Consider it high praise when I compare the new Hulk game, Ultimate Destruction, to Spider-Man 2. The game design is very similar: a free roaming city to explore, loads of hidden items and side missions, cool ways to get around, and lots of moves to unlock. In fact, the main difference is that instead of the joy of web-swinging, Hulk gives you the joy of smashing. Literally everything is destructible, and the game has no moral barometer whatsoever…feel free to pick up that ambulance and throw it at civilians just to watch them die. For the early part of the game, there is no penalty for doing as much damage as you want; later on, the game adds an "emergency response" meter that fills up as you wreak havoc upon the city. When the meter is full, the government will send out a strike force to aid the police in stopping you, but the game eagerly rewards you with extra points for beating down the strike force. Those of you who like to play GTA just to lure out the FBI and shoot rockets at their trucks and helicopters should have plenty of fun with Hulk's anti-authoritarianism. Okay, I admit, I'm one of those people too.

Hulk may not be as limber as your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man TM, but he can run pretty fast and jump even faster. Heck, he even runs up walls and leaps from one rooftop to the next. Jumping with Hulk feels uncontrollable at times, and I think that feeling is intentional. What I mean is that you have plenty of control over Hulk when he's on the ground and when aiming a jump, but once the big guy is airborne, he becomes a ballistic weapon. Eventually you can buy some stomp-type moves that give you more options to control how and where he lands.

The story has a clever setup and it moves along at the player's own pace, since story missions are clearly marked on the map and can be started at any time. Conversely, you can put the story on indefinite hold and just run around to complete side missions and/or rain destruction upon the innocent citizens of the city. In fact, the game rewards you for breaking stuff with smash points, which are used to buy new moves to help you break even more stuff. The way people on the street scream and run in terror only serves to magnify the feeling that you are a pint-sized Godzilla "having your way" with the civilized world.

But Hulk is smarter than Godzilla. For one thing, he knows the value of using the projectiles at hand. You can pick up almost anything and throw it at your enemies. I get a special thrill out of knocking down a helicopter with the burning remains of another helicopter. And heaven help your enemies if you happen to find a missile battery. Hulk can hold the battery on one shoulder and use his other hand to pull out a guided missile and manually launch it at a target. Yes, the missiles inexplicably ignite in the air and track down your hopeless prey. Hulk can even pick up a car, break it into two chunks, and form those chunks into steel gauntlets that make his punches even deadlier. When you're done smashing, just throw the gauntlets away…into a tank across the street. All in a day's play for the green giant.