Ben 10: Galactic Racing

Do you love a good old fashioned cart racer game? Then you’re going to love Ben 10: Galactic Racing by Monkey Bar Games. This is as classic as you can get in game design but in that idea, in still manages to capture a lot of the essence that games like this have of fun and relaxed gameplay.

Gameplay

This title is unapologetically a cart racer, through and through; it’s got all the motifs we’ve come to expect. Sharing a very similar ethos to Mario Kart 8 or Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled but perhaps lacked a lot of the polish demonstrated in those titles.

That s not to say that this game doesn’t have its own unique selling point, as it is a game about Ben 10; it shares the abilities he demonstrates in the show i.e. the ability to transform. As you drive through the tracks, you may transform into one of his many alien alter egos who come with their own special abilities that you may utilise throughout the race.

Interestingly, it’s not just Ben that has a selection of power-ups as all playable characters can pick up omni-node power-ups that have lots of different and unique alien-based abilities. Furthermore, there are other characters that can utilise their own special abilities independent of the power ups in an attempt to alter the outcome of the race.

Flavour

Thankfully this games race tracks aren’t just on earth, it takes you to different planets in the Galactic Grand Prix which is a better use of a theme that involves aliens and space. The tracks are all very different in aesthetic but similar in substance, none of them provide any real unique differences or challenge save for some harsher turns here and there with the occasional hazard. Visually they all differ to a satisfying degree, you have ice planets, lava planets, techno planets and everything in between.

The sound design to this is actually quite impressive, every time you hit a power up you here a matrix like noise as it cycles through the options. The characters are all voice acted and the stages all have appropriate sound to match their themes and hazards. All in all, it’s really not a bad little game and a clear amount of effort has been put into it.

Game Modes

As with many cart racers, Ben 10 has not skimped on the game modes and provided us with a veritable selection for our leisure. The Galactic Grand Prix which consists of multiple tracks and allows you to unlock a bunch of new character and trophies, there’s the Short Circuit that is a simple custom prix that lets you select 3 tracks of your choice, Time Trials where you beat times set by other players, Showdown which has more challenging options like elimination style games and Multiplayer that allows for up to four people to play at a time.

Pros:

• Great use of the theme
• fun and intuitive gameplay
• Good Controls

Cons:

• Stages don’t differ in substance much
• Could have thrown an actual story in here quite easily