It was 2008. The hype for Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army was reaching a fever pitch, and Konami decided it was time to let us finally step into the heavy, stone boots of Anung Un Rama. Most of us expected a masterpiece. What we got was Hellboy: The Science of Evil, a game that feels like a fever dream of missed opportunities and incredible voice acting. Honestly, if you played it on the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 back then, you probably remember the crushing weight of the Right Hand of Doom—and not always in a good way.
The game is a weird relic. It’s a brawler that tried to capture the pulp-horror essence of Mike Mignola’s comics while tethering itself to the cinematic universe of the films. It didn't quite land either. But looking back now, there's something fascinating about how it handled the lore.
The Weird Paradox of Hellboy: The Science of Evil
You can’t talk about this game without mentioning the voices. This wasn't some cheap knock-off cast. Konami secured Ron Perlman. They got Selma Blair and Doug Jones. When Hellboy grumbles about a locked door or a stubborn Nazi head-in-a-jar, it sounds right. That’s the soul of the game. It’s the reason people still hunt down physical copies today. You’re not just playing a red guy; you’re playing Perlman’s Hellboy.
The plot is a sprawling mess of six chapters that take you from spooky Romanian graveyards to Japanese villages and even into the depths of a desert temple. It tries to weave together a story about Nazis (because it’s always Nazis with Hellboy) and ancient mystical threats. Herman von Klempt shows up—the infamous floating head in a jar—along with his cybernetic apes. It’s peak Mignola weirdness.
But the gameplay? Man, it’s stiff.
Imagine a world where you have the strongest hand in the universe, but you spend half your time struggling with a camera that seems to hate you. The combat is a repetitive loop of heavy and light attacks. You’ve got the Good Samaritan—Hellboy’s massive revolver—which uses different ammo types like "Heavy" or "Holy Water" shells. It sounds cool on paper. In practice, you’re mostly just punching the same three types of enemies until your thumb hurts.
Why the Tech Held It Back
Back in 2008, we were seeing games like God of War and Devil May Cry master the art of the 3D brawler. Hellboy: The Science of Evil felt like it was stuck in 2004. Krome Studios, the developers behind it, clearly had a love for the source material, but the execution was clunky.
The environment is "destructible," which was a big selling point at the time. You can pick up a tombstone and bash a werewolf's brains out. That part is fun. For about ten minutes. Then you realize that every level follows the same basic logic: walk into a room, the doors lock, kill ten guys, the doors open. It’s archaic.
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Interestingly, the PSP version was a completely different beast. While the console versions tried to be cinematic, the handheld version was developed by a different team and played more like a top-down dungeon crawler. In some ways, it was actually more focused. It didn't try to be a blockbuster; it just tried to be a game.
Finding the Mignola Magic
If there is one thing Hellboy: The Science of Evil got right, it’s the atmosphere. Mike Mignola actually worked on the character designs for the game, and it shows. The way the shadows fall and the sheer scale of some of the bosses—like the giant mechanical Oni—feel ripped straight from the pages of Dark Horse Comics.
There’s a specific level set in "The Abyss" that captures the lonely, cosmic horror of the series better than almost any other medium. It’s quiet. It’s eerie. It makes you feel like Hellboy is truly an outsider.
But then a generic enemy spawns and the repetitive combat music starts up again, breaking the spell.
It’s easy to be harsh on licensed games from this era. We were in the "Grey and Brown" phase of gaming history. Everything was desaturated. Everything had motion blur. Hellboy: The Science of Evil suffered from all of these trends. Yet, it possesses a charm that modern "service games" lack. It’s a complete experience. There are no battle passes. No microtransactions. Just you, a big red fist, and a lot of things that need hitting.
Is It Still Playable Today?
If you're looking to revisit it, you're going to need a physical disc and a legacy console. It isn't backwards compatible on the modern Xbox Series X|S, which is a tragedy for preservationists. You can find it on eBay for relatively cheap, though prices have been creeping up as "retro" collectors start eyeing the 7th generation of consoles.
The game also featured a co-op mode. You could play as Liz Sherman or Abe Sapien. This was probably the best way to experience it. Having a friend play as Abe while you tanked hits as Hellboy made the repetitive combat much more bearable. It felt like a B.P.R.D. mission, even if the mission was just walking down a very long hallway.
The Verdict on the Science
Basically, the "Science" in the title is more about the chemistry of a failed experiment. It had the right ingredients:
- The original film cast.
- Direct input from Mike Mignola.
- A solid developer in Krome Studios (who did the Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games).
- A world-class IP.
So why didn't it work? It lacked polish. The platforming sections are notoriously finicky. Hellboy moves like he’s wading through waist-deep molasses. When you compare it to Batman: Arkham Asylum, which came out only a year later, the difference in quality is staggering. One understood how to make a superhero feel powerful; the other made a superhero feel like a chore to move.
Real Steps for the Hellboy Fan
If you actually want to engage with this game or the franchise in a meaningful way today, don't just go in expecting a modern masterpiece. Treat it like a museum piece.
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- Seek out the PSP version first. If you have a choice, the handheld version is a tighter experience that feels less frustrated by its own technical limitations.
- Turn up the dialogue volume. The banter between Hellboy and the villains is the best part of the game. Perlman is a legend for a reason.
- Explore the concept art. The unlockables in the game include some fantastic sketches and lore bits that provide a deeper look at what the developers were aiming for.
- Don't overpay. It’s a 6/10 game. It’s a "weekend rental" experience from a time when those still existed. Keep your budget for the disc under $20.
Ultimately, Hellboy: The Science of Evil serves as a reminder that a great license and a great cast can’t save a game from mediocre mechanics. It’s a fascinating failure. It’s a piece of Hellboy history that captures the look and sound of the character perfectly, even if it forgets to make the "being him" part fun. If you’re a die-hard fan, it’s worth a look just to hear Perlman call a Nazi a "jerk" one more time.
Next Steps for Players:
To truly appreciate the design work that went into this title, compare the in-game boss designs of Von Klempt's Kriegaffe with the original sketches in Hellboy: The Art of The Motion Picture. You’ll see exactly where the developers prioritized visual fidelity over mechanical depth. If you find yourself stuck on the cemetery puzzles, remember that the environment is almost always the solution—physics objects are your primary tool for progression when the path forward seems blocked.