The Incredibles – PS2 – Review

If you’re reading this
review, chances are you were one of the millions of moviegoers who went to see
The Incredibles last weekend.  If you weren’t one of the 10+ million
moviegoers, you haven’t seen the year’s best animated film.  Year’s best –
screw that.  It’s the best animated film I’ve seen this decade.

With hilarious dialogue, a
lovable cast, and a bond between the family that draws in the audience, The
Incredibles is incredible.

Every incredible film
deserves an incredible game, right?  That’s how gamers feel.  Knowing this,
Heavy Iron Studios prepared the game for Disney and THQ.

The Incredibles takes
players into the world of a superhero family.  Mr. Incredible is the
super-strong, super-tough hero who builds his body by lifting trains.  Mrs.
Incredible can stretch her body to unbelievable lengths.  She can punch bad
guys from 30 feet away, swing from ceilings like Spider-Man, and jump across
buildings without breaking a nail.

Violet is their
first-born and only daughter.  Her powers seem basic at first: she has the
ability to become invisible.  Combine invisibility with an impenetrable force
field, and suddenly Violet is a powerful superhero you wouldn’t want to go up
against.

Dash is Mr. and Mrs.
Incredible’s speedy son.  His powers enable him to literally run like the
wind.  Missed the school bus?  Worried that you’ll be late for school?  You
might be – but Dash won’t.  He doesn’t worry about trivial things like time
when he can run faster than everyone else.  His gameplay reflects his actions,
playing like a cross between a racing game and an action/adventure.  While
running past cars and swerving in and out of traffic (on busy streets might I
add), Dash can jump over road hazards to avoid a serious collision.

Kids are going to love
this part of the game.  For the most part I did too.  It’s a little
frustrating, but you’ll get the hang of it in no time.

Together this family of
incredible superheroes must save the world from an evil plot that I’m not
about to reveal.  I’ll tell you that it’s crazy, and much darker than Pixar’s
previous plots (this is the first time a Pixar film has received a PG rating.
Consequently, the game is rated Teen, not "E" for Everyone).

The Incredibles isn’t
just based on the movie of the same name, it follows every story element.
Pieces are left out, spoiling parts of the film while confusing those who have
not seen it.  The game doesn’t go to great lengths to fill in the gaps
either.  That’s probably for the better if you’re one of the people who chose
to play the game first.

For those who have seen
the film, the movie clips are a real treat.  Most every scene is hilarious,
and the scenes that aren’t are either amusing, intriguing, or involve an
exciting action sequence.

The in-game voices go up
and down in quality.  Once again, no one was willing to stick out their neck
and say, "Hey actors, we need you!"  So they hired people who wish to be
actors, but are not yet successful and may never be.  When you hear their
voices you’ll understand why.  Their dialogue is sometimes witty, but it’s
clear that none of it was taken from the film.  Disney is king when it comes
to hiring talent for their films.  I wish they’d be just as devoted to their
games.

That doesn’t detract too
much from the gameplay, which also has its ups and downs.  Most of the
missions are fun but lack the excitement of similar games by default.  When
controlling Mr. or Mrs. Incredible, the game plays like a watered-down
action/adventure.  You run around, beat up bad guys, and try to make your way
to the end of the level.  It’s a decent experience, but the Shrek 2 game did a
much better job of it.

Like her son Dash, some
of Mrs. Incredible’s tasks can be a bit frustrating.  One of the first levels
with her expects you to swing over several areas that have electricity running
through the ground.  Touch the ground and die immediately.  This wouldn’t be
so bad, but the rest of the game is anything but challenging.  Like every
other Disney game, The Incredibles was designed so that anyone can play it.
That means hardcore gamers get the short end of the stick, and casual gamers
will be left scratching their heads, interpreting the frustrating moments as
being an unnecessary increase in difficulty.

As an enormous fan of
Pixar and their marvelous creations, the fun-and-simple-yet-unoriginal
gameplay was worth the time I spent playing it.  Not necessarily worth the
full $40, but worth my time nonetheless.  No Pixar fan will be able to
disagree.  Kids will get a big kick out of Dash’s stages.  They’ll enjoy
beating up bad guys with Mr. Incredible, and the movie sequences are a
must-see.

Review Scoring Details for The Incredibles

Gameplay: 7
A repetitive
beat-’em-up and on-foot racing game rolled into one.  The Incredibles game
isn’t as incredible as the film.  However, this is the only way to see the
film’s greatest events re-created for the game screen.  This is the only way
you can experience the heroic actions firsthand.  That doesn’t make it an
automatic must-buy, but it certainly warrants some of your attention.

Graphics: 8
One word can
describe the game’s graphics: bright!  The lighting has been turned way up for
this game.  That’s not what’s appealing though.  The characters are fairly
close to their movie counterparts.  Their animations are instantly familiar.
Backgrounds are lush and mostly detailed with grass, trees, water, and any
other real-world or fictitious element that was necessary to make the game
look more complete.

Sound: 7
The music
almost sounds like it was taken from the film.  If it was, they forgot to
add some of the best tracks.

Vocally the game suffers
from the lack of the film’s voice actors.  Typical and not at all unexpected,
I’m still waiting for the day when someone other than Electronic Arts will
include the original actors in their game.

Difficulty: Easy
And sometimes
frustrating.  Kids have older siblings for a reason.  When you run into
trouble, drag them to the TV and make them solve the problem.  Then finish the
rest on your own.  Trust me, it won’t be that hard.

Concept: 6
Every unique
element that The Incredibles has to offer came from the movie, which was
created by Pixar.  Unfortunately Pixar had very little (if anything) to do
with the game.  Therefore the credit goes to Pixar and their movie, not the
game.

Overall: 7
This isn’t the
most complete package – if you were to do a direct comparison of the film and
the game, the film would be up here (hold right hand up high) and the game
would be down here (hold left hand down low).  The Incredibles is better than
most movie games though.  It has more movie elements than the childish Finding
Nemo and Shark Tale games.  Buy it if you have young kids, otherwise stick
with a rental.