Featured Image Credit: Sony/THQ
Topics: PlayStation, Retro Gaming, PC, Nintendo, Xbox
During a very difficult time in my life I’ve recently been seeking comfort in my childhood memories, which much like my adult life was shaped by video games.
After amassing a sizeable collection of retro classics I’ve now shifted my focus to those obscure titles I grew up on. Bargain bin games of sorts that have no monetary value nowadays but have immense value to me personally.
The Incredibles: The Video Game is one such game, which is obviously a tie-in of the critically and commercially-acclaimed Disney Pixar film of the same name.
Developed by Heavy Iron Studios and published by THQ, it launched in 2004 on PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, PC and even the GameBoy Advance. While it followed the same plot of the film it was practically a playable extended cut as it showed fans what the Parr family were up to when they weren’t necessarily on-screen.
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A good example is the burning building Mr Incredible and Frozone find themselves following their retirement from hero-life. While the film jump-cuts to the end of their rescue mission the game has you play it in full, which is something I always appreciated even as a kid.
Gameplay differed between the family members too, with Mr and Mrs Incredible having the most similar style but still having interactable environments unique to them. Mr Incredible uses his super strength to topple tall structures and send goons flying, whereas Mrs Incredible elasticity lets her swing and slingshot through the environment.
My favourite family member was Dash though, who’s levels take full advantage of his super speed as you race your way to a finish line. His first level has you chase a school bus he was supposed to catch, dodging incoming traffic and hazards on the road. I probably replayed it about a hundred times in an attempt to beat it as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately Violet’s levels are much less interesting, and a big reason why I never actually rolled credits when I played it in my childhood. Since Violet’s abilities allow her to turn invisible her levels take the form of stealth sections, which wasn’t my cup of tea at all back in the day. Fear not though, I’ve seen gone back and done what my younger self couldn’t.
Replaying this hidden gem evoked a lot of fond memories and feelings but it also got me thinking about what I’d consider to be the lost-art of film tie-in games. Looking back I played a lot of them as a kid, as I’m sure many of you readers did too. Despite being in essence a cheap cashgrab I can think of quite a few that were genuinely of a high quality. Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie (yes that’s the full title) is one such example, but there are plenty of others. Chicken Little (2005), Spider-Man 2 (2004), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), Ghost Rider (2007), honestly I could write an entire list of these and I probably will.
You just don’t see these kind of games being made anymore, but for good reason. Gaming hardware is leaps and bounds ahead of what it was with the PlayStation 2 and with more advanced hardware comes inflated video game production costs. Making a tie-in game for The Incredibles 2 just wouldn’t make sense nowadays as the market has changed so much over the years.
It’s a shame though because while they weren’t all winners some film tie-in games were actually better than the films they were based on, and hold a nostalgic place in many gamers’ hearts.
This is why preserving physical game media is so important folks, as these aren’t the type of games to be brought back through nifty remasters. If you loved these games as much as I do I’d urge you to revisit them, they’re still as good as you remember.