Game Reviews: Cartoon Network Game Creators

Recently, my kid brother and I started playing with Cartoon Network's so-called Game Creators. (Note that the preceding link links to all three "game creators" and the links will be interrupted by "leaving this site" type warnings.)

There are three of these, a Ben 10 game, a Batman: The Brave and the Bold game, and a Star Wars: The Clone Wars game. I say "game" because what these actually are is a set of games with what are essentially level editors and no default level designs.

I think I like the Ben 10 game the best, possibly because I have no emotional attachment to anything in it (I do, on the other hand, have at least a mild attachment to Batman and Yoda), but more probably because the game has the most internal variety between its characters, both in terms of design and abilities.

The Ben 10 and Batman games have the same basic structure: A level no larger than one game screen, which is a fairly typical platform-jumping game. Most of the components of the two games other than the controllable characters have only cosmetic differences from each other, though there are also a few significant differences.

The real caveat is that if you're just playing rather than creating, there aren't a lot of particularly creative level designs. While the one above is quite well-constructed, a lot of them attempt to create difficulty or interest through what I've come to call feature spam; in the below case, enemy spam.

The problem with enemy spam is that it slows the game down. That, and it's either shockingly easy or a tremendous pain, depending on both the rest of the level and on the character. The above, for instance, features the character Swampfire, who is all but unassailable thanks to his powerful flamethrowing attack.

This, despite the fact that a single minor contact with any enemy or projectile would instantly kill him. It takes an attack from an unexpected angle to harm this guy.

The titles for the games are... well, they're word salad titles, because you can only pick from preselected words. I found this one particularly amusing.

The Ben 10 games grant diverse abilities which are generally interesting, while the Batman games grant a special property and more generic attacks. For instance, Aquaman can breathe underwater. (Duh.)

The above level, by the way, is horribly constructed, because Aquaman can just swim past all the enemies unharmed and reach the gate. I think a lot of the kids making these games don't understand how to set the game's goal properly.

This game is differentiated by each character's ability to change into Batman, who isn't as powerful but can jump upwards indefinitely with his grappling hook. Also, there are powerups that grant "power attacks" and temporary invulnerability. However, the levels often suffer from much the same problems as the Ben 10 ones.

The Batman and Star Wars game creators have a "game chain" feature that apparently lets you string together multiple levels, though I haven't investigated this much. I don't know why the Ben 10 game lacks it.

The Star Wars game is very different from the other two-it's a top-down game, the character has hitpoints, and you can have the character independently or riding in a vehicle. Each character has a "power attack" which can be used in limited amounts. Yoda has an awesome power attack that destroys almost everything en mass.

This game has a rather fun basebuilding aspect to it, but unfortunately, it's just not quite as fun to play for me.

Overall, all three of these level editors are interesting and bear some investigation if you like games, and if you like the characters, it couldn't hurt.

-Signing off.