MCM Impressions: Ben 10

Let’s be honest, nobody would’ve expected a brand new Ben 10 game considering the original series ended some three years ago. Unless you knew about the reboot which removes some of the old aliens and renames them, because “Why not?”. At MCM, I got to try out the newest Ben 10 game, which wasn’t a demo build. The storyline present for the first chapter felt like a spin-off of the original Ben 10. It didn’t recapture that weird spark I had watching the series on Cartoon Network, but it was fun nonetheless.

I think I'll trust you as far as I'll throw you.

Starting off with the core gameplay loop, it has an Arkham-lite feel. It’s borderline mundane and lacks the fluidity of fighting the hordes of enemies. You have three aliens to begin with: Four Arms, Cannonbolt, and Heatblast. The movement speed felt slightly sluggish, with an alien I unlocked later, XLR8 having no movement difference compared to Four Arms. For the uninitiated, that’s like comparing a fast sports car to a bulldozer in terms of characteristics. Whilst playing through the available mission I unlocked: Wildvine, Grey Matter, and XLR8.

In terms of story, it was very minimal and didn’t contain anything uniquely interesting. Feeling like a watered down episode of the original Ben 10 series, it didn’t do much to grab my attention. Zombozo was sucking the happiness of people, you go “It’s Hero Time!”, and save the day by beating him up. Normal Ben 10 formula really. Honestly, it was okay. Its main demographic being kids, I didn’t expect something super compelling or even flagship like in nature. But, if I was a kid, I could imagine playing this and having some solid fun with it. Ben 10 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.