Alien Hominid HD Review

The Alien Hominid series has been around for a long time. Originally an Adobe Flash title released back in 2002, the first game made its way to consoles a few years later in 2004. Since that initial 2D run-and-gun experience, there have been multiple remakes and a second title called Alien Hominid Invasion that allows you to play multiplayer. I have tried out the multiplayer title before, and I have played other games from developer The Behemoth — including Castle Crashers and the game called Behemoth — so I am looking forward to checking out Alien Hominid HD. This title is sure to be full of fun characters and silly humour.

In the game's intro, we are introduced to the three main characters: first, we have the Alien Hominid (who you are playing as), the Fat Kid, and the FBI — all the agents look the same with their black suits and ties, along with their black sunglasses. Our little alien is minding their own business, flying through space, when he triggers an alarm that the FBI agents have set. An agent who is half asleep launches a missile, causing our alien to crash into a city. While the alien is unconscious, the agents steal the spaceship and haul it away. The alien is furious and will blow up anything in its path to retrieve it. Along with a special Earth citizen referred to as “the Fat Kid”, our alien sets off to reclaim what belongs to them.

There are three different locations: Suburbs, Moscow, and Area 51. Each region has at least five stages to complete, with the final one being a boss fight. Once defeated, you will move on to the next area to challenge. Each location has a very distinct look and different enemies to defeat. Each location has a very distinctive look and different enemies to defeat, such as Urban, which has you running through a city with a multitude of buildings to jump across and destroy with your main foes here are FBI agents. Moscow has you travelling through the snow-covered countryside, with mountains in the background and agents in thick parkas. My favourite thing about the stages in this region is that you will see bears and even a yeti — and you can drive a snowmobile! The final locale is Area 51, which can be very challenging. The stages for this area take place in research facilities where you battle against researchers, machinery, and even other captured creatures.

Just because they all look like clones — I’m thinking Agent Smith from The Matrix — doesn’t mean that they attack you in the same manner. Besides using a regular blaster, they could be armed with flamethrowers, attack from the skies in a helicopter, or throw grenades to blow you up. They will even run in the foreground of the screen, adding a real sense of depth to the stage! If you play with someone else, there is no friendly fire, but the enemies aren't always as lucky as they can take each other out with their vehicles or with a weapon like the flamethrower. I do have to say that it’s super satisfying to see an agent burn his buddy to a crisp with a fireball.

By looking at the vibrant, cartoonish look of Alien Hominid HD, you may think it is more aimed towards a younger audience; that is definitely not the case. Besides the huge amounts of blood and obstacles like saws and wood chippers, it is a surprisingly challenging and chaotic game; the look of it reminded me of the Invader Zim cartoon. There are three difficulty settings: Friendly, which gives you five lives, seven continues, and five grenades; Normal, with five lives, three continues, and only three grenades; or Insane, if you really want to challenge yourself with even less. I am not at that skill level, so I haven’t even checked to see how evil that difficulty is. 35 lives in Friendly mode may sound like a lot, but this is a one-hit-kill type of game. Get shot once, and you are dead.

The one bonus to dying so easily is that if you pick up a type of weapon that you don’t find that useful, you can get rid of it and have your default blaster back. I wasn’t a huge fan of the green weapon, as it was a poison gas type and required you to be close to the enemy. I prefer something that gives me range, like the white orb with three bullets at once, or the red weapon that is like a laser. If you end up getting a Game Over, you will go back to the Main Menu, where you can select the stage that you want to start from. Only the levels that you have played are available to select.

If you want to take a break from the main story, there is an area with multiple minigames to check out, like Pinata Fiesta, Urban Challenge, All You Can Eat, and Missile Master. There are even games that look like they were made for a personal digital assistant (PDA), where you try to clear hundreds of levels by unlocking the exit by jumping on all the different enemies in the stage. There is a leaderboard where your high scores from the Main Story and the Minigames are recorded if you do exceptionally well, so it’s always fun to have the added challenge of trying to beat all the other players and get to the top.

There is so much humour and personality packed into this game. It is goofy and fun to play — plus, you can unlock a variety of hats for your alien! However, it is a challenging game. With our character being taken out by one hit, you will be dying a lot, so it will take muscle memory to learn exactly what needs to be done to successfully clear the area. The fun visuals and catchy music made replaying the stages multiple times still entertaining, and it never felt like a drag.

Alien Hominid HD is a must-play; there is so much here to love. With a great art style and smooth animations, this game is a joy to look at. Every time I played through a stage, I would notice things that I didn’t see before — like a business called MEOW Motors with the slogan “Our engines purr like cute little kitties”, or the Fish Are Like Plants Pet Shop that sells poisonous frogs, and because of that, a sign is posted stating that everything else is dead. This is a game that is pure chaos and is guaranteed to put a smile on your face, especially when you find creative ways to dispatch the enemy, like a wood chipper. It’s oddly satisfying in a grotesque way…