Ben 10: Alien Force

Ben 10 Alien Force is the latest game to originate from the Cartoon Network show Ben 10. Five years ago Ben Tennyson put away the Omnitrix, a watch-like device he had found while on a camping trip with his grandfather Max and cousin Gwen. The Omnitrix allows the user to transform into various alien forms by combining the DNA of the alien with the user's own. Now that his grandfather has gone missing and the Earth is in danger from evil creatures from outer space Ben must make use of the Omnitrix once again.

This is an action game. The object of the game is to find Grandpa Max and save the planet. You start off the game as Ben or one of two aliens, Big Chill or Swampfire. As you work through the levels you will unlock new aliens, including SpirderMonkey and Jet Ray. In other levels you have the chance to play as Kevin or Gwen. They all have super powers: Kevin can turn into wood, armour or rock; Gwen has magic powers which help her generate an energy shield which can be used to both protect and attack. Collecting experience points along the way will unlock new moves for the aliens.

As you encounter a new opponent the game will give you a little detail about him and it is the same when you get a new alien. For example, it lets you know that Swampfire can burrow underground like a plant and also breathe fire. Every alien has a special ability: Big Chill will glide up on wind; SpiderMonkey can climb up some walls and can jump quite far and Jet Ray can fly.

No two aliens have the same abilities. Some villains you run into are on horseback but beware, these are no ordinary horses; they are made of metal. After hitting them a couple of times they will blow up and, if you are too close when they do, you will get hurt. Beware of the Forever Knight Ninjas too, they move really fast and will shoot you or hit you with a lance. The Omnitrix in the Wii version of the game only has a limited life span; it will let you know that it is low by beeping. This will not stop it from transforming you back into Ben.

If your alien is low on health you can quickly switch back to Ben for it to be healed, although this may cost you a little time. You may also change from one alien to another but this uses up plumber points so be sure to collect them as you go. There may be times in certain levels where you have to progress to another level to you unlock an alien before returning and using it to complete that level fully. This game is pretty fast moving and challenging; if you are a fan of Ben 10 and aliens you will love it. Unlike some other games which follow on from TV and film, the characters in this game are voiced by the voice actors from the show – which can only be a good thing in my opinion.

There is also a two player mode but this can be quite confusing as you can both be the same character. Unfortunately there is nothing to differentiate between the two. Unlike other Ben 10 games I would say to take full advantage of the gameplay, Ben 10 Alien Force should be aimed at the 12 + market.