance sends endless waves of enemies against you and you must survive as long as you can, in Time Attack you must destroy as many enemies as possible in the time available and Hulk Smash! mode is all about destroying as much of your environment as possible within a time limit - surely the most fun of the three! There are some special features too, including some movie art from the film, behind the scenes documentaries about the film and the game and a few cheats to discover too. These inclusions (along with trailers for the film) make the game feel a bit more like a DVD with extras and these are good additions that more film tie-in games should have.

However, these extras cannot distract from the inevitable - the game is repetitive in nature and the novelty will wear off. Also, the Story Mode could have been longer and you probably won't want to play through it again once it's completed - there are no secrets or bonuses to discover. This isn't a big problem though and I will lend the game some very high praise - Hulk is the game that comes closest to capturing the spirit of the all-time great beat 'em up classic, Streets of Rage 2 on the Sega Megadrive.

Hulk is an immensely satisfying game and more proof that movie tie-ins can be great games when the developers are prepared to make the effort - you can certainly see they have in this case. With luscious comic book graphics, booming sound effects, fully destructible scenery and a good range of devastating moves, being a huge, inhumanly powerful beast has never been so rewarding. The fun might be short-lived, but it's definitely great while it lasts.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).