TGT reports:
''In spite of their simultaneous release, Hellboy: Science of Evil on the PSP has nothing to do with the Hellboy II movie. Science of Evil not only has its own original storyline, it draws upon the comics rather than the movie for its visual style. Sometimes being different is good, but not in this case. Science of Evil should have looked to the latest Hellboy movie (and to games that are actually fun to play) for inspiration.
Science of Evil didn't make a bad choice with going with a comic book look for the game. The environments look pretty good, as does Hellboy himself. However, the inspiration ends there. The story is bland and not at all well-constructed, often leaving you with little idea of what's going on or even caring. The scarce dialogs in the game that attempt to progress the story as delivered through static text and are devoid of voiceovers. Even worse, those conversations are incredibly bland, completely sapping Hellboy of his rich personality and devoid of any of the wit found in the comics or films.
Science of Evil doesn't do any better when it comes to gameplay. The game is essentially a third person action brawler with some platform elements thrown in. The gameplay follows the same basic script throughout the game: enter a new area, bash a large number of identical enemies until the barrier to the next area is opened, and then repeat the whole process all over again. When an area is cleared you can run around smashing things but there's no reward for doing so, so you'll soon give p this pointless practice.''
Following last week’s look at the Top Ten Games Based on a Movie, this week’s Sunday Special feature is about to turn things upside down, this week looking at the top ten worst videogames based on a motion-picture release. As bad as some games based on a movie licence may be, at least most them are playable. But not these abominations.
This week's episode of Distributed failure features discussion on Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, Rune Factory: Frontier, Patapon 2, Plants vs. Zombies, Legendary, Hellboy: The Science of Evil, and much more! They follow that up with some gaming news including the closure of Factor 5 studios and the possible announcement of a "slim" PS3. After that, they dive into the "Sausage Dump" and chat up some movies, as well as the Lost finale.
Thunderbolt Games: "It's safe to say that I'm quite a Hellboy fan. The world created in the two movies is fantastic, and I just love the character - even taking the time to dabble in the comic books. Hellboy: The Science of Evil dips in to both these mediums, creating a universe more suited to the comics whilst also borrowing elements from the films. Sadly, it fails to live up to the name, descending to a place far worse than hell itself… mediocrity."
