The Big Game Idea: All About Healthy Rage - A 1UP classic from Oct 09, 2006

Below is a series that I originally ran on 1UP in 2006. In it I proposed an original video game based on the Incredible Hulk. I called it "The Big Game Idea." Over a few weeks I described the graphics, game play, visuals, and plot from beginning to end, including bonus features. I made a few minor edits, but it is more or less exactly the same as it was almost 20 years ago. I hope you enjoy it.

Heya everybody, sorry for the lateness of my random game idea musings. I hope you all had a great weekend. Nothing much to report over here. Did some shopping, the cousin gets married in the upcoming weekend so I have to get a nice suit... me in a suit? I'll take a picture.

Marc brought up an important point last week. Are we to assume that the Hulk is indestructible? After all I've been going on and on about levels and graphics without one peep on how we actually keep track of the health status.

Well here is the thinking behind the health bar and a separate "Rage" bar. The top one in red is the Hulk's health, if it drops to 0 he dies or turns to Banner and Banner dies. If it drops to under 10% then an adrenaline surge kicks in and allows him to do al least one "mega" attack. The mega attacks can only be done based on the Rage meter. The rage meter drops every time the Hulk does a mega attack. It only recharges when the character is engaged in combat or destroying property. The rage meter is independent of the health bar. The Hulk could have a full rage bar and a near-empty health bar or vice versa.

These bars were inspired by the two types of bars used in the first two Hulk games by Radical Ent. I would modify their effects so that the rage bar could influence the health bar and attack strength. The strength grows in proportion to the number of minutes the character has been fighting. Random destruction of property raises the bar slowly, combat and destruction of police, military and Division forces raises the bar faster. It takes approximately 20 seconds of direct, non-stop, combat with an opponent to gain 10% in strength. It takes approximately 40 seconds to gain the same 10% in strength if destroying only property. It would take 3 minutes of non-stop combat to raise the character to 100% strength. The strength (Rage meter) falls three times as slow it builds. Or it drops every time the Hulk does a "mega" attack. If the Hulk is at 0% Rage then he cannot do any mega attacks.

Of course the bars get progressively longer as the game goes on. If the players beats each level then both bars will be at 75% of their potential. The last 25% is given to players that maximize the destruction in all of the levels and keep large strings of fighting combinations going. There is an actual correlation between the strength, toughness and the abilities of the Hulk. At 100% Rage the Hulk is harder to injure and heals faster than normal. In addition his attacks do more damage than normal and there are noticeable differences in the damage to objects.

At 0%-20% strength on the Rage meter the Savage Hulk has to use two hands to grab a tank by the barrel, spin and throw it a few blocks. He can kick cars and buses a few blocks as well. At this strength the Hulk could still be knocked back by punches from a Hulkbuster Destroyer. Injuries heal at a slow pace.

At 20-40% strength the Savage Hulk can tackle tanks over or press them up overhead with two hands and throw them a few blocks. He can now kick vehicles several blocks and trade punches with Hulkbuster Destroyers without being knocked back. Injuries heal slightly faster than normal.

At 40-60% strength the Savage Hulk can kick tanks over, pick them up with two hands and throw them many blocks. He can rip the arms and legs off of Hulkbuster Destroyers with some effort. Injuries heal faster than normal.

At 60-80% strength the Savage Hulk can throw tanks a mile. He can rip the arms and legs off of Hulkbuster Destroyers with less effort and survive MOAB bombs dropped on him from bomber jets. Injuries heal fast at this status.

At 80-100% strength the Savage Hulk can pick up and carry a tank in each hand and throw them several miles. He can rip the arms, legs and cockpits out of Hulkbuster Destroyers with no effort. The health bar recharges very quickly at this level.

The "Rampage" status is not unlocked until the end of Level 4. Think of the Rampage as getting 110% out of the Hulk. Injuries are healed almost instantaneously at this level. However the Hulk can still lose energy from the Rage meter if he does mega attacks, is in a room with gamma-supressing gas or is hit by stasis beams. It is up to the player to decide when or if they should use their Rage energy during the combat. In some cases a "boss" character can only be injured if the Hulk uses a mega attack, thus forcing the Rage bar to drop.

So does this make sense to you? I like the concept of being able to hold onto the rage energy for as long as possible so that the Hulk becomes stronger and heals faster. In the original Hulk game the rage meter acted much in the same way, except once the Hulk had maxed it out it fell quickly. That was a kick in the pants when trying to save some rage energy for a boss battle and instead started at zero.

Do you know other examples of presented overpowered characters in a video game? Tell me in the comments section. As always if you enjoyed this blog, and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!