#3: The Incredibles (PS2)
In 2004, Pixar released superhero animated comedy The Incredibles. The film wowed critics
and audiences alike and was regarded itself as being no less than ‘super’.
Around the same time that year, Heavy Iron Studios and THQ unveiled The Incredibles for the PS2, to mostly
mediocre reviews. In retrospect, however, this was probably one of Disney’s
best movie tie-ins. And here’s why.
First off, it follows the plot of the film tremendously,
with the majority of levels actually seeming as though they are extended scenes
extracted from the film. The soundtrack helps emanate the movie’s aesthetic and
inspiring, jazzy tone – the fact that it’s pretty much all the same music that
we heard in the film really works in the game’s favour. It feels authentic, and
that’s key to a solid movie tie-in. Most of the voice actors return too; only
Holly Hunter as Elastigirl doesn’t reprise her role and we instead get some
irritating actor who tries too hard to sound like her. It hardly ruins the game
but it’s a little jarring. Otherwise, it truly feels as though you’re in The Incredibles.
The controls aren’t flawless, however. Mr Incredible is the
most agile of the Parr family: he can ‘incredi-punch’ his way through a long
line of bad guys without breaking a sweat, and that’s not to mention his many
other abilities, including a super jump, roll and ground slam. The other
characters, however, aren’t quite so enthralling to control. The Dash levels
are fun but can be challenging, while Violet’s solo level is undeniably
difficult, being as you can only remain invisible for a limited time (that
said, I have never been much good at stealth and delicacy levels, so maybe this
is just a personal issue). But my main problem lies with Elastigirl, or Mrs
Incredible. Her flexibility allows for some smooth and slick animations, but
her fighting technique isn’t always on target; combat is a problem as she won’t
always hit the guy you want to hit, and her abilities pose a far more
substantial learning curve than any of the others.
Another complaint I have, albeit a minor one, is that we
never actually see the main villain Syndrome in the game (unless you count his
early appearance as Buddy Pine). Instead, you fight the Omnidroid robots,
which, apart from the final boss level, actually become quite routine and
repetitive fairly quickly. It’s enjoyable, yes, but it grows tired before long.
The robot tanks that make recurrent appearances throughout the game also become
very frustrating after a while.
Despite these few flaws, however, the game is very good. The
music and voiceovers do a neat job in conveying the atmosphere and character of
the film; the locations are very convincing, and it’s nice to play a game with
various playable characters, in which a certain amount of thought and
creativity has been invested in their controls and abilities, even if they’re
not entirely faultless. In this respect, The
Incredibles may not have succeeded overwhelmingly in producing a solid
tie-in platformer, but this is essentially all that prevents it from being
truly incredible.
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