Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks
Score: 70% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: D3 Developer: 1st Playable Productions Media: Cartridge/1 Players: 1 Genre: Platformer (2D)
Graphics & Sound: Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks is your basic old-school style platforming game. It's a 2D side-scroller with some fairly decent art with a bit of a hand-drawn feel to it. The different alien forms you take are interesting, and all are very distinct, though some of them are so small that they are hard to make out. It is nice that the designers put so much variation in size and didn't try to squeeze "Humungousaur" into the same sprite size as Ben himself. Between levels, you're treated to some static portraits of the characters in the series as they act out the story during cut scenes. During actual gameplay, however, you'll only be playing as Ben in all his forms. The background music is just as old-school as the format of this game. The repetitious beats might bring you back to the days of NES at times. Even when the game manages to produce more than a primitive electronic beat, the name of the game is still repetition. There are a few voice snippets from some boss characters, but again, these will be repeated throughout the fight so much that it blends in with the laser, gun, or punching sound effects.
Gameplay: Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks drops you into the world of Ben 10 assuming that you already know the basic story, but you won't have to worry too much about getting lost if you're new to it. It's pretty obvious that Ben is a kid who has been given some special technology that's enabled him to become a superhero. A wristwatch-like device called the Omnitrix enables him to transform into several different alien forms. Well, 10 forms, to be exact (and to keep the kids from yelling at you for not knowing your cartoons). Ben uses his abilities to defend Earth from other evil aliens with the help of his friends. In this game, Ben fights against the alien leader Vilgax and all his minions. He also has to deal with having to regain his alien forms after he loses them at the beginning of the game. There's also some kind of time travel element going on with some of Ben's allies, but other than that, the story is pretty easy to slip into. Ben's friends don't make an appearance beyond the cut scenes that occur between levels. Most of what you'll see in the game is Ben in all of his various forms fighting enemies in a side-scrolling platforming environment. The action is old-school and primitive. Jump from platform to platform, beating up and eliminating various bad guys along the way. You'll travel to alien planets and see some of the worlds where Ben's alien forms came from, but it's the same song and dance everywhere you go. The only element that really mixes this up is that you'll have to use different alien abilities to pass each level. Some aliens can climb walls, some can float in the air, etc. You'll have to use each alien's abilities at least once during the course of the game to get through it. There's also a light experience-based component to the game. You gather points that you can spend at the end of the level to strengthen your alien forms or give them extended life bars. There are only a few specific things that you can buy for each creature, so it's more like you're just trying to get them up to their full potential rather than custom-building your forms.
Difficulty: Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks doesn't feature any adjustable difficulty levels. For the most part, this is an easy game. But like many primitive platformers, the difficulty comes in when you just can't master that one jump, or the timing for that one obstacle. Hit something like that, and you could be stuck for a while. Also, because enemies don't get physically kicked back by your attacks, many fights can consist of you simply standing in place and mashing the attack button. Of course, this can also work to your disadvantage, as Ben will just stand there and take hits if you let him. The game also features a vertical scrolling shoot-em-up stage between each world. These spaceship levels get dramatically harder as you go on, but are thankfully short. They mainly seem to be an opportunity to gain more points and experience to use on your alien forms. There's a weak puzzle element to the game (you may have to flip a switch, or choose the correct form to pass an obstacle), but it's usually nothing that will stump you for too long. The game remains relatively consistent throughout and doesn't make you do too much that's out of the ordinary. The boss fights are the most challenging areas, requiring you to figure out when they are vulnerable without the help of any clues.
Game Mechanics: In Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks, the only use for the touch screen is to change forms. Luckily, this is not difficult to do with your fingers, so you don't have to manage to hold the stylus and keep both hands on the DS controls which can be ache-inducing on your poor hands. But the bad thing is that it's still a clumsy mechanism, especially when you need to make a change on the fly. And there are some areas where you need to be in the correct form, or you'll face nearly instant death (for example, disappearing platforms where you need to be in Brainstorm form or you'll be dropped to your death). You can also cycle through your forms manually with the (L) and (R) buttons, but this still takes your eyes off the top screen and opens you up to just as much danger. Poor controls, for some strange reason, are often put to the test in frustrating level design. The first instance of this frustration occurs in a jungle-covered planet. You're given the Spidermonkey form and asked to swing from trees. Well, while you're getting the opportunity to learn to use this ability for the first time, you're suspended above life-ending bottomless pits that you won't see until you're halfway in them. The ability requires pretty precise timing and it doesn't help that the controls feel pretty muddy and unresponsive most of the time. There are some touchy situations like this with later levels as well, requiring some split second timing for some of Ben's abilities. Instances where you'll be stuck not knowing what to do for a minute are packed into this game. Abilities are varied, and some alien forms have more special hidden abilities than others, but overall they are not "fun" to use. It really seems like they could have been, too. Brainstorm's hover doesn't last very long. Big chill has wings, yet cannot fly. Humugousaur is huge and powerful, but just doesn't give that feeling of power while you play as him. Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks is an unsurprising, straightforward game based on a cartoon series. It's not bad, but with the source material, there is so much room for it to be better. If you've got a little person begging you to buy the game, you'll probably be alright on this one.
-Fights with Fire, GameVortex Communications AKA Christin Deville
Related Links: Ben 10 Games Official Website 1st Playable Productions
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