Ben 10 Omniverse
Reviewed By Stephen Pastic
This may come as a shock, but as a male in his late 20's, I know nothing relating to Ben 10. Given the Cartoon Network logo, it is obviously an animated series geared towards the younger crowd. Ben 10 Omniverse is an action adventure game that has players running, jumping, fighting and transforming into various creatures throughout. Now then, can this title stand on it's own two feet, or does this release fall prey to the 'typical licensed game' syndrome?
Tasked with stopping Malware (some kind of alien I guess) who is for some reason messing stuff up, players alternate between controlling both a young and teenage Ben Tennyson throughout the adventure. Unless you are already a fan, players are unlikely to be terribly impressed with anything the story thrust presents. Ben is in possession of something called the 'Omnitrix', which apparently grants him the ability to temporarily take the form of some weird, powerful creatures to assist in battles, traversal and some light puzzle solving.
Utilising square and triangle, Ben has access to both light and heavy attacks - and if you are feeling particularly saucy, special attacks can be achieved by striking whilst holding R2. In his standard form, it is possible to take down enemies although Ben is much better served in utilising his Omnitrix tool to take advantage of the more damaging attacks of his available transformations.
From a muscle bound four armed mutant (cleverly named Four Arms), to an alien with command over electricity (Feedback), to a speedy....thing (XLR8), there are a decent number of transformations unlocked gradually over the course of the game. By assigning particular transformations to buttons on the d-pad players can switch forms in and out as they please. Furthermore, certain environmental features can only be utilised by certain forms, so there is something of an ultra light puzzle element throughout - having said this though, it is unlikely that even a younger player familiar with the available abilities will ever get stuck.
Use of transformations is limited by the Omnitrix meter in the top left of the screen, which will slowly deplete as players utilise the abilities of the current form. If it starts to run low, players can tap L1 to revert to Ben in order to quickly recover some health as well as recharge the Omnitrix. By collecting five of either the hidden crystals or shakes, Ben can also increase both the charge of his Omnitrix and his maximum health. Joining Ben throughout is his companion, Rook, who will help the player out in combat with his Proto-tool weapon, or be controlled by a friend in a 2 player setting.
Visually, Ben 10 Omniverse goes for a not quite 'cel shaded' cartoony art style, and whilst there were some parts where I thought it looked okay, for the most part the presentation is more reminiscent of a PS2 era title rather than one for current hardware. Everything runs smoothly enough, but players are unlikely to even raise an eyebrow at the visuals. Audio raises no massive issues, but doesn't really have anything unique going for it either.
Ben 10 is competent at what it aims to do - unfortunately, the whole experience is just very 'meh' at best. Combat gets old quickly (even with the available transformations), as enemies on any given level are numerous, take multiple hits on even the easiest difficulty setting and simultaneously don't really challenge the player at all, with the exception of some of the boss characters who put up more of a fight. What this boils down to is repeating a lot of the same two or three moves ad nauseam on the same enemy type for the duration of most levels. Whilst there is a light RPG-esque upgrade/levelling system available for Ben and his multiple forms, the mechanics still feel inherently very limited in spite of the variance offered via the various transformations.
Obviously, this is the kind of game that is clearly aimed at a much younger audience, and to it's credit, nothing is really broken. Controls work as they should and I could possibly see a younger fan being thrilled with the notion of controlling these familiar characters handing out G-rated beat downs to the enemies in the players way. On the other hand, it is hard to recommend this to anyone outside of hardcore Ben 10 fans when other younger player friendly titles exist such as the Lego Star Wars/Indiana Jones/Batman/Harry Potter titles.
At the end of the day, Ben 10 Omniverse is a perfectly serviceable title for a younger person that is unlikely to cause much parental concern for its content. Everything works, but there are other titles out there which are more entertaining (even for an older player) and offer more bang for your buck than this very 'paint by the numbers' effort.
Game: Ben 10 Omniverse
System: PS3
Developer/Co-Developer: Monkey Bar Games
Publisher: D3 Publisher / Namco Bandai Games
