Been keeping myself fairly busy lately, but what else is new.

Let’s start off with The Hulk. It was a few months ago that I first found the trailer for this game. Actually, it was about 3am the morning I was getting on a plane to attend E3 in Los Angeles. Imagine my joy when I get there and I actually get to spend twenty minutes playing the game.

Well ever since then, the retail launch of The Hulk has been in the back of my mind, and so earlier this week I traversed the perils of the outerworld and the blazing fury of the lofty heatball to find myself a copy.

The Xbox version was sold out everywhere, so I had to resign myself to a PS2 copy. That’s fine I guess, since my PS2 video game library is in serious need of a transfusion of vital playability. My PS2 and GC game libraries are about equal in their minute stature, at least compared to the large number of Xbox games I own. Personal preference, I suppose, but if a game is released on all three systems, identical as the code may be, I just feel the game is better on the Xbox.

Anyway, about the game; the story is awful. I mean it’s pretty bad, folks. I’ll be honest with you though, I didn’t buy this game for cutscenes or to be immersed. I bought this game to smash the everliving fuck out of some shit, and the game delivers.

I had to invert both the X and Y axis, but other than that the controls are great for a game that can get pretty complicated in the heat of battle (Charging a super jump while running up a wall carrying a large boulder which you are charging to throw at the enormous mech chasing you that you are also targeting on it’s various weak points while heading towards that health orb ahead of you). It holds up well.

The game strongly resembles Spider-man 2 in execution, in that you are presented with a story which you can choose to advance or not, OR the ability to free-roamand just cause destruction and mayhem (in the Hulk’s case, not Spider-man). I absolutely loved Spider-man 2 for this reason. I tore through the story mode, then spent hours just swinging through the city as Spidey.

This is exactly what I’m trying to do with The Hulk. They’ve got dozens and dozens of things to unlock and collect and challenges to complete. Every time you complete a chapter, you have brand new, devastating moves to learn. But there are so many of them, you cannot possibly afford to purchase them all until you’ve spent a good deal of time just racking up the smash points in free-roam.

And racking up smash points is such a joy. You can destroy everything and anything in your path. Moreso, weaponization adds some additional joy. Such as picking up a car, ripping it in half, and smashing the two halves around your fists like boxing gloves. Or grabbing a giant bouler, smashing it until it’s round, and using it to go bowling down city streets.

The game has proved to be challenging in a couple of areas, most noticeably the first boss battle with The Abomination. And it borders less on “challenging” and more one “oh my god that is so fucking CHEAP!”. But whatever, I still beat him. After twenty tries…

My girlfriend and I went out to see The 40 Year-Old Virgin, and it was hilarious. We were laughing the entire way through. Steve Carell never disappoints. Back when he was on the Daily Show he was the main reason I’d tune in to watch. I recommend checking this movie out, his first starring role, if I’m not mistaken.

World of Warcraft stuff follows, so if that bores you, feel free to browse to a different page at this point.

The Rapscallions are being purged this afternoon. Everyone under L10 will be removed. Also, any characters that have not been logged in for more than six days will also be removed.

We may or may not reopen recruiting for a short time. It will depend on how many people we purge. If we do open recruiting, the minimum level will be 10.