Got children who love the Ben 10 cartoons? They’re likely to be excited about a new mobile game called Ben 10 Slammers, released this week by Cartoon Network.

It takes the sci-fi kids’ cartoon and turns it into a card-battling game, where children collect a deck of virtual cards of aliens and characters, then send them into battle with other players.

In this case, those battles can be single-player, in a story mode with 24 virtual opponents to compete against, or multiplayer, competing against friends and other players over the internet.

The battles involve defeating an opponent by knocking out all three of their characters – ‘slammers’ – by attacking them with your own characters, and using ‘support’ cards with special powers. Card-battlers have been very popular with adults on smartphones and tablets, but this is one of the most high-profile attempts yet to bring the genre to children.

Aliens from the Ben 10 universe included at launch include Bloxx, Feedback, Heatblast, Kickin’ Hawk, Ball Weevil and Four Arms, each with their own special abilities and attacks. More characters are promised to be added in the coming months.

It’s important to know that like adult card-battler games, Ben 10 Slammers uses in-app purchases. Kids can unlock new slammers by spending virtual credits, which can be earned by winning battles, or bought using real money.

The in-app store sells 100 credits for £0.69, 300 credits for £1.49, 800 credits for £2.49 and 2,500 credits for £6.99, with no amounts above that available. That’s a good sign: we’ve expressed our concern in the past about children’s games selling virtual items in quantities as high as £69.99. Three characters are available to play for free, with 10 more able to be unlocked for a total of 580 credits, as a guide.

Ben 10 Slammers costs £0.69 / $0.99 for iPhone and iPad on Apple’s App Store, although that’s a half-price launch promotion, so it’ll go up at some point.