In 2024, one of the most popular and recognizable non-Marvel or DC Comics creations turned 30: Hellboy. Yes, the Dark Horse Comics staple has been around for three decades now, having appeared in some truly remarkable print stories along the way. Of course, given his icon status, it’s no surprise that Anung Un Rama has transcended the comic book medium on numerous occasions.
Since his first wide-release story, 1994’s Seed of Destruction, Hellboy has tried out numerous mediums. He’s a merchandise mover with plenty of t-shirts, action figures, and posters to show for it. He has popped up at the movies three times, with Ron Perlman and David Harbour taking him on. Hellboy has even made the jump to animation. Not to mention, he has also cracked paranormal cases in the video game realm.
To say Hellboy’s gaming tenure has been a mixed bag would be an understatement. While his guest appearances in Injustice 2 and Brawlhalla were fun, his dedicated titles have proven less so. Here they all are, ranked from worst to relative best.
5. Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Tooth Fairy Terror
Following the success of Hellboy in 2004, director Guillermo del Toro released Hellboy II: The Golden Army in 2008. Ultimately, it failed to reach the heights of its predecessor, but the cast, production design, and story are all pretty strong. However, the same cannot be said for its shoddy mobile game tie-in, Tuesday Creatives’ Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Tooth Fairy Terror.
Released in December 2008, Tooth Fairy Terror was available on the Apple App Store for free, and it’s not hard to figure out why. As the terrifying tooth fairies from the film fly toward you, you have to tap on them to “shoot” them. To reload, shake your screen, then get back to defending yourself. Survive as long as you can and rack up as high of a score as possible.
There’s not much more to it than that. Tooth Fairy Terror is basic, boring, and entirely skippable for even the most dedicated Hellboy fans.
4. Hellboy: Dogs of the Night/Hellboy: Asylum Seeker
Hellboy: Dogs of the Night was originally developed for PC back in 2000, later moving to the PlayStation in 2003 under the new title Hellboy: Asylum Seeker. The fact that this is the very first Hellboy-centric video game ever, and that it seems some amount of effort was made to translate the source material into a video game, is about all that this dual-titled Cryo Studios effort has going for it.
Asylum Seeker/Dogs of the Night has players control Hellboy (David Gasman) himself as he investigates the disappearance of one of his fellow Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense agents. He uses his fists (typically just his regular one, not the massive stone one) and his revolver to fend off enemies, slowly wandering around various environments to piece together what happened to his friend.
All in all, this game is slow, the combat of the tank-control-bound Hellboy feels hollow at best, and the graphics are hideous, even for the era. There’s some amount of reverence for the Hellboy comics here in the design and story, but the execution is a big swing and a miss.
3. Hellboy: The Stench of Evil
Going back to the realm of mobile games, we come to another game meant to drum up hype for Hellboy II: The Golden Army, as well as tie into another soon-to-be-mentioned Hellboy game. This time around, it’s G5 Entertainment’s Hellboy: The Stench of Evil, which was released on July 10, 2008 and brings the title character into the exciting world of action platforming. The problem is, this game isn’t very exciting.
The Stench of Evil is a pretty bare-bones platformer. Hellboy runs and jumps through a few different environments, plowing through enemies with ease. If you take enough punishment to fill up the rage meter, your attacks do even more damage. For a mobile game, the visuals are decent, with fairly detailed environments and plenty of color.
On the whole, Hellboy: The Stench of Evil isn’t horrifically bad, nor is it particularly good. It’s a middle-of-the-road promotional game and nothing more.
2. Hellboy: The Science of Evil
After spending some time away from the console scene, Hellboy and his companions made their grand return in 2008. Hellboy: The Science of Evil brings the del Toro Hellboy universe to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PSP, complete with Perlman back as Big Red, Selma Blair as Liz Sherman, and Doug Jones as Abe Sapien — all three being playable, no less. They unite to defeat the evil Herman von Klempt (Jürgen Prochnow) and his forces.
Compared to the previous three games, The Science of Evil is a huge step forward, but it’s still not great. The design, voice acting, combat, and story can’t quite make up for the somewhat lacking graphics and uninspired gameplay. With a bit more polish and development, The Science of Evil could’ve been the Hellboy adventure gamers had wanted for years.
It has also been said that Lobster Johnson, voiced by the legendary Bruce Campbell, was slated for a DLC release, only for such content to be canned. This is just another example of The Science of Evil coming so close to greatness just to end up missing the mark.
1. Hellboy: Web of Wyrd
Well over a decade after receiving his own dedicated game, Hellboy returned to the gaming forefront in 2023 via Hellboy: Web of Wyrd. It’s not using a movie franchise as its basis, nor is it designed to promote something else. It’s just a Hellboy tale, in the aesthetic of the Hellboy comics, with Dark Horse and Mignola directly involved. But, how well does it all come together?
Web of Wyrd is undeniably the most beautiful Hellboy-centric game to date, appearing as a comic come to life. The late, great Lance Reddick makes for an excellent Hellboy, who’s looking for a missing BPRD agent through a dimension called the Wyrd. Unfortunately, the combat in this roguelike (not to be confused with roguelite) title leaves much to be desired, resulting in much of the gameplay feeling dull and repetitive.
With 30 years behind him, evidently, Hellboy has yet to receive a truly definitive video game adaptation. Hopefully, at some point in the next 30, that game will come along.
Published: Jun 1, 2024 03:15 pm