Ben 10: Alien Attack
How to Play
Game Overview
So I finally got around to playing Ben 10: Alien Attack, and honestly it's a lot more fun than I expected for a licensed game. The whole premise is that an alien armada has captured your friends, and you're racing around Earth levels trying to free them. It feels like a beat-em-up with some light puzzle elements, not super deep but satisfying in short bursts. The visual style is bright and cartoony, very much like the show -- lots of neon colors and blocky environments that look like they're ripped straight from a Saturday morning cartoon. You play as Ben, switching between aliens using the Omnitrix, which is the main gimmick. Heatblast lets you set stuff on fire, XLR8 is stupid fast, and Four Arms just punches everything. Each alien has a specific use, so you're constantly swapping to solve these environmental puzzles or deal with enemy types. The game doesn't hold your hand much, which I actually liked -- some levels you'll just get stuck until you realize you need a certain alien for a switch or a platform. The vibe is chaotic but not stressful, more like a toybox to mess around in. Who would get hooked? Kids who love the show obviously, but also anyone who enjoys simple arcade action with a bit of variety. The combat isn't super deep -- you mostly mash attack buttons and dodge -- but the alien switching keeps it from getting boring. I'd say if you have 20 minutes to kill and want something colorful and loud, this scratches that itch. The boss fights are actually pretty creative, each one needing a different alien's power to beat, which forces you to learn all ten instead of just sticking with one.
About Ben 10: Alien Attack
So you're Ben, and the Omnitrix is screaming at you. The game throws you straight into it with a tutorial level called "City Under Siege" where Vilgax's drones are everywhere. Right off the bat, you're switching between Four Arms for smashing through barriers and Heatblast for torching those flying saucers that hover too close. The basic loop is: punch things, switch aliens when the game forces you to, and collect those little energy orbs that drop from enemies to refill your health. It's a side-scrolling beat 'em up with a 3D twist -- you can move back and forth between two depth planes, which actually matters when those laser towers show up.
About halfway through, the difficulty spikes hard. Levels like "The Null Void Prison" introduce these timed pressure plates that lock doors unless you stand on them as Upgrade -- who can merge with machinery and keep the plate pressed while also hacking a terminal. Meanwhile, Ghostfreak's phasing lets you slip through electrified floors that'd melt anyone else. The game expects you to remember which alien does what without hand-holding by this point. There's a boss fight against a giant tentacle monster called "The Kraken" where you need Diamondhead to reflect its eye beams back at it, then switch to XLR8 to dodge its sweep attacks. It's frantic in a good way.
Later levels like "Mount Weather" add environmental hazards like shifting platforms and wind gusts that mess with your jumps. That's when Wildvine's grappling arms become essential -- you can swing across gaps while avoiding those homing missiles. The combat gets deeper too. You unlock combo chains for each alien after clearing certain arenas. Four Arms gets a ground pound that stuns everything, Heatblast learns a meteor shower that hits the whole screen. These upgrades are tied to collectible "Omnitrix Cores" hidden in the levels, which encourages replaying stages to find them all.
What feels satisfying is pulling off a perfect switch mid-combo -- like starting with Stinkfly's goo attack to slow enemies, then swapping to Cannonbolt mid-air and rolling through the whole crowd. The game has a rhythm to it once you get past the chaos. There are also these "Alien Rush" bonus stages where you only control one alien against endless waves for a score attack. My personal favorite is the XLR8 stage where you're literally running on walls and ceilings to collect rings while dodging lasers. It's dumb fun 🔍.
The final level "The Omnitrix Core" is a gauntlet of every mechanic the game taught you -- timed switches, enemy types like the shielded Techadons, and a multi-phase Vilgax fight where you cycle through all ten aliens. It's exhausting but rewarding. No neat wrap-up -- just a credits roll and a new game plus that lets you keep your upgrades.
Tips & Tricks
- **Ben 10: Alien Attack Tips & Tricks**
When you first start, it's easy to stick with Heatblast because he's flashy, but XLR8 is your best friend for early levels. I wasted a lot of time fighting enemies I could have just outrun to grab a switch or rescue an ally. The speed boost isn't just for combat--use it to zip between objectives during timed sections, which caught me off guard the first time.
One trick that saved me on the boss fights: upgrade Cannonbolt's roll attack first. His armor piercing lets you break through shields that other aliens just bounce off of. I kept trying to brute force those fights and kept dying until I swapped.
The puzzle sections with the environment aren't as hard as they look. That glowing platform that seems out of reach? Upgrade Upgrade's laser to shoot it from a distance--I spent five minutes trying to jump there before realizing that. Also, don't ignore the combo system. Chaining attacks with Diamondhead's shards into Wildvine's snare stuns big groups, and that's way more effective than button mashing 🔍.
A mistake I made repeatedly: forgetting to check your energy meter for each alien. They drain fast when you spam specials, and getting stuck as a weak form mid-battle is brutal. Swap early, not when you're about to die. Finally, in the underwater level, Four Arms is useless--stick to Ripjaws for mobility. That lesson cost me three retries.
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