Alien Hominid

"Great shooter that should be known more !"

Have you ever felt the need to control a crazy little yellow alien who kills anyone in his path in a humorous way ? If you do, Alien Hominid is a game for you. Created by Tom Fulp, and drawn by Dan Paladin, this shooter is one of the best I've ever played. I always loved the platform shooting game style, be it like Contra or Gunstar Hero. I remember playing the flash prototype on the Internet in the summer of 2002, and I loved it. When I pre-ordered my copy of the game, I knew I was going to love it too.

STORY : 8/10

The plot of this game is simple enough : You're a little alien traveling in outer space, when suddenly some FBI dude sees you and shoots you down. You fall in the USA, where the FBI steals you spaceship. Here begins a quest to get it back. The story isn't particularly deep or really mind-blowing, but we will all agree that it's practically perfect for this kind of game.

GRAPHICS : 9/10

When I showed the game to some people, a lot of them said things like "Is this game old? The graphics looks kinda bad". But, that's where they were all wrong : The graphics are really great. Most people don't realize how nice and smooth the graphics are when playing the game.. Dan Paladin has the perfect style for this kind of game, it's funny and bloody, even though you can put the gore off : Instead of blood there will be flowers ! There should be more hand-drawn games.

GAMEPLAY : 9/10

The gameplay is what makes this game so enjoyable ! It's speed play, speed play and speed play ! There's almost always something to shoot in the screen, and you better have a good thumb ! I'll tell you one thing : It's a hard game. If you're not really good, you'll play some levels over and over again. It's really gets rough at the 3/4 of the game I'd say. But, there are four levels of difficulty : TS, easy, normal and Hard. TS stand for thumb sucker, so it's easier than easy ! Hard difficulty, unlike many games, is really hard ! But in the end, it's fun and that's what matters.

The controls are pretty simple : I'll explain them : X is for jumping, square is for shooting (holding square will produce a powerful charged shot), circle is for throwing grenade and triangle is for getting into vehicles. You can bury yourself underground by pressing down + triangle, and you can ride some enemies by jumping and pressing X while falling back on them. When you're riding them, you can bite their heads off !

What is fun is that there are many things you can ride : Car, truck, tank, even a giant Sasquatch ! Also, don't think that you'll have the same old gun all game long : There are many power-ups that completely change the weapon ! (Flamethrower, IceThrower, Acid, Plasma Rifle, etc.) You lose you power up after you die : by the way, you die in one hit ! Except when you have a shield : they can block one attack. In all, there are 16 levels, divided in 3 acts. It's also a two player game, so you can have a lot of fun with a friend ! You can also submit you high scores. All mini-bosses and bosses are original, and really cool to fight. Some are so big the camera has to zoom out !

MUSIC : 7/10

The music is all-right for a game like this, but nothing is really something you'll remember. What I can say is that it puts the player in a good mood to run, jump, duck and shoot like a madman !

EXTRAS : 8/10

Alien Hominid features many extras. First of all, there's the hats ! What's cooler than being able to control an alien with a viking hat, a pilot hat or a blond wig ? Hats really are just for aesthetics, but it's fun to see you alien with the hat you've chosen. You can unlock them by destroying certain areas, or passing some levels at a certain difficulty.

Also, there are 5 minigames : Some are better than other, but you can have some fun with them : They are : PDA games (Small platformer), Super Soviet Missile master (which reminds me of Atari), Neutron ball (some kind of basketball or soccer), Pinata Boss (collect the candy while you hit a boss) and Challenge (just kill agents and get points). In the real game, you can save you high score, just like in the arcades !

BAD POINTS :

Although Alien Hominid is a great game, like all games it has his flaws. For example, sometimes there are so much explosions you can't see the enemies and their bullets : That makes some easy deaths. Also, you can experience some slowdowns when there's too much action on the screen. It's all I have to say.

CONCLUSION : 8/10

If I had to recommend you a game, I would not recommend you Half-Life 2, Halo 2, or Metroid Prime 2... I'd say go get Alien Hominid. It sells at a low price (30 bucks) and it's replayability is great, it's a really good time killer. It may be frustrating sometimes, but this game created by The Behemoth is one of the best I've played this year. If you're not sure, rent it first. The cool graphics and extraordinary gameplay really made me love this game.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/28/04