There is so much to see at E3 that some very good and not so flashy booths of games get lost in the shadow of giants. One such booth was D3 Publishing that has brought out some nicely polished fun games this year, one of which is BEN 10 Galactic Racing. This game has a pretty wide appeal since it is based off Cartoon Network’s popular BEN 10 Universe putting characters and their abilities to the test in a kart racing game.
This idea may throw some folks for a moment, kart racing and iconic characters not known for kart racing can be a recipe for disaster (Star Wars Super Bombad Racing anyone?). Luckily this is not one of those cases, just as the Mario universe kart games before it. You get to race as Ben, Kevin or one of 13 aliens in high speed kart racing trips across 5 planets on 25 different tracks. Your main offensive and defensive powers are based off of your chosen character’s abilities in the Ben 10 universe but slightly modified to work in a kart racing environment. Ben changes into his different forms and he does different trademark attacks while still fitting into his kart seat and all participants can do drifts and jump tricks to improve their powerups The game can accommodate up to 4 players and can be great fun to play for fans of the BEN 10 franchise and kart racing in general. It will be available across platforms, with a special exclusive hero Diamondhead on the Nintendo DS, later this fall.
E3 Impressions:
Having gotten a chance to go hands on with this game during E3 I found it to be a whole lot of fun. Some of the karts and some of the gameplay may remind you of another kart game with iconic characters shooting shells at each other and that is just fine. To be compared to the best kart games is a compliment and means that you are keeping good company. Breaking down the game will sound a lot like a review from that most successful kart racing game because what made it good is what makes this one good. The controllers are intuitive, I picked it up and away I went tearing my way through the level. There are multiple race styles that can be implemented and the kart’s game play and mechanics allow for all of them. Are you a really good drifter? You can drift and rack up power that way. Are you one of those people who love to do aerial tricks? Bust them right and get yourself some powerups! Prefer to bump your opponents and blast the ones who make it past you or maybe you like to throw up a shield and go full throttle? The game allows for all of these and every one is smoothly achievable. The game makes picking up the controller and busting your way through the course lots of fun, so much so that while I was demo’ing it a small group started watching and going ” get him get him!” and “nice move!” Admittedly I am no stranger to kart racing, it is my wife’s favorite type of console game and I WILL get this game for her so we can play together, laugh our butts off and have her kick my ass. It is a game that screams “play me!” with a friend.
Back to discussing it though the tracks are also a lot of fun. Based off the BEN 10 universe fans get a chance to see some of the planets and places in a different way. One of the really fun and more difficult tracks was the one that runs around a desolate prison planet with lots of hills and jumps with missing guard rails while high in the air so that a wrong turn, or not noticing you have to turn, will send you flying to your respawn. Respawn is quick and puts you right back into the action and you still have a chance at finishing the game not too badly. The design of the background planets that don’t necessarily effect the play are really good and some tracks even have see through sections so you get a chance to check them out while not losing your lead.
The play system is exceptionally done in the game and the track designs are very creative. The fact is though there are a lot of racing games out there, there doesn’t seem to a whole lot of good kart racing games being produced. But I found BEN 10 Galactic Racing to be one of the good ones. If you like to get the advantage by taking out an enemy in front of you with a blast or slow down the kart drafting off you with some sticky track while still having your drifts and doing kart tricks off of ramps this game is definitely work picking up. All it takes is liking kart racing or the BEN 10 universe to want this game.
