''Ben There, Dan That!'' is a point and click adventure game developed by

Zombie Cow Studios Size Five Games (formerly Zombie Cow Studios) is a British independent video game developer founded by Dan Marshall in 2008. Dan Marshall's previous games, ''Gibbage'' and ''Cruxade'' were retroactively brought under the Zombie Cow banner upon it ...

(now known as Size Five Games). It is freeware and was released on July 14, 2008 for Windows. The game was positively received by critics, who enjoyed the game's humor but criticized its short length and lack of music. Two sequels have been released: '' Time Gentlemen, Please!'' in 2009 and '' Lair of the Clockwork God'' in 2020.

Gameplay

The game puts players in control of two characters named Ben and Dan, styled after the game's creators. They must complete inventory-based puzzles in order to unlock doors to various dimensions aboard an alien spaceship and return home. Players can swap between the characters in order to have them work together.

Plot

The game begins in a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

flat, where the roommates Ben and Dan are unable to get television reception to watch ''

Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980, to May 1, 1988, during its first-run broadcast on ...

'', having broke their antenna in a previous adventure. Their attempt to assemble a replacement results in an inadvertent alien abduction. Trapped on the alien spaceship, they realize that the only way to return home is by opening doors to various universes and finding the key to the next door from within that universe. These include

Zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

London,

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

London, and a London which has become the

51st State "51st state" is a phrase used in the United States of America to refer to the idea of adding an additional state to the current 50-state Union. Proposals for a 51st state may include granting statehood to one of the U.S. territories or Washing ...

. At the end of the game, they realize that the spaceship was actually just a fake and that it is located in a warehouse. It was a trick created by their time-traveling future selves, who had disguised themselves as aliens, to keep them from interrupting their plans for world domination.

Development

The game was designed by Dan Marshall and Ben Ward. They were roommates at the time of the game's development, with the game being designed in a pub.

Reception

Jim Squires of

Gamezebo ''Gamezebo'' (sometimes stylized ''GameZebo'') is a website which reports on and reviews video games. Founded in 2005 by Joel Brodie, it was billed as the first website to solely cover casual games and expanded its scope to social games in 20 ...

rated the game 4/5 stars, calling the dialogue "brilliantly written" and saying that it "keep you laughing the whole time". He criticized the lack of puzzle difficulty, as well as its short length and lack of music. He called the writing "distinctly British" and said that despite being inspired by family-friendly games, the game was "best left to adults" due to its "racy" humor. Luke Jensen of

Adventure Gamers ''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1999 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game de ...

called the game "unique and hilarious". Stuart Houghton of

Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...

said the game was "heavily inspired by classic Lucasarts SCUMM games" and called the graphics "primitive", but recommended the game.

References

{{Size Five Games 2008 video games Freeware games Parody video games Point-and-click adventure games Single-player video games Size Five Games games Video games about alien abduction Video games about parallel universes Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in London Windows games Windows-only games