Hellboy: The Science of Evil

Hellboy’s six beat-’em-up missions last just over an hour each, so the burly hero’s trip from the Carpathian Mountains to von Klempt’s castle is pretty brief. The art direction is decent but needlessly drenched in shadow, and monsters range from genetically modified apes to cavern-filling worms. Sadly, there’s remarkably little to do with all of these ingredients but pummel foes until the next magical barrier lifts — and there’s no shortage of them.

With 11 combo attacks, short-lived melee weapons pulled from the environment, and nine unusual brands of handgun ammo, Hellboy has breadth, but any combat depth dies when monsters can’t negotiate the simplest of obstacles, let alone put up meaningful resistance. Co-op actually manages to be less fun than going alone, since neither Abe Sapien nor Liz Sherman is much fun to play as, and you have to unlock the same levels all over again for no apparent reason. Diehard fans might forgive, but everyone else should just forget.