You see, in order to attack your foes successfully, you will have to beat them up sufficiently with your two standard attack buttons, grapple them with the right shoulder button, and then finish them off using the third face button. Of course, there are no on-screen cues to help you execute this long attack chain (which becomes very necessary in boss battles), so you'll end up just frantically pressing all the buttons on the right side of your controller and hoping for the best.

Even though the story is bad, the level designs are abysmal, and the battle system is a little iffy, none of these represent the worst aspect of Hellboy: Science of Evil. No, the worst thing about this game has to be the almost completely stationary camera. Sure, you might be able to sneak a brief glance left or right, but for the most part you can never really look at your surroundings. And when you are surrounded by enemies from all sides, this can be a problem. Sometimes you will completely lose sight of where you are and the camera will forget to follow you into a dangerous area, or worse, the camera will rotate 180 degrees on its own and invert your actions, creating complete battle chaos and disorientation.

For all its bad points however, there is one part of Hellboy: Science of Evil I truly enjoyed: Ron Pearlman. Even though the script wasn't exactly inspired, Ron Pearlman's delivery brought it from the brink of total mediocrity and somehow made it good. Even if the line was just "Oh Crap!" (and it often is), Ron Pearlman's delivery was pitch perfect.

All in all, Hellboy: Science of Evil is a pretty intolerable game. Perhaps I am most upset because I feel personally let down as a fan of the series. But I can't see anyone getting any substantial pleasure out of this title, be they fan or not. But since the majority of people who are looking to pick this one up are fans, I would advise those people to stay away from this title, as it is an extreme let-down. Oh, and as a side note, Hellboy can be killed in this game by lava. Does anyone stick to canon anymore? Hellboy is from Hell, and is therefore unscathed by fire, lava, or anything else hot. Just thought I'd mention that.

By Amanda L. Kondolojy
CCC Freelance Writer