It’s a Lego game. Again. Yes.

I’m not really a fan of a lot of Pixar’s films, and the Incredibles movies in particular didn’t move me. But I do enjoy playing the superhero-based Lego games with my spouse, with their extravagant powers and flying around the open-world hubs.

This game directly follows up our previous Lego sojourn, Marvel Super Heroes 2. Development was handled by TT Fusion, who had been in charge of handheld versions of the games until they were phased out, and they became a B-team making alternate console games. This seems to be following the example of Marvel 2 with its continuous hub objectives, but while that game was bloated and overwhelming, this is stripped back and manageable. I don’t mind these games having a smaller scope if they’re executed well.

Speaking of scope, having only two movies to cover means there’s 12 short levels, and the hub space is a reasonably sized city broken up into neighbourhoods; the game’s length is expanded with gang takeover events in the various suburbs. The character roster is also padded out heavily with super characters who had literal freeze-frame appearances or dialogue references in the films, so there’s no familiarity to play off. Some have voice lines which will become too oft repeated if you favour them, and a select few are inducted into the story to facilitate co-op play, such as Gazerbeam showing up on Syndrome’s island after he’s supposed to be dead. They also have a dozen or so guest characters from other Pixar films, which adds a fun crossover element that I liked.

If you’re a fan of linear narratives you will need to mentally prepare for the following shock to the system: bizarrely, the game starts you off at the opening to the second film (which famously picks up seconds after the original!), and you have to play through the whole plot of the sequel before it lets you experience the first one. This is frankly ridiculous; I suppose they did it because the second was very recent at the game’s release and so potentially more recognisable to the audience, but come on. It’s absurd.

Anyway, as for new tricks this game has up its sleeve: well, the super powers of the main characters are leaned on heavily. The teamwork aspect is used occasionally as well, and not too obnoxiously. Then, there’s the “Incredibrick” mechanic: in a level, you’ll have to find these hidden around to build a special large object to pass whatever obstacle is there, in a sequence that’s a much simplified version of the Hobbit or Lego Movie building minigames. In the hub they’re scattered around as sub-gold brick level pickups.

The Lego style is… maybe not the best fit for the Incredibles, oddly enough. The events of the film are fairly serious in tone, and the game doesn’t do enough to correct this, with new voice lines over gameplay used for exposition more than humour. And since the characters were already stylised, they just look weird in minifigure form. The new villains and their cutscenes in the hub’s takeover missions are the exception and the highlight for me, they’re all very silly. As far as Lego games go it’s perfectly cromulent, up to the standard of the series, and even has a few minor QOL tweaks that make for quite the short and sweet experience. I would even say… it’s credible…!…!