It seems that it is that time of year again. It is the time when every Hollywood summer blockbuster receives a sub-par videogame tie-in. This time it is Hellboy: The Science of Evil and fortunately, it isn't a direct translation of the new Hellboy movie, but instead it tells a side story to enhance the Hellboy mythology.

Visually for a PSP game, Hellboy: The Science of Evil actually looks pretty good. Most of the environments are ripe with detail and the set pieces set the tone well. Animations are solid and the character models are interesting enough to get the job done, but there are only a handful of enemies, but then many different takes on that same character model. Another thing is that frequently throughout the game, Hellboy glitches and sometimes gets hung up in mid-air or falls through a wall. The clipping was quite bothersome, but it did run at a very smooth framerate. Of course, once the realization sets in that all the play areas never go beyond a small boxed area or arena, it takes a little of the "oomph" out of it.

The audio department isn't anything remarkable, but it does leave much to be desired. First, since it is a PSP game, Hellboy does not feature ANY voice talent. All of the story elements are told by on-screen text and really need some audio flare to spice things up. The background music is pretty great and slightly resembles Danny Elfman's mood, whereas the sound effects are painstakingly generic. With the exception of the musical score, Hellboy: The Science of Evil does not bring anything new to the PSP that has been seen (or done better) before.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil had such high promise not to be a generic God of War clone with Hellboy instead of Kratos. Unfortunately, it does not live up to that promise. Hellboy: The Science of Evil is very derivative and disappointing in its attempt to be like the pugilistic god-killer. The player has to guide Hellboy through each level by beating the pulp out of enemies and solving simple puzzles. The progression throughout the entire game is so linear that the time spent to make this game would have been better spent on making an animated feature film. There is no sense of freedom or choice, it is simply to follow the rigid path set before Hellboy and kill all the enemies to reach the end of the level. There is a co-op mode offered for two people with a copy of the game through Ad-Hoc play. The co-op mode changes up the level design a bit, while forcing the focus of the game into more of a Gauntlet feel than anything else. Both players run around the environment collecting shards and tokens to battle each other for a high score. The advantage is always in the hosting player's court since they will not experience any lag. There are three characters to play with in multiplayer, but the player hosting the game is forced to play as Hellboy, while the friend has the option to play as fishboy Abe Sapien or the pyromaniac Liz Sherman.

The combat in Hellboy: The Science of Evil is very bland and uninspired and apparently never had any thought put behind it. Hellboy fights using combos, items, and his trusty gun to battle his way through each of the six levels. The basic combo is enough to kill most of the enemies in the game, while using the uber-powered sidearm takes care of anything else. Hellboy only gets ten shots in his gun, so he has to consider using it sparingly. However the game throws extra bullet pickups around so frequently it never becomes a real issue. The player unlocks new moves by collecting crystal shards which, in turn, also unlocks bonus features like concept art and interviews with those involved. The gameplay isn't really Hellboy's strong suit. What it does do well is create a humorous and odd story to read.

Any game that has demons, witches, robo-gorillas, magic, and mad Nazi scientists is okay in my book. This game tells some backstory on Hellboy while he works at the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense or BPRD for short. What starts off as an ordinary investigation into an evil witch terrorizing a small village eventually crosses paths with Hermann von Klempt. Klempt is the floating head of a Nazi scientist that wants to find ancient artifacts in order to conquer the world. The story is really cool and interesting, it is just plain wrong that it is told so poorly. Since it is the PSP version, there are hand drawn cutscenes that tell some story with some in-game dialogue here and there. But everything that is being told goes by so quickly that there should be a rewind button in order to catch it all. And for a game so short, it really needs all the help it can get in order to keep the players' attention.

Hellboy: The Science of Evil is by no means a difficult game to beat. Average playtime is probably around four to five hours. The platforming elements are by far the most challenging thing about it. The camera is always in a terrible place and controlling Hellboy in mid-air is a nightmare. The difficulty that is present doesn't seem to be intentional. The enemies sometimes spam a certain attack pattern and Hellboy gets stuck and receives incredible amounts of damage from a basic grunt enemy.

When he has finally cleared the level of all the enemies, the boss fight arrives and quickly disappoints when there isn't a way to fight the boss directly. All of them are either protected by some object that has to be destroyed first or have to be fought in different areas to continue onward. The best way to describe it is to take the worst parts of the boss fights from God of War and then make them laughably easy.

The mechanics for Hellboy: The Science of Evil are pretty straightforward, but don't really break new ground for an action title. The (X) button jumps while (Square) and (Triangle) buttons perform the quick and strong attacks respectively. (O) is reserved for throwing and picking up objects and enemies throughout the game. The left shoulder button shoots Hellboy's gun and the right shoulder button targets the nearest enemy. What is a little puzzling is the inventory select mechanic. The D-pad is used to cycle through all of the items that are acquired and pressing down will select that item for use. However, once the item is selected, if Hellboy gets hit by an attack, he drops it and has to re-select it. It is a major annoyance when some of the enemies like to trap him in a corner and the only chance for survival is the last grenade in the inventory.

All in all, the worst thing about Hellboy: The Science of Evil is that it had so much potential, but falls flat on nearly every front. It is a functional game and does not suffer from game-halting glitches or bugs. It is just unfortunate that it is so monotonous and boring. For a game that has such a rich backstory and such a kick-ass main character, this game should have spent a few more months under the hood to get some work done on the narrative and gameplay.