Gamers Temple Review – Ben 10: Alien Force

Gamers Temple: "Have you ever played – and enjoyed – a game that you knew was terrible? No matter the answer, this may not be one you want to own up to. Personally, I can think of a handful of games that were just plain terrible, but I ended up playing, finishing and enjoying them, despite the fact that the little voice inside was shrieking, "Stop! This sucks! You have other stuff to play with… why are you wasting your time with this?!" A sampling of those that jump to my mind are Cliffhanger on the Sega Genesis, Ren & Stimpy: Space Cadet Adventures on the original Game Boy, Time Ace on the DS and most recently, Haze on the PS3. After playing Ben 10: Alien Force on the PS2 (also available on other systems, PSP, DS, etc.), I have another painful disaster of a game to add to my list.

Whether you are familiar with the Ben 10 television show or not (I fall into the latter category), Alien Force boasts a "new story" and sufficiently fills in enough background info to keep us uninitiated players in the loop. It might not be a loop you’ll admit to friends and loved ones that you’re in, but it will make suffering through this game a bit easier. I had to put "story" in quotes, because what exists here is barely paint-by-numbers Saturday morning cartoon fare. The weak story is amplified further by lazy cutscene work, downright awful voice acting and levels that don’t really seem to match with the scenes that introduce or follow them."