LEGO The Incredibles is available now from Warner Bros Interactive and TT Games for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Here is my review (on Xbox One):
Experience the thrilling adventures of the Parr family as they conquer crime and family life through both Disney-Pixar films The Incredibles and The Incredibles 2, in a LEGO® world full of fun and humor. LEGO® The Incredibles allows players to explore action-packed story levels and an epic hub world – including Municiberg, as they use their unique “Super” abilities to bring the city’s Super Villains to justice. Gamers can also team up with family and friends in 2 player co-op to assemble incredible LEGO®builds!
Unpopular opinion. I’m not a big fan of The Incredibles. I watched the first film when it hit theaters forever ago but I thought it was… just OK. I still haven’t seen the sequel as I’m writing this, but I have played the game with my kids (7 and 8) and…. we had a blast. LEGO The Incredibles is a great time for casual gamers such as myself who aren’t caught up in the hype of this franchise and there’s so much depth and great character unlocks for die-hards fans that I don’t see how Pixar/LEGO nuts wouldn’t fall in love with the latest from TT Games. By the way – TT Games is one of the most underrated developers today. They consistently deliver the best movie-tie in games multiple times a year and the amount of detail and insane character selection they provide the fans is unparalleled to other videogame experiences.
There are over 100 character choices in LEGO The Incredibles. Going in, I wasn’t sure what TT Games were going to do since they were following up LEGO Marvel 2 (which was PACKED with an INSANE amount of character choices). Much to my surprise, there are a lot of fun character unlocks here and some zany surprises which include other Pixar films – YOU CAN BE BING BONG from Inside Out! Hell – you can be WALL-E too. Or Dory! What? These fun surprises get me stoked for the possibility of a SUPER PIXAR LEGO experience which somehow could pull from ALL of the Pixar properties with an original story. Just dreaming out-loud there…
But forget the ridiculous amount of characters you can play as in LEGO The Incredibles – what makes the game so much fun is the fast paced action and platform puzzlers which I found to be really nice this time around. I didn’t get lost once, as I have before in some LEGO games (or my kids would get confused and I’d have to grab the controller to bail them out). The puzzles were quick, clever and the combat was even more fine-tuned than LEGO Marvel 2. Each character’s power defines them and makes every gaming experience vary quite a bit, depending who you play as. Frozone is a badass and I loved how powerful he was, while Dash and his Flash-like speed was addicting and the effect looked really cool on-screen.
You can play the game with a friend in 2-player splitscreen which was a lot of fun and the family has some truly Incredible (pun intended so suck it) combos that play well off each other. Whether you are Mr. Incredible and you’re throwing Dash through the air, or you’re Violet and you are using a force-field to protect your family, the cohesive co-op gameplay works seamlessly, truly making you feel like you’re one of The Incredibles. Seeing Elastigirl turn herself into a bridge by twisting herself into knots was never NOT unsettling but that’s what she does… As for the story, you will kick off the game right where the first movie ends and the second begins so be prepared to dive into the sequel’s plot right away before you find yourself going back in time to play the first movie’s levels.
The open-world element of LEGO The Incredibles is a nice addition as well, letting you roam the city and solving crimes from various gang outfits like Ice Cream Bandits and Mimes who love starting fires just to name a couple. These little side-missions were fun detours and my kids especially were drawn to them and excited to see the little video cuts of breaking news, as well as seeing the news flash again to show that they saved the day. It made my kids feel like they were superheroes and just those little touches makes the game all the more a genuinely Incredible experience (pun number 2, deal with it AGAIN SUCKERS). TT Games can’t make a bad game and even if you aren’t a big fan of The Incredibles franchise (which I am not), you’re still going to have a great time. The graphics were brilliant (in the story mode) and the gameplay felt very fluid in every way making LEGO The Incredibles 2 a must-own for family game night.
Rating: [star rating=”4.5″]