Hands on with Hellboy: The Science of Evil on PSP

Evil might be a science, but combat is surely a sport. We know, because going hands on with Hellboy: The Science of Evil in a meeting with Konami at E3 last week, we broke a sweat jamming buttons in combat. While this is unlikely to emerge as the deepest action game around, it ought to at least get your heart rate up with its own style of comic book action.

Hellboy puts you in the awfully large shoes of the titular hero as he attempts to stop villain Hermann Von Klempt from taking over the world. Light on story and heavy on the action, the game draws from both the graphic novel series and recent film in weaving an entirely original adventure. Better still, the scenarios on PSP slightly differ from those found in the console versions of the game, giving it a distinct feel.

We had the opportunity to play through the game's first level set deep within the Carpathian Mountains. As Hellboy, we explored a creepy graveyard only to find fiery little fiends called bambinis. The buggers would surround us and throw fireballs as we walked through the stage but, fortunately, alternating taps of the Square and Triangle buttons for normal and heavy punches, respectively, took care of them. But just to be sure, we occasionally hit the Circle button to enable us to grab a bambini and throw him for major damage.

Enemies are targeted with R, an important function when using guns. Through the course of the game, Hellboy will come into possession of firearms that he can fire with taps of L (switching among his arsenal is done with the D-pad). Ammunition is limited, though, so you'll have to stay mindful when firing guns or chucking grenades.

Deal out enough damage and you can fill up the rage meter that sits beneath Hellboy's health gauge. Once full, you enter a powerful, furious state that doubles your attack power. Timing rage activation within a boss battle will help immensely, as we learned the hard way in our session after dying at the hands of the first level's end boss.

Exclusive to the handheld version of Hellboy are magic items. (During our romp through the graveyard, we came across a jade fox statue that could be equipped and used to trigger an offensive spell.) However, magic items can only be used a limited number of times before they break, making their discovery quite the event. There are a handful of different such items in the game, each offering a unique effect.

Working through the short level, combat wasn't the only thing on Hellboy's mind. Context-sensitive actions abound in the game, enabling you to knock down doors, open graves, and interact with all kinds of objects simply by pressing the Square button. Caught in the demonic moment, we wantonly slid the lids off a few caskets in a mausoleum just to test out the feature.

In addition to exclusive magic items and its own level design, Hellboy on PSP possesses a cel-shaded presentation that also differs from the console games. Given the game's comic book origins, it's a visual treatment that's decidedly more fitting than the realistic look of its counterparts.

As we anticipated, our time with Hellboy has us certain the game will be little more than a straight-up brawler. But that's okay, of course. As long as it can deliver some smashing gameplay – literally – then that's what counts.

We'll have more on Hellboy: The Science of Evil when it nears release this autumn, so click 'Track It!' for updates.