Interview with Sega for Incredible Hulk Game

Sega is going to release a new Incredible Hulk game to coincide with the upcoming movie and it will be available on all the gaming consoles. BJ Enriquez, producer of the upcoming Incredible Hulk game from Sega, was cool enough to answer a few questions for the website. Take a read and enjoy as BJ gives us some great new info on the game!!!! To find out more about Sega, take a visit to their website.

IHEOD: How does your game fit into the movie?

SEGA: The best way for me to describe it is that it exists in the same universe as the movie. We share the same overarching story as the film, but where the film has to be a two-hour experience, we have to last
considerably longer than that for a worthwhile game. To that end we borrowed stuff from the comics, expanded on themes from the movie, tossed in some things from our own minds, and took the characters from the film on parallel stories that occur within the time frame as the movie. The most important thing that SEGA and Edge of Reality (the game developer) wanted to make sure of was that we were true to this vision of The Incredible Hulk while still delivering something new and fun for everyone.

IHEOD: When you first started developing the game, what were the key features you wanted to incorporate into the game? Will it be an open-world game or have online features?

SEGA: Absolutely at the top of the list was that we wanted the player to experience being The Incredible Hulk. It was about making them feel like that had all the power, strength, rage and toughness that The Incredible Hulk does. From the way he animates, to the moves he uses, to his sound effects, we had to make sure that in every possible way, no one could mistake the character they were playing for anyone other than the Hulk. Being the first time a Hulk-centric game was on the "next-gen" consoles (X360/PS3), we also made sure to take advantage of the power of the hardware to create a massive and fully destructible environment, complete with lots of "incredible" visuals and realistic physics. And yes, you will be doing this in an open world environment based off a true to life replica of Manhattan that The Incredible Hulk can completely destroy. We have not made any online announcements at this time.

IHEOD: How did you incorporate features for both the die hard Hulk comic book fan (like myself) and those more familiar with the Hulk movie or gaming?

SEGA: One of the best things about The Incredible Hulk, I feel, is that the concept behind the character is universal. It's the rage, unbridled power, and the potential for destruction. So we zeroed in on incorporating and living out that ultimate fantasy, turning into The Incredible Hulk and rampaging through the city. Lots of things that The Incredible Hulk can do are fun to both die hard and casual fans of the Hulk. Picking up cars, duking it out with supervillains, smashing buildings, these are all things anyone can enjoy and relate to The Incredible Hulk. It's really helpful to base a game on a character who lends himself to fun gaming mechanics so easily.

IHEDO: Were all the people working on the game familiar with the Hulk character more from the movie, tv show, comic book or previous games?

SEGA: Since he's such a well known character and his popularity extends across all mediums and generations, it's hard not to be familiar with him. Of course, all of us working on the game run the entire spectrum of The Incredible Hulk experience. You've got people like me who've been reading comics for over 20 years to those who've only seen the TV show starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. And I think that's one of the best parts. If you think about it, each of us represents a possible consumer, and finding common Hulk elements that all of us would enjoy helps create a strong, consistent interpretation of the character.

IHEOD: Will there be any missions with Bruce Banner or will they all be Hulk-centric?

SEGA: Early on we tossed around the idea of incorporating some Bruce Banner gameplay, but we really wanted to build our open world around The Incredible Hulk. Focusing our efforts on The Incredible Hulk helped us to do things like nail down the camera design, enemy and NPC animations as well as putting all our resources to making sure there's plenty of action in the game. This is not to say we completely ignore Bruce, not at all. We use our cinematics to convey the emotional impact that being The Incredible Hulk has on him. Bruce will always be important to The Incredible Hulk story, and we still have some of those left over ideas on how to use him. Now if we can get sequels going...

IHEOD: Obviously the Abomination will be in the game and we have heard of the Bi-Beast also. Any other classic Hulk villains we can expect?

SEGA: Well, one of our big challenges is picking interesting and recognizable villains, yet also introducing some faces people haven't seen before in a Hulk game. There was a not-so fantastic quartet of foes that a bunch of us here wanted to use that should be familiar to The Incredible Hulk fans, and we were really happy that we got them in.

IHEOD: A lot of games nowadays have Easter Eggs, like hidden costumes or characters. Can we expect any Easter Eggs for this game?

SEGA: How can we not? There have been so many cool incarnations of The Incredible Hulk that would be awesome to play as, right? We've tried to pick some of the most popular ones. Whether it's a Vegas enforcer or an evil despot from the future, I'm sure there'll be something for all fans. Hey, isn't SEGA making an Iron Man game as well...?

IHEOD: Did you have a lot of freedom of where you could take the game or did you work with Marvel?

SEGA: Can you believe it's actually both? Marvel has been an excellent partner with us the whole way. What's great about Marvel as a licensor is that they've been making videogames for years, so they understand the process and what we have to go through to make a fun game. Marvel gave us educated and helpful feedback on our gameplay ideas and they've been on the same page as us all the way. They've even contributed great ideas of their own. Also, they've definitely been keeping an eye on what we're doing for any possible inspiration for the movie.

IHEOD: What is the DS version going to be like?

SEGA: Obviously, the DS hardware is much different than the X360/PS3, or even the PS2, so our focus was to make sure that core experience of being The Incredible Hulk, the destruction, smashing and sheer power was still intact. It's a fast paced, rampage through several types of environments, from tundra, to of course, Time Square. We focused on letting the player experience the thrill of destroying their surroundings, and making the game more accessible to the younger, core audience of the DS. Don't be fooled though, there are several key features that both new and experienced gamers will find entertaining.