by
Ted Kritsonis
Faze
Video Game Editor
The way movie-based video games have
been lately, you would be inclined to think that the deck
is stacked against a game like The Incredibles, especially
when it has some significant plot ties to the film.
Without giving too much of the movie
away, The Incredibles is the story of how superheroes went
from being a positive force in everyday society to disgraceful
retirees after lawsuits forced them to hang up their spandex
costumes. But when an overzealous wannabe supervillain threatens
the world, Mr. Incredible and his family are prompted to put
on some new spandex and save humanity one more time.
Heavy Iron Studios deserve a great
deal of credit for completely capturing the look and feel
of The Incredibles. Clips from the movie act as cutscenes
between missions, and they work seamlessly with the visuals
and gameplay. The graphics are excellent and the environments
are a carbon copy of the movie.
The gameplay is definitely standard
for a game like this, but the characters are so true to the
movie that you won’t really care (unless you hated the
movie, of course). At various times you’ll use each
of the Incredible family members in certain missions. Mr.
Incredible will be yours for power-based missions. His wife,
Elastigirl, handles missions where she needs to move from
place to place quickly and attack enemies from a distance.
Violet, the shy teenage daughter, uses her invisibility and
force field powers to be stealthy. And young Dash uses his
speed to outmaneuver the enemy.
It truly is a family affair and it’s
a big help in breaking up the repetitive gameplay that sometimes
drags the game. Dash is especially fun to play with because
of the speed factor, while Mr. Incredible’s missions
are too much alike. The two female Incredibles are a mixed
bag because they can be entertaining to play with, but at
the same time, some issues with the game at large impede this.
If you’ve played The Incredibles
and you’ve had some problems with the camera, then you
already know what I’m talking about. The targeting reticle
for Elastigirl will disappear at the slightest turn of the
camera, and other strange movements almost suggest that the
camera has a mind of its own. One incredibly (pardon the pun)
frustrating thing about the camera is how it doesn’t
centre properly. On one of the earlier missions with Mr. Incredible,
the camera just decided to maintain a view from the top. I
couldn’t see ahead of me unless I looked in first-person
view, but when I tried the mission again after clearing it,
the camera was back to normal again.
After passing the whole game, you also
might feel like you were short-changed a little bit. It took
me about seven hours to pass it all, and with no major replay
value to speak of here, there’s not much to do after
you’re done. I’m not sure what would’ve
worked well as a replay value element, but some mini-games
or more meaningful unlockable items might have helped a great
deal.
The Incredibles is a very good game,
despite the lack of polish in some areas. The atmosphere is
a dead ringer for the movie and all the voice acting and sound
engineering is very well done. If you saw the movie and loved
it, you will probably love the game too, but if you’re
unsure, it is certainly worth a rental because it is a game
that just about anyone can play.
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