Ben 10: Power Trip! Review
Fast Facts
Ben 10: Power Trip!
Developer: PHL Collective
Publisher: Outright Games
Website: https://outrightgames.com/games/ben-10-power-trip/
Genre: Adventure, Action
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 7
Release Date: 09/09/2020
Price: £34.99
A code was provided for review purposes.
The Story
The story in Ben 10: Power Trip! sees Ben, Grandpa Max, Gwen on vacation in Strudelbek. After a quick pit-stop in the National Park, a chance encounter occurs. Ben comes face to face with his old nemesis, HEX, who plans on stealing the 4 magical Crystals. He plans to use the power of the crystals to manipulate the real world, summon his rift monsters and cause chaos!
Before Ben can react though, HEX uses his power to banish Ben’s alien form, leaving him helpless! With HEX on the move, Ben must retrieve his forms, and stop HEX before he destroys the world once again
A Whole New World
Instead of a linear adventure like previous outings, Ben 10: Power Trip! sees you exploring the massive open world of Strudelbek. You can explore 9 different regions including a wooded National Park, a frozen mountain, and a bustling city.
Each location has multiple things to discover. This includes side objectives, void rifts, challenge rooms (which remind me actually of the shiny rooms from super Mario sunshine) where once you’ve entered you’re stripped of your alien forms and required to use just Ben’s abilities, adding a little challenge for those who seek it.
Scoot To Fast Travel
Navigation is pretty easy thanks to Ben’s scooter which allows you to traverse across the map quickly early on with a tap of the ZR trigger. There is also fast travel which you can activate at Grandpa Max’s camper van.
I never felt like I needed to fast travel as once you’ve unlocked XLR8, being one of the unique alien forms, he’s the fastest thing on two legs. You will probably never use Ben’s scooter again or the fast travel due to how much fun it is just speed about like Sonic the Hedgehog.
Plus I believe the fast travel takes away from the main focus of Ben 10: Power Trip!. The exploration part of the game is at the forefront of the experience, and fast-travelling will make you miss out on a lot of collectables, and challenges. Thankfully, the pause menu will keep you up-to-date on missed items and side objectives, so it’s always good to check there to see if you’re missing anything in particular, which is handy.
Objectives and Challenges
Each mission in Ben 10: Power Trip! is split between different regions, and once you activate a mission from the pause menu, a mission marker will show you the location you need to get to.
I found that most of the story-based missions boiled down to either talking to an individual or doing a fetch quest which I think is pretty typical in this kind of adventure.
All of the staples are here, such as minor puzzle moments that require certain characters to complete specific actions along with some action sequences and boss fights.
There is even an upgrade system that allows you to earn power dots which you can use in the upgrade screen. You can increase toughness, power and lucky strike. While there’s a lot to fill up with the board, it’s not essential.
Thankfully even after you’ve completed the main story, there is still plenty to do and discover in Strudelbek. You can find challenge rooms, void rifts, trinkets, and vinyls. You can also complete side quests and complete other activities like collecting a certain number of hidden gold monkeys, for example. It takes a fair while to find everything this world has to offer and adds to the replayability factor.
The Power of 6
In Ben 10: Power Trip!, you can unlock, and play as six unique alien forms from the TV show. To choose them, you need to select from your Omnitrix, which you can activate by pressing the L bumper and selecting from a wheel. You also select your favourite alien forms for quick selection by adding them to one of the 3 directions on Switch D-Pad.
Let’s take a brief look at each alien form and its unique playstyles.
Heat Blast
Heat blast can do an extra jump allowing him to reach higher platforms. He also has the ability to shoot fire out of his hands, burning any wooden materials in front of him or enemies. He can also use a range of light, heavy attack combos, and is probably the most useful alien form during any platform heavy sections.
Four Arms
Four arms has the ability to destroy rock doorways with his super punch. He is also the best combat character to take down enemies with thanks to his whirlwind punches which is part of his combo set. He can also grab and push large stones to make platforms for other characters. He can also rip chunks of earth out of the ground and launch it at unsuspecting enemies.
XLR8
XLR8 is the fastest character in the game and can use super speed, which allows him to run extremely fast, indefinitely. He also has the ability to grind blue rails, allowing you to get around obstacles more easily.
Rath
Rath can use his super roar which puts him into a rage state allowing him to cause extra damage in battles. He can also grab ledges, jump from poles and swing on beams allowing him access to areas that other characters can’t access. He can even sniff out, track odours and dig at certain locations to discover items or switches.
Shock Rock
Shock Rock can use his grapple ability to latch on to electrical grapple points and pull himself towards them. He can also do the same to his enemies allowing him to drag them closer. He can also charge up and disrupt electrical boxes with his overload power and has the ability to created 3 types of different melee weapons in combat including a bat, hammer and spoon.
Diamondhead
Diamondhead can use his diamond surf which allows him to generate a diamond path across long distances. He can also create a diamond shield that can protect him from damage and rebound incoming shots.
Each character is used throughout the adventure equally. The only con here is there are so many forms Ben can use in the TV shows that don’t make an appearance. It’s a shame they didn’t add in few more forms from previous games, as well as expanding the alien roster little more. I feel they could have added in another couple of forms and had them available to use in side quests, and challenges which could have added in a little extra favour for fans.
Local Co-op
The game also comes with a fun local multiplayer option for 2 players. This mode allows you to play the game in co-op with an extra character called Kevin. Kevin has all the same abilities as Ben with the only difference being that Kevon’s alien forms have different appearances.
It’s more fun to explore with a friend. The only issue is you can’t stray too far from each other otherwise you’ll be warped back to Player 1. There are extra challenges to complete around the world in two-player mode, which is a welcome addition.
Issues
Areas do have items and characters populating them, but some areas, especially in the city, are pretty lifeless with no cars or anything around. You can generally hear noises, but nothing is making them. Small areas and missions have some life to them, but when you’re free-roaming about sometimes, you wonder where everyone is as streets are empty.
Also, I wish there were more alien forms to play as. Other Ben 10 games we have on the Switch has 10 forms, and I think they should have added more for extra fanfare. Not having additional forms to play as when exploring the whole map, was a missed opportunity.
Graphics and Sounds
Graphics in Ben 10: Power Trip! look decent enough, but there’s a slight foggy effect in play when looking into the distance. The game is mostly stable, but lag can occur when there are several enemies on the screen at once.
Also, when you’re playing as the fast LXR8 alien form, the game sometimes can’t hide its loading times. Details are a little burry in the environment edges. Apart from a few hiccups, the game ran fairly well, and I didn’t experience any crashes whatsoever. The alien models look good.
The game also features voice acting. Music is your typical cartoon affair with a lot of cheerful tunes, and as mentioned before, the game also features voice acting for aliens when idol, and during in-game cut-scenes.
The Verdict
Ben 10: Power Trip! is a fun adventure game that is clearly focused on a more free-roam ideal than past games. The six alien forms are fun to play around with, but I wish there had of been a few more available. Story mode didn’t take me long, but the side challenges and collectables will take a long while to 100% game entirely, and that’s where the replayability lays. Throw in the local two-player co-op multiplayer mode which allows parents to play with their kids, and you’ve got a decent adventure for a younger audience and people who enjoy the Ben 10 universe.
Rapid Reviews Rating
You can purchase Ben 10: Power Trip! from the Nintendo eShop.
