The Incredibles (video game)

The Incredibles  is an action-adventure video game based on the 2004 film of the same name by Disney and Pixar. The game's music was composed by Michael Giacchino, who also scored the film. Samuel L. Jackson (Frozone/Lucius Best), Spencer Fox (Dash), Sarah Vowell (Violet), and Jason Lee (young Buddy Pine; Syndrome is absent from the game on the console and PC versions aside from scenes directly taken from the film) are the only actors to reprise their roles from the film, with the rest of the cast, including Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter, being replaced with other voice actors - the original movie dialogue and can be heard in cutscenes taken directly from the film.

Plot
The mime-styled, French supervillain Bomb Voyage attempts a bank heist in the fictional American city of Metroville, but Bob Parr, alias Mr. Incredible, guided by his friend, the ice-powered superhero Frozone (secretly Lucius Best), works to stop his plans. Meanwhile, the metamorphic heroine Elastigirl battles against Voyage's mime minions across the Metroville skyline stretch. Mr. Incredible captures Bomb Voyage in the bank when his fanboy, Buddy Pine, shows up. Mr. Incredible is dismissive of Buddy Pine, and Bomb Voyage sneakily plants a bomb on Buddy's cape, who flies away with his rocket boots to notify the police. Mr. Incredible fortunately notices the bomb on Buddy's cape, and grabs hold of Buddy to embark on a wild ride above the city.

Mr. Incredible and the bomb both fall onto a rooftop, where the bomb detonates harmlessly as Bomb Voyage appears in a helicopter. Voyage attempts to kill Mr. Incredible with bombs, rockets and laser beams, but Mr. Incredible throws the bombs back at the helicopter, causing it to spin wildly out of control, heavily damaged. Bomb Voyage flees the scene, Mr. Incredible having defeated his madcap foe.

Fifteen years later, superheroes across America have been long-since sued and outlawed for causing too much public destruction and are forced by the US government (chiefly the CIA) to disguise themselves as civilians and live normal lives in hiding. Mr. Incredible has married Elastigirl, who has become Helen Parr, and they have three children together: Violet (who possesses force-field and invisibility powers), Dash (a 190+ mph speedster), and Jack-Jack (who does not appear to have obtained any superhuman abilities).

After narrowly escaping an apartment inferno on an illegal heroic excursion with Frozone, Mr. Incredible is approached by a mysterious woman named Mirage, who tells him about a secret organization based on a remote South Pacific island called Nomanisan. Meanwhile, Dash is late for school and has to race through the Metroville traffic to reach his school on time.

The organization's latest invention, the Omnidroid Mark 08, is endangering the island and its personnel. After a rough beach landing on Nomanisan Island, Mr. Incredible encounters numerous hostile robots before he finds and destroys the Omnidroid during a volcanic eruption. The entire battle is witnessed by Mirage and her anonymous employer through the eyes a robotic bird. The shadowy employer remarks that Mr. Incredible's victory is surprising, and asks Mirage to issue him new assignments.

After weeks of rigorous training and having received an improved suit from superhero tailor Edna Mode, Mr. Incredible returns to Nomanisan well-prepared for another mission. When he reaches the conference room, he fights through numerous armed security guards, deadly robots and laser systems in the robot arena, but once he reaches the empty meeting room, an improved Omnidroid (the Mark 09), appears suddenly from behind a huge sliding wall and grabs Mr. Incredible, quickly overpowering and trapping him. The Omnidroid's creator, Syndrome, appears, who is Mirage's secret employer and reveals himself to be an adult (and very hostile) Buddy Pine. He reveals that he wants revenge on Mr. Incredible by killing off him and the world's other superheroes. Mr. Incredible is remorseful for his treatment of Syndrome, and escapes his clutches by jumping off the great falls. He evades Syndrome's life-sign scanner by hiding behind the skeletal remains of his superhero friend Gazer Beam (whom Syndrome had previously dispatched in an undersea cave). Unfortunately, he is later captured and imprisoned in Syndrome's base when he breaks into the villain's secret computer room, learning of Syndrome's plans to unleash his perfected Omnidroid (the Mark 10) on Metroville. Syndrome then intends to take credit for stopping the robot and saving the city, tarnishing the reputations of Mr. Incredible and his allies in the process, before he becomes the world's only super using his weaponized inventions.

Elastigirl (now Mrs. Incredible), flies to Nomanisan island to rescue her husband and safely stores a stowed-away Violet and Dash in a cave, sneaking into Syndrome's complex with the goal of finding Mr. Incredible. She works her way through the hidden base and into Syndrome's volcanic lair. The next morning, Violet and Dash accidentally activate a robotic cockatoo's alarm system and are forced to use their powers to escape from Syndrome's guards. After a 100 mile dash through the jungle and across the beaches and lakes of the island, and Violet's crossing of Syndrome's henchmen (thanks to the use of her invisibility), the two learn not to be ashamed of their powers and work together, combining their abilities to form the Incredi-ball. They battle henchmen and robots, eventually finding their parents, with Mirage having had a change of heart and freeing Mr. Incredible.

As the Incredible family finally meets up outside the secret lava labs, Mirage helps them activate and launch one of Syndrome's rockets from the rocket silo, which they use to reach Metroville, where the Omnidroid is wreaking havoc on the populace. The Incredibles and Frozone work together to destroy the robot, stop Syndrome and save the world. Syndrome escapes from the battle in the city, but is later killed offscreen when he attempts to kidnap Jack-Jack Parr as revenge. The Incredibles meet with their family friend and CIA agent Rick Dicker, who acquits and relieves them of their lives as superheroes in hiding, and they are loved by the public again for their efforts.

Version differences
There are several notable differences between the console and PC versions and the Game Boy Advance (GBA) version:
 * It's possible to fall into bottomless pits in the console and PC versions, but there are none in the GBA version, which features severely limited platforming.
 * The console and PC versions use a save and autosave game system, while the GBA version does not and uses a password system instead.
 * The GBA version uses a limited life system, where players only have a limited number of "tries" (up to 8), while the console and PC versions use a checkpoint system.
 * Exclusive to the console and PC versions, there are two levels ("Late for School" and "100-Mile Dash" - see above "Plot" section for further details) featuring Dash in the game. Dash's gameplay is significantly different to that of the other playable characters, wherein the levels are very linear in design and Dash runs automatically, with the player being able to use a friction-inducing boost ability to gain a dramatic temporary increase in speed.
 * In the console and PC versions, there is a single level (named "Violet's Crossing", see "Plot" section above) featuring Violet as the playable character. Violet's gameplay is also noticeably different to that of Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, as collecting Incredi-power pickups enable her invisibility, whereas those for Mr. and Mrs. Incredible allow the player to deliver Incredi-punches that are more powerful than their standard attacks, and collecting them as Dash in his levels temporarily stops the friction-burning that results from using his boost ability (discussed above). The GBA version has a similar level, plus an exclusive level near the end of the game where the player uses Violet's force field abilities to defend fleeing civilians from the Omnidroid.
 * Exclusive to the GBA version, players can take control of Frozone in some levels, which are auto-scrolling on-rail sequences. Players guide Frozone around the ice track he creates and uses his freeze powers to create ramps, defeat enemies or destroy missiles.
 * All versions feature one level where the player controls Dash as he evades Syndrome's Velocipod guards through the island jungle. In the console/PC versions, it's possible to instantly fail the level by running out of time or hitting certain obstacles, and in the GBA version, players have unlimited time to finish the level, but must defeat the guards as they catch up to him by jumping on top of them and punching them.
 * The final battle against the new Omnidroid is fought in a single level only as Mr. Incredible in the console and PC versions, while in the GBA version, the battle is fought across multiple levels, using each playable character at least once, to better represent the final battle sequence as seen in the film.
 * Elastigirl is called "Mrs. Incredible" most of the time in the GBA version.
 * The console and PC versions are rated T for Teen by the ESRB, while the GBA version is rated E for Everyone. In Europe, the console and PC versions are rated 7+ by PEGI, with the added specification of cartoon violence. The GBA version is rated 3+.

Sequel
Continuing after the events of the game, a sequel titled The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer was released in 2005. Rise of the Underminer serves as an alternative sequel to the first game, featuring Mr. Incredible and Frozone as playable characters, with the option of two-player cooperative play as a new addition.

Reception
The Incredibles received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. In Japan, where it was ported on December 2, 2004, Famitsu gave it a score of 29 out of 40 for the PlayStation 2 version, and 23 out of 40 for the Game Boy Advance version.

Sales
According to the NPD Group, The Incredibles was one of the best-selling movie-based video games from 2004 to 2005, generating $57.4 million in profit. In the United States, The Incredibles Game Boy Advance release sold 1 million copies and earned $29 million by August 2006. During the period between January 2000 and August 2006, it was the 15th highest-selling game launched for the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS or PlayStation Portable in that country.

By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of The Incredibles had sold 740,000 copies and earned $24 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 87th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined console sales of the Incredibles series reached 1.5 million units in the United States by July 2006. The PlayStation 2 version also received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), indicating sales of at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom.