Hellboy
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Hellboy is the perfect blend of gruff and lovable, a demon who fights demons but somehow feels more human than most of us, but his games lives more in infamy than in actual memory.
The first one is weird but somehow crawled its way onto the PlayStation three years later, right as the first movie was dropping. You'd think a game starring Big Red himself would be a cool move but what we got is a mix of survival horror tropes, adventure game puzzles and combat so bad it's almost charming. 
| GAME DATASHEET | |
|---|---|
| Name | Hellboy: Dogs of the Night Hellboy: Asylum Seeker Hellboy |
| Genre | Puzzle adventure Survival horror Action |
| Console | PC, PlayStation |
| Released | 2000 |
| Developer | Cryo |
| Publisher | THQ |
| Language | English |
Let's start with what actually works, because there's something here. The atmosphere is great, the first graveyard level is eerie, gloomy and has this surrealistic vibe that pulls you right in, kinda like a low budget SILENT HILL. The music with all its gothic organs and creepy soundscapes does a ton of heavy lifting to make the asylum feel unsettling and the voice acting, at least for Hellboy, is solid. The story is also decent enough for a comic tie in, you're hunting for a missing partner, messing with cultists and even time traveling to the medieval ages to stop some 666 year old prophecy. It's pure pulp and that fits the character perfectly. 
But the actual gameplay is where this thing falls apart, the combat is just sad… Hellboy has a literal stone hand made for smashing demons and for some reason, his main attack is a weak little jab from his normal fist. You have to hold the button through a whole combo just to maybe… possibly… get the Right Hand of Doom to connect. 
That's frustrating on its own, but then you get his iconic revolver and it's somehow even more useless, dealing less damage than your dinky punches. 
The tank controls are also rough, even for the era. RESIDENT EVIL made them work with tight corridors and fixed angles but here the levels are bigger and require more exploring, so it just feels like you're fighting the controls the whole time. 
Combine that with some of the most cryptic backtracking heavy puzzles you'll ever see, which basically demand an online guide and it becomes a chore. Oh, and the loading screens. Every door takes like twelve seconds to open which is twice as long as RESIDENT EVIL's infamous door animations and there's not even an animation here, just a black screen. 
That's frustrating on its own, but then you get his iconic revolver and it's somehow even more useless, dealing less damage than your dinky punches. The tank controls are also rough, even for the era. RESIDENT EVIL made them work with tight corridors and fixed angles but here the levels are bigger and require more exploring, so it just feels like you're fighting the controls the whole time. Combine that with some of the most cryptic backtracking heavy puzzles you'll ever see, which basically demand an online guide and it becomes a chore. Oh, and the loading screens. Every door takes like twelve seconds to open which is twice as long as RESIDENT EVIL's infamous door animations and there's not even an animation here, just a black screen. 
Visually, it ain't that bad, Hellboy himself looks hilarious when he walks but the environments have a certain charm. It's dark and moody and even tho it's pixelated and blurry, it nails the creepy vibe it's going for. The sound design besides the good voice acting and music, has some pretty weak effects but still, the atmosphere carries it hard. 
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So, is it worth your time? Look, by all objective measures, this is a bad game. 
The controls are abysmal, the combat is broken and the puzzles will test your patience more than your brain but there's a cult following around it for a reason. It's not an underated gem by any stretch but it has this weird obsessive quality that makes it interesting. If you're a Hellboy fan or a sucker for survival horror, there's an almost hypnotic charm to it that makes it worth your time. 
It's the kind of game you play with a guide just to experience its bizarre world, and it's not good, but it's also not boring, and sometimes that's enough. 
The controls are abysmal, the combat is broken and the puzzles will test your patience more than your brain but there's a cult following around it for a reason. It's not an underated gem by any stretch but it has this weird obsessive quality that makes it interesting. If you're a Hellboy fan or a sucker for survival horror, there's an almost hypnotic charm to it that makes it worth your time. It's the kind of game you play with a guide just to experience its bizarre world, and it's not good, but it's also not boring, and sometimes that's enough. .png)
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