Disney-Pixar The Incredibles

Most movie tie-ins of 2004 felt like they were assembled from whatever the engine could already do. The Incredibles at least tried to build the game around the family's differences. Mr. Incredible is a heavy-hitting brawler, Elastigirl stretches and whips her way through crowds, and the game's structure leans on that mix rather than treating the cast as reskins.

The core is a third-person brawler with a lot of breakable scenery and small groups of henchmen. Mr. Incredible's punches, throws and ground slams are simple to learn, and smashing things up feels satisfying in the way the film's action does. Later stretches bring in Dash and Violet, whose abilities change the pace: Dash is a sprinter, Violet leans on her force fields and invisibility. These sections break up the brawling, though they do not always give the player much room to think.

The developer, Heavy Iron Studios, kept the game close to the movie's look. The character models and suburban-to-island locations carry the Pixar design language reasonably well, and the clips and voice work from the film help the pacing. That fidelity is a real strength, because it makes the game feel like an extension of the movie rather than a cheap imitation of it.

The weakness is repetition. Enemy types are few, fights tend to follow the same pattern, and the levels often reuse the same ideas longer than they should. Camera trouble and a few awkward platforming moments show up too. Nothing here is broken, but the novelty of the family's powers wears off before the game ends.

As a licensed game from that period it sits comfortably above average, and children who loved the film will still find it approachable. Adults will notice the padding sooner. It is a competent, good-looking brawler that borrowed its best ideas from the movie, and it knows it.