Will Konami's new Hellboy game hold true to the franchise's dedication to art and story?

Hellboy: The Science of Evil is the newest offering by Konami in an attempt to cash in on the popularity of the Hellboy franchise. With a chance to ride on the coattails of the new movie this game is being released on Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP. While the two home console releases are virtually identical and being handled by Krome Studios, the PSP release offers a different experience and is brought to us by Big Ant Studios. Previous work from these guys can be seen in the GBA version of The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and the Wii & PS2 version of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night both of which were a joint effort between Big Ant Studios and Krome Studios.

Hellboy was first revealed to the world in the form of a comic book by artist and writer, Mike Mignola. Gaining popularity of the character has resulted in numerous spin-offs such as novels, cartoons, and so far two major motion pictures. The reasons I and so many others are enthralled with the world of Hellboy have to do mainly with the art style and storyline of the comics. Any game based on Hellboy would have to excel at those core elements while adding in some action packed gameplay to keep its audience entertained.

To start with, art style of Hellboy: The Science of Evil for PSP by no means tries to mimic Mike Mignola’s high-contrast and limited color palette artwork from the comic books, instead taking its aesthetic cue from the animated cartoons and the movie. This actually works well for the game given the hardware it is running on and the size of the screen it will be viewed on. The graphics are pretty good and the hand drawn look of the textures is of particular note. All the characters and enemies look like they belong to the Hellboy universe and so do the environments that they inhabit.