The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer
It's incredible what you can do with a film licence, says GamesMaster
There's no movie sequel to the The Incredibles on its way, but that hasn't stopped THQ from making up their own.
With a plotline that follows on from the original film, Rise of the Underminer begins right where the film ends, where the Underminer is threatening to wreak havoc on the residents of Metroville. You have to battle against him, travelling through the city and the underground maze beneath it.
You play as Mr Incredible or Frozone, who each have their unique skills. Mr Incredible uses his freakish strength to knock down enemies and pummel through obstacles, but Frozone has some cooler moves.
He has the ability to unleash a flurry of ice, freezing enemies temporarily and giving you the chance to smash up their helpless bodies.
He can also build ice bridges to get across gaps and do a spot of icy surfing to speedily weave in and out of obstacles. Basically, he's the fun character you're going to opt for most of the time.
You can swap between the two Incredibles at certain points. During fights, for example, you can stick to whoever suits your fighting style best, depending on whether you prefer freezing things or causing seriously big explosions. The fighting is basic, but there are a few special moves and combos.
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Even better, not only can you play through the game alone you can also play in co-op, too. With someone else, the fighting gets more strategic - with one of you freezing enemies while the other one throws your frozen foes away.
Fewer playable characters aside, Rise of the Underminer plays similarly to the first Incredibles game. It's shaping up to be a fairly gentle outing, better suited to younger gamers but by no means a write-off for everyone else.
It's got the sort of polish you'd expect from a game based on the Pixar animation. Provided the game introduces a bit more variety than playable levels we saw, it might surprise us yet.
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer is out for PS2, Xbox and PC on 11 November and for DS on 25 November