LEGO The Incredibles Review - As Good as All the Previous Lego Games

LEGO The Incredibles takes players on a predictable, but fun journey. It’s loosely tied to both movies in the series, and it carries the Lego stamp, so you know that it’s going to be good.

There very few instances when Lego games didn’t rise to the challenge. At worst, some of the past titles were mediocre, but for the most part, developers managed to retain enough of the source material to keep things interesting.

More than 15 years ago someone figured out that it would be a good idea to combine Lego with various other licensed properties. Maybe it was a one-off endeavor, or they planned for the future, but the result was the same. The Lego games become a cultural phenomenon, and now we’re getting them all the time.

Even though the debut of Lego in gaming happen early on, the title that started it all was actually Lego Star Wars: The Video Game, followed closely by Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy. It’s still difficult to make something as successful as those ones, and that says a lot.

Of course, one of the dangers that come with such an avalanche of games is that some of them will be bad, and that’s pretty much a guarantee. Fortunately, the developers of LEGO The Incredibles, the guys from TT Games, had enough time to work on it, so it’s up to par.

Story and gameplay

Surprisingly, the game is only loosely based on the franchise and touches on what happens in Incredibles 2 tangentially. It comes with its own story, secondary characters, sidekicks and enemies, which is a good thing.

You don’t want people coming out of the movies, get the game only to find out that it’s the same story they just watched. So, the good news is that it’s something different, but the bad news is that it’s not as good as the movie. It’s not a surprise, but it’s captivating enough to keep the players guessing and trying to find out more.

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Players get to control the entire family and a ton of other sidekicks, all with their own powers. In fact, this one is probably one of the most entertaining aspects of the game, the insane number powers and effects.

You can go through the story in about 10 hours, or less if you want to, but there is a ton of other stuff that fills the world. And make no mistake about it, it’s a vast world that’s just waiting for you to explore it.

As for the gameplay, you will be surprised to find that it’s not as straightforward as you would expect. For the most part, you’re going to be smashing things and taking names, controlling one character at a time. But many tasks require cooperation, and the gameplay changes to top-down or stealth. It’s a nice mix that keeps players guessing about what’s coming.

But, like all games that take place in a massive world, you’re going to encounter some camera problems. Even though it’s not an issue most of the time, the camera gets a mind of its own, and it usually happens when fighting an enemy.

This takes us to another issue, and that is the gameplay balancing. For the most part, players won’t ever feel threatened by what’s happening, even during boss fights. It’s true that you’re always controlling superheroes, and that it’s supposed to be a lighthearted game, but it would have nice to get a challenge.

At its core, it’s an open world game, and that means that you’ll be able to do a lot more than just follow the main storyline, not to mention the options to control sidekicks. The world is full of exciting activities, so you can fill up the time with some cool side quests if you don’t feel like going to the main story.

The world is also well-designed and intuitive, but not always. I managed to get myself lost a few times, and I found my way back only with a little bit of luck. The fact that everything is made out of Lego blocks doesn’t help.

I also want to mention the attention to detail manifested by the developers. The levels are full of hidden pieces, secrets, and lots of other stuff. If you invest enough time, you will find that it’s much more to the world than the sidequests.

The last this on the list is the driving section. Players move around the city with the help of cars, and they are terrible to drive. Aside from the weird control scheme, which doesn’t use the triggers for acceleration and braking, the physics of the car is all wonky. You will be spending a lot of time, in the beginning, trying to adjust the way you control the case, so that you can keep a straight line. Fortunately, there is a degree of automation for jumps and other such events, so in the end it should be a minor inconvenience.

Graphics and sound

A world made of blocks doesn’t sound like a beautiful setting for a game, but then again, we have Minecraft. The blockiness of a level doesn’t’ dictate the impression. If the gameplay is exciting than the looks are no longer all that important.

Of course, the fact that there Lego piece everywhere is a plus, increasing the chaos and contributing to the overall artistic impression. From a bird’s eye view, LEGO The Incredibles is actually impressive, but we have to keep proportions for such a game. It’s not Crysis, but it’s not bad either.

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There are a few moments when players might notice some small pop-in issues stemming from texture loading, but it’s so rare that it’s not even worth mentioning. All-in-all, the game is fairly well optimized, and things go smoothly even when you lose your character on the screen between all Lego pieces flying around.

As for sound, this department is one of the highlights. Since the developers borrowed a lot from the movies, most of the music, sound effects, and voices are present as well. This means extremely high quality in a game that wouldn’t normally get something like this.

Also, the discussions between the characters are a hoot, and quite funny. It might seem like it’s aimed at kids, but many conversations require the ears of an adult.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion