The Incredibles is another incredible film from Pixar, from all accounts. I’ve not seen it yet, so am just going on hearsay. The Incredibles, from THQ, is a faithful rendition of the movie, and presents the characters in all their film glory.
The story is that the Incredible family was forced into retirement by excessive lawsuits from a sue-happy, ungrateful populace. And not just retirement, no, they had to change their identities and everything. Unhappy with suburban life, Mr. Incredible and his friend Frozone take to hanging out in a parked car, looking to pick up some action. Eventually, a mysterious woman named Mirage offers Mr. Incredible a mission he can’t resist.
There are five members of the Incredible family, but only four have identifiable super powers evidently: Mr. Incredible has incredible strength, Mrs. Incredible (formerly known as Elastigirl) has stretchable limbs, Violet can become invisible and also place an invisible force field around herself, and Dash is superfast. With these types of powers, it should be a piece of cake to make an action game centered around them, and, for the most part, Heavy Iron Studios has done a decent job of translating the energy of the film into a moderately engaging game.
There are 18 levels, each featuring one of the Incredibles. Mr. Incredible stars in many of these levels, and his super strength is used in a typical “beat-em-up” melee type of platforming action. For the most part, he will have to beat up groups of bad guys, pick up objects and throw them at things to take them out (he can even pick up the bad guys and throw them at each other and at various objects), and use discarded bombs and other weapons that have been thrown at him to take out the boss at the end of the level.
The fighting in Mr. Incredible’s levels isn’t that difficult, but the levels themselves can sometimes be hard to finish, mostly due to blind attacks from the sides and a slightly awkward camera control, especially during some of the boss battles. Elastigirl has less enemies to worry about, but can sometimes still have a few problems with the boss. It’s also difficult at times to latch on to whatever object in the sky she’s supposed to use to swing herself, because sometimes it’s hard to get the camera centered exactly on the correct spot on this object for the target icon to appear, signifying that she can perform an action.
Dash has the best levels, in my opinion, as his are all racing games where he’s the racer. It’s fun to zoom him around, dodging all the obstacles. Violet’s few levels are basically stealth missions, as she sneaks around invisibly.
While the action for the most part in and of itself isn’t that difficult, some of the levels can be more frustrating than others, due mostly to the frenetic pace of having to run as fast as possible to a destination unknown, to do something unknown, while beating off the bad guys. Most of these levels will have to be replayed several times to be successful, mainly in order to memorize the exact actions and direction needed. Not all the levels are the same; this leads to an unevenness of difficulty, which could be a problem for younger gamers. However, most of the other levels are pretty short and easy.
The graphics are very good, and are of much better quality than many GameCube games of this type. Everything is very clear, and the characters all move fluidly. The fire and water components of the game are really neat, as are most of the backgrounds, such as the burning buildings, the volcano, the jungles and the streets of the city. This game was a joy to look at during play, and the movie cut scenes are a treat to watch.
Speaking of movies, these are used to move the story along, but if players haven’t seen the movie yet (me), they don’t make much sense. Oh, well. They’re still fun to watch!
The music is lively and fits the superhero theme well, but I can’t really say if it’s like the movie. The voice acting is pretty good, even though they’re not the same actors from the movie. The comments are funny, too. Sound effects are used effectively in explosions and other loud noises of mayhem.
All in all, this is a fairly good game of its type, although the gameplay itself can be slightly repetitive, even with different types of levels. The Dash levels are the only really different ones, and are the most fun. The game is fairly easy on the whole, in order to appeal to younger players, but some of the levels are unnecessarily difficult, which may cause problems for the kids. Most older kids who like a lot of action will probably enjoy this game, especially if they liked the movie. Adults may find the gameplay less attractive, mainly because of the sameness of it all.
Gameplay: 7
Playing The Incredibles is fun enough the first few levels, but after awhile it becomes less so. While not a bad game, it just isn’t all that interesting to play. The levels have been designed fairly well for the most part, but sometimes it gets a little frustrating having to begin again and again on a few levels, because of inefficient camera controls.
Graphics: 8
The look of the game is the best feature, with the characters and environs drawn with a great attention to detail. The
heroes all move fluidly, the bad guys are less distinct.
Sound: 8
The music and sound effects fit the theme of the game really well, although I can’t say if it matches the movie. The voice acting is better than most games, even though it’s not from the actors in the movie.
Difficulty: Medium
The difficulty level is fairly easy on most of the levels, but control problems can cause a hitch now and then on some of the levels. Also, sometimes it’s hard to tell where to run or what exactly to do, which means players will die a few times until they get it figured out.
Concept: 7
A simple action, “beat-em-up” game, there’s nothing really new here, but the execution is decent and will afford some amusement to older children and fans of the movie.
Overall: 7
This is a slightly above average fighting type game, with lots of action and plenty of eye candy from the movie. While there isn’t anything “incredibly” exciting, it still manages to afford some amusement.
