Hellboy: The Science of Evil review (PS3)

Hellboy: The Science of Evil - the game that brought the right hand of destruction to the current generation of consoles. But does the game play well?

Is it fun to play as ‘big red’ and to kick some paranormal behind or do you just end up beating your control pad on the floor in frustration at having wasted your money?

Hellboy: The Science of Evil does play well and I realise this is a rather controversial, against-the-grain viewpoint.

Viewed in the third person, the gameplay itself is pretty simplistic, mainly following the ‘punch, grab and shoot’ mechanic throughout.

Gun combat isn’t brilliant, to be honest. Hellboy reloads after every bullet fired; limiting the speed at which you blast the many different creatures you meet in the face.

However, this isn’t as big a problem as you might think. Hellboy himself, in the films and the comic books, does not use his gun, Good Samaritan, very often, so this does follow the ‘canon’, as it were. Also, after a while, you will prefer fighting hand-to-hand anyway.

Close combat is decent - you just swing and something will die. Either that or you can use the many different combos and even charge a few attacks.

When an enemy is weak or stunned, you can finish them off in style by grabbing them and either throw them in the air for a vicious smash to the ground again or go for a personalised finisher for that enemy.

But what if you want to hit them with a big hammer? You can. In each level various different weapons are just lying around, which of course you can then pick up and use to smack the enemy around the back of the head.

The graphics are solid and suit the style of the game, but they won’t be to every one’s taste. Like the comics, the game tends to be about darker themes, like abandoned villages and witches. Importantly, it still has the humour that Hellboy is loved for, spitting out one-liners and snappy comebacks.

Each level is well designed, although you will find yourself wondering if you’ve missed something. There also aren’t many of them, so you won’t be sitting down for any all-nighters with this.

Multiplayer, incidentally, is just the offline story with an added sidekick. The second player can be Abe Sapien or Liz Sherman and both have their own style of fighting.

The game-play is repetitive but is still relatively good fun. This game may not appeal to all the people who want something really complex to play, but for those who like to hit things while following a decent storyline, this game is a good buy.

7/10

Matthew White