Reviewed: November 20, 2005
Reviewed by: Ken Hutchinson
Publisher
THQ
Developer
Helixe
Released: November 1, 2005
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Everyone
6
6
4
3
4.8
Supported Features:
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer for the GBA tries to create a story that picks up where the movie leaves off. The Underminer, a new villain, comes to the surface in an attempt to take over the world. It is up to Mr. Incredible and Frozone to put a stop to the Underminer while Violet, Dash, Jack-Jack, and Mrs. Incredible handle things on the surface.
Like many games that are movie spin-offs, Rise of the Underminer is using the popularity of the movie to make a little extra money. Not much time was spent on the storyline or gameplay. Developed by Helixe, developer of the original The Incredibles, seems to have just whipped up a story overnight and turned it into a short game, a game that is actually too short in the end.
The gameplay follows the very simple, side-scrolling, platformer formula. You basically run around breaking control boxes to open doors while beating up on robotic henchmen. The moves aren’t too complicated to pull off. The B button attacks, A Jumps, and the R button performs a special move. Slightly advanced moves are achieved by either pushing A and B together or by double-tapping the A button.
The game begins with the Underminer making his presence known to the Incredibles. He runs off to enact his plans for world domination and Mr. Incredible and Frozone decide to try to stop him. The rest of the Incredibles decide to take care of things above ground. Unfortunately, the first time is the last time you’ll see or hear of the other Incredibles. The action from here on out is limited to Mr. Incredible and Frozone.
You start off on a short tutorial level before being thrown into the full action. Afterwards, it’s on to jumping from ledge to ledge to break the control boxes to advance in the stage. You get to alternate between Mr. Incredible and Frozone, though you’ll most likely end up using Frozone for the vast majority of gameplay.
After a few run-ins with the bad guys, roughly six different kinds, you start to learn what to expect. The only change in difficulty after that is when they come in masses of four and five. Even then, medkits and extra lives are numerous enough so that the gameplay never really gets too difficult. You have continues you can use, but you probably won’t be seeing that screen very often, if at all.
Rise of the Underminer has the cartoonish look that you’d expect it to have. The characters are drawn out fairly well. The levels are also drawn simplistically, but still with a nice touch. The layout and contrast of the display is also very easy on the eyes. It sticks out across the top of the screen in bright red or blue depending on who you are using. You have a stamina bar, an incredi-meter, and your score. All are easy to read and understand.
You won’t find anything mind-blowing about the graphics, but you won’t be disappointed either. Helixe kept it simple, but not too simple.
The music and sound effects are fairly minimal. The music is pretty quiet, sometimes fading out. It becomes slightly more up-tempo before you encounter a slew of enemies, but doesn’t really play much of a part otherwise.
The sound effects are the typical effects you hear in platformers. You have your basic jumping and hitting effects with some added sounds for special moves. There is no voice acting, not even a sinister laugh. But then again, there really isn’t much room for it other then in the silent dialogue.
The stores claim that Rise of the Underminer is worth $29.99. I think it’s worth something more around the $9.99 price range. You get a tutorial level, three regular levels with about three stages each, and then a final boss level. Each stage can be beaten in about ten to fifteen minutes; giving you an idea of how little time you’ll be playing.
The game may last you for a couple of hours before the kids beat it and want something else. Granted, the game has different difficulty settings, but those are more representative of how many lives and continues you start out with instead of the difficulty of the game. Speeches are meant to be short and simple. When it comes to video games, you might want simple for the little kids, but never short.
Helixe followed a very basic formula for Rise of the Underminer: short and simple. They cooked up a story one night, brought it into the developing room the next day, and probably finished the game by the end of the week. I guess one good thing can come from the length of the gameplay: you won’t be using too much battery life.
If you want something to entertain your children on a long drive to grandma’s house, try having them watch a movie. That might actually keep them occupied longer than The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer would. Plus, you’d be spending less money.
