The story in Rise of the Underminer is exactly what it says it is. The Underminer, a lonely, ugly fellow who lives below ground, is angry at those surface dwellers for reasons unknown. As you do, he decides to destroy the surface. He sends his huge drilling machines up to the world as we know it, where the family of superheroes, The Incredibles, just happen to be. The women and children set off to get people to safety, while resident strongman Mr. Incredible and ethnic minority sidekick, Frozone, set about burying the Underminer and his evil intentions for good.
You need to chill out
It’s all completely straightforward. Players can control either Mr. Incredible or Frozone, alternating between each character by pressing up on the d-pad. The player must charge through each completely linear level, smashing any enemies in their way and flicking switches to open doorways. Each character has unique characteristics. Mr. Incredible relies on brute force to smash and throw things, while Frozone can freeze enemies and objects, or attack enemies by gliding at them. This is taken advantage of countless times in the game, with many puzzles requiring Frozone to freeze something, and Mr. Incredible to smash it. Each character has a punch attack – which will be doing most of the work – and a unique special attack, which can be used to slay most enemies on screen. However, these are few and far between, and best used wisely.
It’s relatively easy to just run through the game and just hammer the punch button, especially if you’re Mr. Incredible, as the enemies are mostly weak, with similar attack patterns and not especially smart. The difficulty for any seasoned gamer is, basically, non-existent. However, things start to look up when you plug in another controller. The two heroes are supposed work in tandem, and since the computer AI generally doesn’t do anything particularly well, playing with another person helping out is a much less frustrating experience. It makes the game even easier though, but it is a lot better. Still, some more variety in the game would have been appreciated, as while brainless action is nice, it does need to be broken up every now and then.
One frustrating element of the gameplay is the terrible collision detection. Often your player will be hit by an enemy – despite there being over a foot of daylight between the on screen characters. Likewise, punches from your player will connect with the enemy from a lot further than they should. Other times, enemies seem to be unable to sustain damage. Mightily annoying.
You’re not sending me to the cooler!
Mr. Incredible and Frozone can be progressively powered up through the game, too. Defeating enemies and completing levels gives your characters experience points, and they can upgrade around half a dozen different attributes – the strength of their punch, health level, freeze ray, number of super moves that can be carried, and so on. There are only three levels of upgrade, so it’s no hardened RPG, but it’s a nice addition regardless.
Rise of the Underminer doesn’t look especially terrible, but it’s a long way from the top of the PS2 visual hierarchy. Menus are presented pleasant enough and cut-scenes are spliced into the game quite well, which is rarely the case with cheap movie tie-ins. The environments are surprisingly busy, with plenty of movement in the background. They are also quite varied, with areas like factories, sludge plants and streets stopping any potential samey backgrounds. Unfortunately, the enemies ARE samey, consisting of around six different evil robots throughout the game. Worst of all, the frame rate often takes a big hit whenever a few bad guys hit the screen, which happens quite often.
Voice acting is quite solid in the game – Frozone, Mr. Incredible and the Underminer make up the vast majority of it, with plenty of amusing quips thrown around. They aren’t particularly well synced with the game though, and the two heroes are often left commenting about a problem after you’ve solved it. Some effects also suffer from this problem, or simply don’t have the aural impact they should, considering the carnage on screen. Outside of that, the sound department is entirely unremarkable, with simplistic crashes and bangs making up the effects, and basic tunes in the background.
Freeze in hell, robot henchman!
Ultimately, Rise of the Underminer biggest problem is in the lifespan department. Seasoned gamers will wipe through this in three, maybe four hours. And, honestly, even kids will romp through this game, clocking in at few hours more than that. It simply is not long enough for any target demographic. Some remotely challenging puzzles or some twists on the standard gameplay would have helped boost this length too – alas, it’s not to be. Two player mode is how the game should be played in the first place too, so there isn’t much of a multiplayer extension here. Some weak unlockables – think ‘art’ – are also up for grabs.
The Incredibles: Rise of the Underminer is a decent attempt at a title for the kids. The gameplay is utterly basic, consisting of punching and running, but the co-operative element between two players is quite nice. Kids who loved the movie will no doubt get a kick out of this game. However, we really can’t help but feel that, even for a kids game, Rise of the Underminer is below bar – six hours does not make a game. We really can’t see how any kid would be more happy with this than a sub-budget price point copy of any Jak & Daxter or Ratchet & Clank game.
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