Ben 10 (HyperScan)
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 How to disrespect one of the biggest Cartoon Network TV series.
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Ben 10 is an action platformer game developed by Semi Logic Entertainments (the developer for all of the HyperScan games with the exception of Interstellar Wrestling League) for the HyperScan, based on the Ben 10 (2005) series and is the first official video game based on the Ben 10 series.
After Semi Logic Entertainments released this alongside the three other HyperScan games, they ceased development of any new games, though it is unknown if they did any work on the two cancelled HyperScan games, Avatar: The Last Airbender or Nick Extreme Sports. It is most likely that sometime after the release they shutdown or filed for bankruptcy as the company was never to be seen again afterward.
Why It Doesn't Deserve To Turn Into A Monster/Alien Here
- This game is extremely unfaithful to the source material. Instead of simply having Ben transform into the aliens anywhere he wants to via his Omintrix, he can only transform while standing on Omnitrix buttons.
- The story is incredibly disjointed as most of the dialogue only comes from Grandpa Max. Other major characters like Gwen Tennyson never appear in this game at all.
- Gwen Tennyson only appears via a special Help card where she talks to the player providing hints or sometimes small talk like the Grandpa Max card.
- Platforming is very frustrating especially when the text boxes that appear out of nowhere freeze you in mid-air, especially with input lag where jumping can be easily delayed. Many of these issues become frustrating on the first level, where you have to jump over pitfalls a lot.
- The controls can be incredibly unresponsive at times and would make the game almost unplayable, not helping the fact that the text boxes appear in the worst moment possible for the platforming.
- Combat is very barebones as it boils down to generic punches/melee attacks on targets. Aside from that, the hit detection is very unreliable against normal human enemies, where if Ben's punches end up punching past a human enemy, it won't register as a hit. The worst example is Four Arms, where most of his attacks struggle to hit normal human enemies shorter than him.
- Level 2: Krakken Lake has a section where it restricts you to the XLR8 alien for no reason, as using any card will result in Ben transforming into XLR8. On top of that, you have to deliver objects through a hole in the floor which also serves as a pitfall, and then jump down to it with either a diving gear item or the Ripjaws transformation. Aside from that, there's a hidden time limit where once the timer hits the 117 second mark, Jonah comes in from the right smashing through the walls, which you'll assume at first that you have to enter outside the building through the hole Jonah made, but nope, you have to jump down that hole before entering the next part. You can't fight Jonah in this part because he kills you in 2 hits and he can't take any damage.
- There's also parts that are cryptic and are hard to spot. Level 4: Mummy Dearest has you hang on tiny wood poles that are hard to see in the background and could be easily mistaken for decoration.
- Many of the aliens that Ben 10 has are either too broken or too useless;
- XLR8 was supposed to be Ben's ultra-fast alien transformation, but it ends up running virtually the same speed as him and other aliens. One of his only purposes is to run on water in certain stages, as jumping in water with any other alien results in instant death.
- As stated on WIDDTTIAM/AH #5, Long Arms' attacks can't hit smaller enemies due to its poor hit detection but can hit larger enemies.
- Diamondhead's ranged attacks for whatever reason fall downward which makes targeting airborne enemies frustrating. However, he has an immunity to a certain enemy that does electrical damage to him; the flying megawhatts that are already difficult to hit due to the poor range on its melee attacks.
- Like with the other HyperScan games, the card system is a mess and consists not just Ben 10's aliens, but also power-up mods that apply to your aliens and debuffs you can apply on the bosses but only in set levels. Aside from needing all of Ben 10's alien cards just to get to the end of the game, tons of cards are mostly filler at best.
- The game has an arbitrary 5 minute time limit where if it runs out, instead of just killing Ben immediately or failing the level, it makes his healthbar constantly deplete, basically serving as some sort of 12 second death clock.
- Whenever Ben 10 transforms, the game stutters and hangs for a second in between transformations.
- Most enemies, including bosses and even the final boss Vilgax, just have the same male death scream. This gets annoying to hear over and over especially in combat. Also, the fact that Vilgax also has this same death scream for whatever reason furthers the game's poor grasp of the source material. Additionally, when Ben is transformed into Wildmutt, he lets out humanoid-style grunts whenever he attacks.
- The final level, Showdown is tedious to begin with;
- The first section is where you have to painstakingly platform your way up to the top without the Omnitrix. This is because for whatever reason, the game locks that mechanic behind having to collect all of the secret souvenirs on all of the other levels. While some of these souvenirs are very easy to get, some of them require a bit of trial and error to find.
- Vilgax is nothing more than just a punching match and is just a borderline huge damage sponge, like all of the other bosses including Zombozo, who is also a damage sponge who could be defeated easily by punching for 2 straight minutes.
- On top of that, there's basically a non-existent ending, as it's just a "Congratulations" style message before the level complete screen and then credits.
Bendeeming Qualities
- Some of the cards are not filler, which is a neat thing for a Ben 10 game, even if most of the cards are filler as mentioned above in WIS#6.
- The cover art is admittedly faithful to the series, even with the fact the Ben's render from the original show is also reused here in the game.
- At least the characters, which include Ben 10, and Gwen, are pretty likable, especially when compared to the awful reboot, that lasted from 2016-2021.
- Great graphics, as they are on par with the TV series.
Trivia
- There were two unused cards found via datamining the game, a Backpack card that would heal the player like the backpacks that serve as health pickups, and an Omnicharge card that would've allowed the player to transform into whatever alien they wanted anywhere.
Reception
 "What were they thinking?"
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Ben 10 received negative reviews by critics, criticism we're for poor control, annoying textbooks in training mode that can freeze you and could fall to the pit without warning, bland and loud music (especially for theme song), and long loading times as expected for Hyperscan games.
AVGN, in his Hyperscan video couldn't get past the first level due to the text boxes that froze him during gameplay and while he was trying to make jumps through pitfalls.
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