Incredibles, The: Rise of The Underminder
© 2006 THQ, Inc.
In this continuation of the story of The Incredibles, you play alternately as Mr. Incredible and Frozone. We tested the DS and computer versions of the game. Both characters have different strengths. It is easy to switch between them, with a touch of the bottom screen. Frozone is used for solving puzzles by freezing blocks and flying over gaps, and Mr. Incredible is used for fighting the five different robots in the game (there are only five different kinds of enemies). Easy to play, the game starts with simple, one-hit-kill enemies and escalates to a big monster that tries to smash you with giant arms. The puzzles are also easy to get started with; nice for first time players. Graphics on the DS are relatively good, and the environments are varied, although the game never strays from its "jump from one platform to the next" design. The main drawback is the limited amount of content. On normal difficulty, an experienced player can get through all the content in 1.5 hours, and there are no trophies or unlockables to extend the life. Our six-year-old tester enjoyed the auto save feature and the way that Mr. Incredible and Frozone talked, providing hints to help him figure out what to do. Note, however, that the written hints make it hard for nonreaders. On the computer version, a second player can join in, but the keys are hard to figure out. If you need a quick Incredibles fix and can't afford or play any of the console versions of this game, borrow this title. Otherwise, don't bother at $30.
$2040, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, GBA*, Nintendo DS*, PSP, Windows*, Macintosh
Teaches: logic
CTR Rating: 74%