Hellboy: The Science of Evil

Hellboy: The Science of Evil is a video game based on the comic book character of the same name. It was released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PlayStation Portable on June 24, 2008 in North America, followed by an August 15 release in Europe and August 28 release in Australia.

All versions follow the same story line, however the PSP version of the game differs from the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. There are 4 playable characters: Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman and Lobster Johnson (voiced by Bruce Campbell). Herman von Klempt, a Nazi head-in-a-jar, is the game's main villain, along with several of his 'kriegaffen'. The game has online and off line multiplayer co-op for up to 2 players.

The game was created under the creative direction of both the comic book's creator, Mike Mignola, and the film's director, Guillermo del Toro. Ron Perlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones reprise their roles from the film as Hellboy, Liz and Abe respectively, providing full voice-overs.

Gameplay

Players control Hellboy in a third-person perspective as they progress through a series of levels broken up into six chapters. Levels consist of separate stages and routes occupied by multiple groups of enemies that differ between chapters. In most cases, all enemies in the current area must be defeated in order to move to the next phase of the chapter, with ghostly barriers of smoke blocking paths while foes remain present. To combat opponents, Hellboy uses his stone "right hand of doom" for most hand to hand combat situations, with heavy and quick attacks that can be mixed together for varied combinations of attack. Foes can eventually be stunned, as indicated with a grey flash where Hellboy can grapple a perform additional attacks such as slams and head butts, along with cinematic finishing moves when near death. Such finishing moves are required when involved in boss fights. As Hellboy defeats enemies, he receives energy that is stored also within his health meter. Energy is used to execute certain grapple moves and to activate "Hellmode", where Hellboy’s right hand of doom becomes engulfed in flames causing further damage in combat.

Another weapon that can be used is Hellboy’s oversized pistol known as the Good Samaritan. The weapon fires heavy single shots at targeted foes with the choice of six different types of ammunition with nine in total as certain types aren’t available on certain levels. While most kinds are for damaging opponents like "Heavy", "Grenade" and "Splinter" ammunition, others can be used during the game’s puzzles like "Ignite" to light beacons or "Release" to destroy cursed vines. Additional types of ammunition like "Charge" can only be obtained by defeating certain enemies with a finishing move.

Hellboy can also pick up varies objects throughout each level to be used as a projectile or combat weapon such as barrels, hammers, pipes, rocks and even parts of enemies or their own weapons that have been ripped off during a finishing attack. Some items are also used in small tasks to progress through levels such as lighting fires or lanterns. Other puzzle elements include certain obstacles like doors and cracked walls that require Hellboy to smash through with his right hand of doom and pulls levers connected to obstructions. Throughout the single player mode, there are collectables in the form of artefacts and lores. These act as additional small details to the story but also increase maximum energy capacity for the use Hellmode ability.

The story mode can also be played cooperatively with another player, both locally with another controller or online over Xbox Live for the Xbox 360 version and PlayStation Network for the PlayStation 3 version. The game’s host always plays as Hellboy and can save each chapter while the second player has the choice of playing as either Abe Sapien or Liz Sherman, both with their own unique abilities and form of combat such as Abe’s array of martial arts moves for combat or Liz’s pyrokinesis.