--Elastigirl, Lego The Incredibles
"So now, I'm in deep trouble. I mean, one more jolt of his death ray, and I'm an epitaph. Somehow, I manage to find cover, and what does Baron von Ruthless do? . . . He starts monologuing! He starts like this prepared speech about how feeble I am compared to him, how inevitable my defeat is, how the world will soon be his!"
--Frozone, Lego The Incredibles
As more movie franchises get a Lego video game made in their honor, it is fitting that something like The Incredibles and The Incredibles 2 would receive a Lego game adaption of its own. Lego The Incredibles lets you play through both films and defeat additional villains in its open world. Syndrome and Screenslaver are just the two main villains--Bomb Voyage from the first movie and newcomer Brainfreezer also have entire optional missions dedicated to them. Also, Pixar fans will very likely love the references to other films by the same animation group, like Dory from Finding Nemo appearing as a playable character. For those who appreciate The Incredibles on a comedic, character, or thematic level, the game should be easily understood to be a welcome look into the lore and characters of the series.
Production Values
Just like other recent Lego games based on movies, Lego The Incredibles uses actual lines and (seemingly) exact voice performances from the films--but it also sometimes adds dialogue, providing context to some familiar lines that is completely missing in the movies. The levels faithfully recreate the iconic settings and characters of the movies, albeit in Lego form, without any pervading visual glitches or deformities. One of the most inconvenient parts of the game is actually just the load screens. The initial loading times to start the game from the main menu lasted multiple minutes almost every time I closed and restarted the game. Very rarely, I also encountered issues like a glitch that kept me from using the relevant characters in the open world prelude to a specific story mission, but most of the game does not have these flaws. The production values are generally either excellent or sufficient to keep the game running smoothly without any graphical or audio oddities.
Gameplay
In an unusual inversion of how Lego games normally progress, only missions from The Incredibles 2 are available at first, but this does nothing to affect the gameplay mechanics and overall story. Some of the character abilities and mechanics have small changes from other Lego games, just not because of the mission order. For example, Mr. Incredible can destroy objects and walls just by running into them and can literally pick up and throw minifigures offensively or defensively (perhaps some other Lego games has similar features for a character, but I have neither played nor heard of one). Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl are even accompanied in the story missions by side characters for the sake of co-op play in parts of the story where the movie shows them alone, like when Gazerbeam helps Mr. Incredible explore Syndrome's island.
Each region on the open world map has a "crime wave" in which the player can complete a handful of specific missions that pit them against villains like Bomb Voyage, unlock new characters, and even let them earn icons that mark all remaining collectibles on the map. There is no way to actually achieve 100% completion of the content outside of the main missions until after beating every level, at which point a certain villain takes the stage of the open world. The ability to switch between any characters that have been unlocked at this point (and at any point one is in the non-story segments of the open world) is what allows for villains like this one to be defeated, as the abilities of the characters are diverse and each category of their powers is needed at least once or twice.
Story
Some spoilers are below.
Even though the missions start with the second film, the story missions follow the major plot points of the movies, incorporating classic dialogue and even expanding on it (a great example is that Frozone explains who he was talking to and what situation he was in when he got an old supervillain to monologue, something he only hints at in The Incredibles). The game just begins by having the Parr family deal with Screenslaver and only afterward unlocks the levels pertaining to the first film's golden age of superheroes, the crackdown on superhero activities, and the eventual villainy of Syndrome.
Intellectual Content
Some of the themes of both films, like the Screenslaver's combination of anti-superhero ideology (ironic given that she is a supervillain, different from them in little besides her moral alignment) and complicated stance on technology, naturally make it into the game because of their relevance to the core plot. For the most part, though, the most thoroughly intellectual aspects of Lego The Incredibles predictably have to do with finding collectibles. However, in this case, many of them are actually right out in the open in the hub world. Plenty of them can be found by simply wandering around aimlessly on foot, and I merely used the police chopper vehicle to obtain numerous airborne or rooftop items. The intellectual side of this game is both very overt and less challenging than it could have been.
Conclusion
Lego The Incredibles is a particularly good fit for anyone who appreciates the genuine quality in Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2. The former is indeed a much shorter game. While Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 could take upwards of 50-70 hours to complete everything, Lego The Incredibles only has 12 story missions total and is not as difficult to explore once the right characters and vehicles are unlocked. It is the world of the movies and the way the game both replicates and expands on it that makes Lego The Incredibles one of the better recent Lego games. Here is a fine example of how a game could very blatantly appeal to both children and adults at the same time!
Content:
1. Violence: The conventional violence of Lego video games has no gore, blood, or brutality.
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