Being a super hero with a beer belly should be more fun.

The Incredibles for XBox is sometimes enjoyable, sometimes frustrating. It looks as good as the movie, has an excellent music score, and the family is exactly as you saw it on the big screen.

But this chapter-by-chapter platform game has one fatal flaw: it’s not addictive. You may find yourself ready to move on to something else after wrapping up your fifth straight chapter as Mr. Incredible, instead of eagerly anticipating the sixth. It’s never a good gaming sign when you’re reaching for a book instead of picking the controller back up. Heck, it took me forever to finally finish this review, mostly because I just lost interest. The Incredibles game started to gather dust, while the DVD movie got replayed over and over. But I digress.

In this game, you are the family of superheroes, the Incredibles. The previously retired Mr. and Mrs. Incredible battle oblivious henchmen and devious robots. Their son Dash runs from and through the enemy. Their daughter Violet avoids them all by using her invisibility. It all adds up to a ho-hum, predictable gaming experience, one that’s easily digested by the young gameplayer, but can be akin to torture for the older XBox enthusiasts.

Gameplay:

This game runs lock-step with the movie, with the gamer taking turns playing the four members of the Incredible family. Mr. Incredible is a lumbering fighter with giant strength, Mrs. Incredible can stretch very, very far, Dash can run at super speeds, and Violet can turn invisible for short periods of time and create force fields. Between levels (18 in all) short clips from the movie are shown, wrapping up what just happened and setting us up for what happens next. Parts of the game show us what we missed in the movie (the apartment inferno level where Frozone and Mr. Incredible avoid henchmen and save citizens) while others are near-exact parts of the movie (fighting the Omnidroid … twice).

The Incredibles is a simple fight game most of them time, with the two main heroes, Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, getting most of the screen time, and a few levels dedicated to Dash and Violet. Sometimes the characters are put into air fighting situations, guns are sometimes used, and every now and then a game-playing curveball is thrown into the mix. But for the most part, every character is just running around, point-to-point, fighting bad guys.

You have two in-screen meters to be aware of: your health meter and Incredi-meter. Your health is self-explanatory, and losing it all sends you back to the beginning of a stage or level. The Incredi-meter shows how much each character can use their extra-special powers. You can collect both health and Incredi-power bars throughout the game. Dash has an extra meter, which shows how far he’s progressed on a level. Bonus icons can also be found, which lets you unlock artwork and videos from the main menu. If you need help, there are also Incredi-pointers, which give in-game instructions.

You begin as a younger Mr. Incredible, a little thinner, a little more hair, a lot quicker. You relive the good old days, as Mr. Incredible takes on Bomb Voyage, that smarmy French villain we met in the movie. Mrs. Incredible (well, she’s only Elastigirl at this point) gets a little screen time in these first levels as well. As Mr. Incredible, you lumber along, beating up criminals within your reach, and throwing things (and bad guys) at those too far away. As Mrs. Incredible, you swing over obstacles with your arms, and beat up bad guys from a distance (you can even pick the bad guys up from long range, then turn around and use them as missiles).

The repetitiveness of gameplay settles in almost right away, as 10 of the first 11 levels center around Mr. Incredible. He fights on rooftops, in the jungle, inside the base of the ringleader Syndrome. Mr. Incredible runs here and there, destroying every henchman and robot in his path, and you start wondering: where’s the rest of the family? Dash has a throw-away episode here early on, where he races through suburban streets to get to school on time, but more than half of this game, almost all of it at the beginning, is dedicated to the man of the house. The repetitiveness isn’t limited to who you play with, but also what you fight against. Two very long and frustrating levels are dedicated to that evil invention of Syndrome’s, the Omnidroid. Probably you’re biggest challenge in this game involves stopping this rolling monstrosity, which fires lasers, rolls at you, and throws boulders at you from a distance. Timing is everything, as you dodge, return fire, and run for your life from the invention. Combined, these two levels can take hours, as the Omnidroid gets in lucky hits and you’re fat butt can’t get out of the way fast enough. Mr. Incredible has the biggest variety of special moves, with a super punch, a giant jump (which can be combined with punches for a cool, crushing body slam), super throw, and a super lift.

While some levels with Mr. Incredible are frustratingly difficult, the levels with Mrs. Incredible are laughably easy. Her powers allow her to attack from a distance, and unless she’s swinging near danger, she can stay safely out of range of bad guys. Grab ‘em, throw ‘em, grab ‘em, throw ‘em. It’s too easy. Mrs. Incredible can also use a super punch to destroy bad guys and robots.

While Dash’s and Violet’s levels are not by any means easy, they’re too few and far between. Dash runs from everything in his non-school level, and uses a super speed power when he needs it. Avoiding obstacles is tough sometimes, and you may find Dash’s few levels to be the most challenging, and maybe the most fun. Violet, on the other hand, is just an awful video game character. Her lone, solo level involves nothing more than staying invisible and navigating a jungle where she avoids henchmen. Yawn. The two siblings combine their powers toward the end of the game to create an Incredi-ball, which moves fast and destroys most everything in its way.

The Incredibles game is not terrible, not at all. It has a few very fun gameplaying moments, looks very nice, and puts the gamer in a true extension of the wonderful Pixar movie. But this game is surprisingly boring sometimes, and doesn’t offer much unique in the world of gaming. It also suffers from a lot of repetitive gameplay and the most frustrating thing is that once you’ve completed a level – one you may have had a lot of fun doing it - there’s no option to go back and play it again.

Bonuses include a trailer for the movie and a short making of the game featurette.

Graphics:

Mostly excellent, the graphics for this game come through very clear. Character movements are great, explosions look fantastic, the backgrounds are very detailed most of the time, and the movie clips look sharp and clear. Some levels are less detailed than others, and much of the forest on the island levels is fuzzy, but all-in-all, THQ did admirably in making this game as good as the movie, in terms of visual quality.

Audio:

This game sounds fantastic, and the surround sound is put to good use, with varied, directional explosions and crashes. The voice acting is fun, with Mr. Incredible coming across as slightly flustered and hurried. The music is the best part, using that same exciting, 1960s orchestra jazz from the movie. It puts the gamer in The Incredibles setting very well.

Conclusion:

The movie was a lot of fun, and Disney easily turned this into another marketing giant. But the video game just doesn’t have that much heart to it. The gameplay isn’t special and the story doesn’t try to do much beyond the movie. Worst of all, the rewards for accomplishing things are unsatisfying. I’ve already seen the movie, damnit.

It’s an easy call: If you’ve got a member of the family who loved the movie, then the video game is a worthwhile purchase. Otherwise, I suggest Renting it. But you may be more entertained by the film.