Care to Send Some Demons Back to Hell?
As for gameplay, my first complaint comes from a fixed camera that can be very frustrating and disorientating throughout the game. Hellboy has a wide variety of combo moves and grapple finishers that differ with each enemy, usually resulting in him tearing an enemy in half and using their body parts as weapons, or stealing their weapon altogether. I found that grabs are sometimes difficult to perform due to glitches such as if an enemy is on slightly higher ground than you, your grab will fail. Also, you have to be staring directly at an enemy and standing as close as possible to them otherwise you will grab nothing but air. Enemy AI is often lacking, and the game can become repetitive quickly, as it is just killing enemies until the demon gate raises for you to proceed further into the level to kill more enemies. There is the occasional annoying boss fight.
Hellboy: The Science of Evil also has multiplayer co-op. A friend can drop in either through Xbox Live or splitscreen, and they can choose to play as either Abe Sapien or Liz Sherman. Each character has their own interesting combat style- Hellboy uses brute strength along with his infamous "Samaritan" handgun, Abe uses his own style of martial art called "Way of the Water" along with a rapid-fire pistol, and Liz uses her powers to light enemies on fire and as a range weapon she can point at enemies and they will burst into flames. They each even have different grab moves, which can sometimes be annoying because this means only Hellboy can complete puzzles requiring him to lift things. Abe can only flip enemies over him or behind him, and Liz can pick up objects with telekinesis and throw them or pick up enemies that light on fire and fling them. The differing move sets make Hellboy: The Science of Evil a pretty entertaining co-op game.
The visuals of Hellboy often look pretty good, but it's nothing really impressive. Forests look very dark and mysterious with enemies crawling about them as well as a ghost town that is teeming with the supernatural. The characters also look nice. Enemies look very quirky, they bounce about sometimes removing their heads and throwing them at you or latching onto Hellboy's back.
Hellboy: The Science of Evil is a decent game, but it is very repetitive. I only recommend this game if you are a fan of repetitive beat 'em ups, or if you are a fan of Hellboy enough to look past this game's flaws. It is a good co-op weekend rental.