Ben 10: Alien Force – The Definitive Guide
I spent about three weekends messing around with the various Ben 10 games back when they were coming out, and I keep getting asked about this one. The original Ben 10: Alien Force game on Wii and PS2 is decent but pretty barebones. The one people actually mean when they say "Alien Ben 10 Ultimate" is usually Ben 10: Ultimate Alien – Cosmic Destruction, released in 2010 for PS2, PSP, Wii, and DS. It's the most complete of the bunch. The core loop is straightforward platform-fighting. You pick Ben, transform into an alien, beat up the villains, collect keys, unlock the next area. The game follows the Ultimate Alien cartoon storyline with Vilgax and Aggregor as the main threats. Your alien roster includes Heatblast, Grey Matter, Wildmutt, Diamondhead, Stinkfly, Upgrade, Cannonbolt, Big Chill, XLR8, Swampfire, Echo Echo, Humungousaur, Jetray, Spidermonkey, Brainstorm, and Chromastone. That's more aliens than most of the earlier games gave you. The transformation mechanic is where things get interesting. You don't just switch at will. Each alien has a separate health bar, and if it drops to zero, you revert back to human Ben who is genuinely fragile. I ran into a wall on the Chromastone section in the second world where I kept dying because I didn't realize Chromastone's energy blast has a recharge delay. You fire it, miss, and then you're stuck in human form getting pummeled. The workaround is simple: don't spam the charged shot. Fire once, confirm the hit, then move. That tip alone saved me about twenty minutes of frustration.
Moveset basics: light attack is your standard alien combo, heavy attack is the charged strike most aliens share, and the special ability button is unique per alien. The special is usually worth more damage than the regular combo string, so managing that cooldown is kind of the whole game strategy. Double jump is available to most flying or agile aliens. The Omnitrix power meter builds as you fight, and when it's full you can do a transformation into any alien in your roster regardless of the one you're currently using. This is how you chain combos across different aliens mid-fight.
Where to Get the Game
There's no official digital re-release on Steam or modern platforms as far as I know. The physical copies circulate on eBay and Amazon Marketplace, usually going for between twelve and thirty dollars depending on whether you want just the game or the full boxed set with manual. For the Wii version specifically, you can also play it on any Wii or Wii U through backward compatibility. The DS version is standalone and doesn't need anything fancy. If you're looking for emulated versions online, there are ROM sites, but I won't link any. The game isn't controversial or hard to find physically. Just search for "Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Cosmic Destruction" plus your platform and you'll find listings quickly.
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What Actually Makes This Version Different
The earlier Ben 10 games were mostly side-scrolling brawlers with very basic alien abilities. Cosmic Destruction shifts to a more open arena structure in each world. You enter a zone, clear out enemies, find the boss, and move on. It's not truly open world, but the arenas are larger and have verticality. Some sections require a specific alien to progress. Heatblast for fire-based puzzles, Big Chill for freezing water obstacles, Grey Matter for squeezing through small gaps. The game tells you which alien you need roughly ten seconds before the puzzle appears, which is more helpful than most kids' games from that era. The multiplayer mode supports two players splitting the screen. One plays as Ben and the other controls an alien simultaneously. It's rough around the edges – collision detection gets weird when both characters are in the same tight space – but it works well enough for casual play. I had my nephew and I run through the first two worlds in about forty-five minutes. That's how long it takes. The game isn't long by any standard.
The Things Nobody Tells You
The difficulty curve is uneven. Worlds one through three are trivial. World four introduces enemies with armor that requires charged attacks to break, and the boss fights in that section are where most players actually struggle. The Aggregor boss fight has a phasesystem that resets your Omnitrix meter partially between each phase, which catches people off guard. You build up meter thinking you're about to finish him, phase two starts, and you're back to square one. Plan your specials accordingly. Another issue: the DS version is significantly different from the console versions. It's a top-down action game rather than a platform fighter. If someone recommended this to you and you have a DS, you're getting a completely different experience. The console versions are generally considered superior in quality. The PSP version is basically a cutdown of the PS2 version with fewer aliens and simplified movesets. The sound mixing is also a problem on the Wii and PS2 versions. Enemy audio and transformation sound effects compete with each other to the point where you sometimes can't tell if you've been hit. Turn your game audio down slightly and crank the music up if you find yourself missing attacks. It's a strange mix choice from the developers but fixing it in-game is the only real solution.
Bottom Line
This isn't a deep game. It's a solid hour or two of entertainment aimed at the demographic it was built for. The alien roster is the strongest feature, the combat has enough variety to stay fresh across a playthrough, and the puzzle design is better than typical licensed titles. If you're looking for a comprehensive Ben 10 gaming experience and have a Wii, PS2, or DS lying around, it's worth picking up for the price of a lunch. If you want something more substantial, the later Ben 10 games don't really improve on this one either. The franchise's gaming output was always modest.
