

Estimated trophy difficulty: 2/10 (personal estimate) (Estimated Difficulty).Again, this makes it perfect for younger players but a little underwhelming for us oldies. At times, playing this felt like an easy mode mix of Lego City and the main Lego tie-in games. This take on the open world formula fits in well, but the actual missions do tend to fall on the simplistic side. These require you to clear areas of specific crimes in order to unlock the map fully. Perhaps the most successful new addition to Lego The Incredibles is the Crime Wave missions. The tried and tested Lego engine is still going strong, although the occasional hiccup and pop-in is present on PS4. I found Mr Incredible slightly off, although I haven’t seen the new film yet due to a delay in release for the UK so maybe that will explain that one. The game looks pretty much as you’d expect, with bright colours, some great use of block constructions and cute, if not always successful, versions of the characters. A feeling of familiarity is my overriding response to the game, with the witty takes on traditional superheroes that characterise the films feeling like they’re retreading old ground. Even this, however, feels overly familiar, as Plastic Man and Mr Fantastic served similar functions in Lego Batman and Marvel Super Heroes respectively.

Elastigirl in particular is utilised to navigate gaps, move through vents and act as a trampoline for other characters. The powers of the Parr family are well realised here and levels are designed in a way that will require you to use every character at your disposal. This traditional aspect, whilst familiar, is beginning to feel a little long in the tooth, as it means that you rush through the initial playthrough in the knowledge that you need to go back later. As always, returning to earlier levels with new characters and powers opens up areas that you couldn’t access before. Fortunately (or not given your perspective) the need to replay levels enables you to collect any items that the controls prevent you from getting first time. Vehicle levels are also present, but do have issues with twitchy over-responsive controls. The fanservice is strong here, as evidenced by a trophy called ‘Just Keep Swimming’ for finishing an underwater race as Dory. These are hugely welcome and help to provide some variety from The Incredibles’ roster of little known versions of DC and Marvel superheroes. The rewards for these family builds are guest characters from other Pixar titles, such as Finding Nemo or Toy Story. I can see what they’re attempting to do for co-op players, but it would surely have been better to use QTEs.

Unless you have 4 players, you must switch between the characters to ensure that all bars are filled. These involve collecting the requisite number of Incrediblocks and then activating a build location before a button mashing sequence comes up that requires all characters to fill a bar at once. The introduction of multibuild puzzles is also a great addition, breaking down build and reusing the blocks to solve different parts of a puzzle, though these are joined by the less successful family build mini-games. Progressing through the levels is still great fun, with some interesting new powers and combinations to experiment with. This main hub is somewhat bare and feels like a step down from some earlier games, especially when it’s combined with the removal of many environmental puzzles and collectable bricks being left just sitting around on buildings or underwater. This makes the obligatory search a little too simplistic, but should mean that younger children are less likely to get stuck. The game also seems more concerned with pushing you through the levels, with you actively having to leave missions to explore the hub world.
