Hellboy: The Science of Evil

Hellboy: The Science of Evil

Hellboy 2’s maverick director, Guillermo Del Toro, the man behind last year’s Oscar nominee Pan’s Labyrinth, is every inch a gamer. He’s pitched game concepts to publishers himself and in interviews confesses to enjoying a wide range of different genres. So the chances are that he is none too impressed with this latest movie tie-in, a game that exists alongside his most recent cinematic work...

That’s not to say the new Hellboy game’s a complete disaster: it certainly has the comic’s dark aesthetic and funny writing down to a tee and, thanks to dialogue voiced by actors from the film (including Ron Perlman as the lead character), it sounds the part. But this repetitive fighting game falls down on the mechanics, those raw interactive nuts and bolts that make this a videogame and not a movie.

The plot for Science of Evil was written especially for the game and focuses on the red-faced Hellboy as he continues his Nazi-smashing paranormal investigations to save the world from certain destruction. Game chapters flit from time period to time period, switching between reliving past missions and moving back to the present day. There are lots of familiar faces for fans of the comic book series, and even those characters that have been invented specifically for the game look as though they came straight from the imagination of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.

In game your character’s giant glowing forearm can hurl enemies around the screen. You can also pick up numerous weapons (both standard items like hammers as well as those ripped impromptu from the environment itself). Most enemies can be beaten by, well, beating on them, but occasionally you’ll need to stun them then launch them into a nearby wall before they’ll disappear. Clear a room of enemies and then proceed to the next: a gameplay rhythm only occasionally interrupted by a lock and key “puzzle”.

There’s an emphasis on split screen and online co-op play, a second player able to choose between playing as Abe Sapien or Liz Sherman, each with their own powers and abilities. Problematically, these secondary characters are considerably weaker than Hellboy himself, meaning that whoever plays as the secondary character will feel more like a second rate sidekick than a kick-ass accomplice.

The one-dimensional gameplay is smoothed over by the competent visuals but there’s nothing under the skin to help move the game past its other lacklustre licensed rivals. Aside from the merits of the comic book and recent film from which it draws its influence, this is a dull, bland and repetitive fighting game.

2 out of 5