POSTED 30/11/12


BEN 10 OMNIVERSE

D3Publisher
PS3 (also on Xbox 360, Wii, Wii U, DS, 3DS)

We’ll run helter skelter, Malware’s henchmen are our curse. Messing with antimatter, in our private omniverse...

We’d like to take this opportunity to apologise profusely to Neil Finn, however we needed an entry point and there was no way we were gonna touch a certain classic by The Beatles.

Still, that did kind of sum things up there. Ben’s doing a spot of plumbing, fucks up the time stream, and suddenly he’s all 11 again. But his plumber mate Rook – sorry, no Mario crossover here people - is along for the ride, which is handy as some Malware bloke has nicked some power wrench thingy. Or summat. Does it really matter? Nah. What does matter is gameplay.

It must first be noted that this is obviously aimed at kids. If you didn’t get that, ooh, from the sheer fact that it’s a Ben 10 game, then you will from playing it. It’s a 3D platformer beat ’em silly thing, with pleasant cel-shaded graphics, collectibles-a-gogo and a fair number of fighting moves, added to exponentially – or whatever 13 times is - by the ability to use your super-funky wristwatch doobrie to morph into an assortment of gradually unlocked aliens that variously roll, spit fire, magnetise, sniff paths and such.

We’ve seen some fetid licenced games aimed at children in our times, but this one doesn’t reek. While the basic puzzling and fisticuffs could scarcely be labelled challenging by average adulty standards, and rarely change much through the six hour or so campaign, it works. The ability to play with all manner of different aliens, alone or (locally) with a friend (which is handled reasonably well by AI if you’re all solo-like) will be more than enough to happify any little Ben men (or women – thank you Stan) in your omniorbit.

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