Ben 10: Power of the Omnitrix

When I was a child, we didn't have Ben 10. We did have Mr Benn though, who used to visit a fancy dress shop, try on a random costume then go through a magic door and have an adventure dressed up as a pirate or whatever, so - based on the fact the two have similar sounding names - I completely illogically went into Ben 10: Power of the Omnitrix expecting good things.

It seems, though, that having a similar name to something that you once liked isn't really an accurate indicator of quality. What a shocker. Yes, Ben 10 is a bit of a disappointment.

It's not a massive disappointment - it's not turning up to a Radiohead gig only to find The Wurzels are playing instead. It's just a bit of a dull left-to-right side-scrolling beat-'em-up, which involves a lot of hammering of the '5' button.

The idea behind the game is simple. Playing as Ben - the boy who can transform into different alien life forms - you trudge your way through several locales, flattening the various enemies that get in your way and gathering up the energy they leave behind, which boosts your health bar and also the bar that is drained when you're in the guise of any of the alien forms.

Your friends pop up at various points to offer help, but largely you just concern yourself with fighting enemies and bosses and not being killed.

Different alien lifeforms are unlocked as you play, starting with Fourarms, who's double the size of Ben and much more capable at smashing through obstacles and putting down enemies.

You can switch to any of these lif eforms whenever you like, although the previously mentioned bar restricts how long you can stay in a form. It's best to reserve your superpowers for when you really need them, or risk fighting hoards of enemies as a small boy.

Not that Ben is completely powerless. Double tapping left or right lets your perform an evasive roll, also handy for nipping beneath obstacles, and double tapping up makes him jump.

Pressing '5' triggers a variety of punches and kicks and, once an enemy has almost been wiped out of its health,
pushing the button that appears on screen lets you perform a finishing move. Using this variety of moves, the fighting has reasonable depth for a mobile phone game, but it still gets repetitive just because it's almost all the game has to offer.

There's a little bit of variety offered by non-enemy obstacles in a level. So if a big tree is blocking your path, you can switch to alien Heatblast then use his special fire power to burn the tree to bits.

Other obstacles require different life forms, although in battle it doesn't feel like it really matters who you're playing as. It's still fairly easy to dodge and punch your way through.

Each alien form's different special powers and fighting moves are good, as is being able to switch between them all. But Ben 10 doesn't have enough to keep the attention span of anyone but the biggest Ben 10 fan engaged.

The visuals and sound are good, but trudging from left to right, transforming into different beasts and blasting enemies and obstacles soon gets tired. The game needs more collectables, alternative paths or platforming sections.

Now, when is that Mr Benn game going to be made?

Ben 10: Power of the Omnitrix

Good looking cartoon beat-em-up that will keep fans of the series engaged for a short time, but which doesn't have enough variety in its gameplay to entertain the average game player
Score
Kath Brice
Kath Brice
Kath gave up a job working with animals five years ago to join the world of video game journalism, which now sees her running our DS section. With so many male work colleagues, many have asked if she notices any difference.