Alien Hominid HD Review

By Kristan Reed Published 28 February, 2007

I've got blisters on my fingers...

Version tested: Xbox 360

Now this is what Xbox Live Arcade should be about: quirky, overlooked gems that give you RSI and let you bite the heads off FBI agents. And then rewards you with unlockable hats.

However tempting Alien Hominid's crazed cartoonish charms and old school Metal Slug gameplay seemed back in 2005, it wasn't a game many of you felt compelled to go out and buy at full price. As people were fond of pointing out repeatedly: "but it's a Flash game". Yes. Yes it was, but it was also a game with the kind of instant off-the-wall appeal that's sadly lacking in most of today's big budget epics. Sometimes all you want to do is move a little green man from left to right and make the fire button beg for mercy.

And like any self-respecting little green man who has crashed landed on Earth, you're armed, dangerous and determined to get your ship back, presumably so you can abduct simple redneck country folk late at night. But before you can get back to business, you've basically got to go on a massive killing spree and take down endless FBI agents, tanks, feisty creatures and big stompy robots. As you would.

Slug it out

'Alien Hominid HD' Screenshot 1

I was shocked by the power.

And like any self-respecting Metal Slug wannabe, Alien Hominid does a nice line in high powered weaponry, fancy explosions and screen filling boss encounters to make the cartoon pyrotechnics as pleasant on the eye as possible. To begin with, of course, you have the most generic pop gun imaginable. You can fire up, left and right, jump up and fire down or lob a grenade, but by destroying buildings or being nice to children (I jest not) you can temporarily arm yourself with high powered futuristic weaponry. The type of firearms that would make you a hit at barbecues; capable of slicing, roasting and even freezing, and the type that firmly encourage you to pummel the fire buttons until your fingers are bloodied stumps.

Yet as perfect as Alien Hominid is for the quick thrills required from an Xbox Live Arcade game, it's an easy game to thoroughly dislike for its detestable tendency to kill you off every three seconds. It's One Hit Kill City, and you're the mayor, and we wouldn't blame you at all for throwing the pad down in a sulk the moment you come across the game's first mini boss. In fact Kieron ranted on incredulously in the original review for fully four paragraphs about how unjust these sequences tend to be. And they are. It's true, you can't really play Alien Hominid like a normal, sane videogame where you get an energy bar and you actually have time to get out of the way of enemies. Somehow, though, this unrelenting brutality makes it all the more satisfying when you do crack it.

Having just romped through all sixteen levels (the same featured in the original game), the thing that strikes you is it's nowhere near as stupidly hard as it first appears to be. After you've worked out an enemy's predictable attack pattern, and trained yourself how to actually get out of the way of bullets and imminent danger, you start having a lot more fun in the process. Of course, when you meet a new type of enemy or yet another boss, the chances are you'll get killed repeatedly - but, crucially, it's not a game that ever takes very long to figure out. And besides - if you really are getting an utter kicking, the game offers three difficulty settings and the ability to start on the last level you reached. Played on Easy, even mere mortals can have a lot of fun with this game. For 800 points, it's easily worth the money.

Block party

'Alien Hominid HD' Screenshot 2

In case you were in any doubt, aim for the head.

The various minigames and multiplayer modes are pretty good fun, too, if a little throwaway. The PDA minigame, for example, manage to turn on the retro charm with an exhausting number of simple 2D platform levels. Deliberately designed to feature the most basic (but loveable) stick-men graphics ever seen, you simply have to jump on the heads of enemies in order to progress. Elsewhere, the retro styling gets even more primitive with the Missile Master minigame, where the idea is to repeatedly guide a hilariously blocky cruise missile across a scrolling landscape to the United States of America. It's certainly one of the stranger games you'll ever compete for a worldwide high score for.

Various other flimsy minigames also now have international leaderboards to compete for - including score attack segments of the main game where you're tasked with staying alive as long as possible. There's also a button mashing frenzy called 'All You Can Eat' where up to four players (local or online) have to bash X and A to fill up a bar. After a single session your fingers will be so worn out you'll almost certainly need a rest, and possibly a new pad. The ball-throwing Neutron Ball offers little of interest, though, but there's always the offline 'jump in anytime' two-player co-op to go back to if you've got a pal nearby.

If Alien Hominid is destined to leave any lasting legacy, it will almost certainly be on your carpal tunnels. Few games of late have required such a concerted dedication to pure blasting, and few have ever provided such a visual feast, either. Earlier this year, the latter levels of Heavy Weapon certainly reignited our bug-eyed appreciation for rapid fire thrills, and this is even better way to ruin a joypad. After a stop-start year so far for Xbox Live Arcade, this is a welcome inclusion, and well worth checking out. For the price, it'd be rude not to.

Just remember to brave that pain barrier...

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Yossarian #1 5 years ago

    Beatles reference?

  • Arganoid #2 5 years ago

    Bought the PS2 version recently. Was painfully frustrating and not much fun.

  • #3 5 years ago

    As good as Halo, le awesome!

    What?

  • krudster #4 5 years ago

    That gag never gets old does it?

    Oh.

  • jonsaan #5 5 years ago

    I know I am going to buy this. I also know I will waste the remaining points on something that's totally not worth the money. Oh well.

  • #6 5 years ago

    Older even than Rofl Harris.

    Personally, 800 points sounds like a bargain for AH, I always wanted to try it and now, just might!

  • DUFFKING #7 5 years ago

    /buy

  • #8 5 years ago

    /gags

  • Huntcjna #9 5 years ago

    I love my signed special edition EG version of the xbox release but not enough to pay 800 points so I don't have to open the box.

  • Overlush #10 5 years ago

    Wow. You kept your toys in their packaging, didn't you ;)

  • Grim... #11 5 years ago

    8/10?

    You jest, surely?

  • lambtron #12 5 years ago

    "That gag never gets old does it?

    Oh."

    If you guys had just got the review right in the first place it would never have come to be. Same as with "t3h r34l n3xt g3n!!!!: - you only have yourselves to blame ;).

  • #13 5 years ago

    Too right lambtron, they should have got the review right in the first place, 8/10 is far too high (for Halo).

    /straight face

  • #14 5 years ago

    /straight face cracks

    heh

  • SBfistfun #15 5 years ago

    Can these Hominid's give you teh gaids?

  • retr0gamer #16 5 years ago

    Have this on the Gamecube and thought it was horrid. It may be an indie game but that doesn't excuse it for being terrible. Get Metal Slug, shattered soldier, gunstar heroes or Contra 3 instead.

  • Xerx3s #17 5 years ago

    Anyone up for some 4p coop tonight? Should be a blast. \0/

    Now if I could only beat that jetpack mofo in level 1.2 without dying a gazillion times by falling off the cars.....

  • krudster #18 5 years ago

    Happiness is, indeed, a warm gun.

  • BravoGolf #19 5 years ago

    So is this co-op offline only?

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #20 5 years ago

    I tired the flash version, and was tryly sick of it in about 30 seconds. Metal slug is fun, this isn't.

  • Vroom #21 5 years ago

    Surely not. I believe XBLA games are required to have online multi if any..

  • woodnotes #22 5 years ago

    This game is awesome. Everyone buy it now.

    Friggin love it, bargain for 800 points - and to top it off the PDA levels remind me of my C64 days :) And there's LOADS of em!

  • spongebob #23 5 years ago

    Metal slug is fun, this isn't.

    Exactly. This is a game you want to love, but in the end it's impossible. It looks great, sounds great and plays great, but it's just too hard.

  • Xerx3s #24 5 years ago

    Seriously, contra & co is a bit overhyped. It's nice but not that good. MS is much better. I would rate this worse than MS but still good fun.

  • ChrisBen #25 5 years ago

    I'd like to see more of this. Niche titles being released in a cheap-as-chips fashion. Sometimes, publishers/developers need to swallow their pride and realise that selling loads at budget prices is often more financially viable in the long run than selling next to nothing at full prices. Not every game can command a market-clearing £50 RRP. Viva Pinata is heavy in my thoughts as I type this. How successful could it have been had Microsoft accepted it wasn't going to do much business at premium prices?

  • DUFFKING #26 5 years ago

    Actually Vroom! the full game is far, far more fun and fair.

    I hated the flash,.

  • krudster #27 5 years ago

    It's *really* not as hard as people are making out. Maybe the widescreen aspect ratio helps - you've got more time to see the bullets coming.

    The co-op is offline only, btw, but some of the mini games are online.
    Edited by 1 at 28/02/07 @ 19:46

  • Grim... #28 5 years ago

    £7.50 isn't 'cheap as chips'.
    £2 is a fairer price for a game with practically zero overheads.

  • repairmanjack #29 5 years ago

    It's too chuffing hard!

    And how is it an 8/10 now but a 5 or 6/10 a year ago?

    XBLA is starting to pick up, quality-wise, it seems - but I had absolutely no fun with this.

    Worms, please.

  • smelly #30 5 years ago

    >a game with practically zero overheads.


    Uh?

  • the_dudefather #31 5 years ago

    @ chrisben
    agreed, the perfect example of this is bomberman zero, Hudson could have made a simple XBLA version of bomberman (snes style) with online and offline multiplayer and it would have been the greatest thing ever, but instead, they try to make a 'proper game' which failed miserably.

  • retr0gamer #32 5 years ago

    I found Alien Hominid to be really easy. Beat it on my first go.

  • Xerx3s #33 5 years ago

    The co-op is offline only, btw, but some of the mini games are online.

    Bugger. I was sure that I saw this somewhere. :(

    £2 is a fairer price for a game with practically zero overheads.

    Yeh because buildings grow on three's for free and staff doesn't need moneys (much like EG staff then ;p). They can rip all tools from mininova.

  • GWH #34 5 years ago

    It's *really* not as hard as people are making out.

    My gripe with the PS2 version wasn't so much that it's hard, but that it was *unfair*. Huge explosions hiding enemies, lightning-fast attacks and bullets that were near-impossible to detect being fired unpredictibly meant I was always having to second-guess when to jump or what part of the screen would be safe. It's just not *fun*. Something which isn't helped by the multitudes of bosses with simple attack patterns but massive health bars and 16 (16!) levels of lots of filler. Whatever happened to playing a shoot-'em-up from start to finish in one go?
    Edited by 1 at 28/02/07 @ 20:17

  • morriss #35 5 years ago

    "Beatles reference?"

    Yes. I believe Lennon says it at the end of Revolution.

  • morriss #36 5 years ago

    "Happiness is, indeed, a warm gun."

    Bang, Bang, choo, choo.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #37 5 years ago

    Played the trial. I'm not sure. I like the art style, I like the irrefutable influences of Metal Slug (because I LOVE Metal Slug) but it somehow does not cut it. I expected a lot more. Plus I hate the xbox controller for such games and as nice as button mashing might be in the arcades it's just no fun on a home console. Luckily Metal Slug for the Wii (which I have preordered) comes with an autoshoot option.

    As for the difficulty, it's not too difficult in general but there are a couple of things that make it indeed more unfair than difficult. First of all the art style, great as it might be, does more harm than it does good. Bullets are hard to see which is even worse because there is no clear sign when an enemy shoots high or low. I might get used to this in a while but stuff like this usually gets worse in the higher levels. Enemies dropping from above killing me just by landing near me are also no fun. The last boss in the trial also jumps really high so I don't see myself yet there are enemies running around down there? Not that the boss hits me when dropping, no, an agent does which I was not able to see for the last 10 seconds.

    It all plays like a very, very flawed Metal Slug. Metal Slug never is unfair in any way yet can be really difficult at times but I never have the impression it's unmanageable or anything, when I die I always know what I did wrong. With this game I don't even know that. Also only one level does not help either. If there are indeed 16 levels, how much harm would it do to include 2 or 3 missions in the trial? I maybe get accustomed to Alian Hominid's quirks and might actually find it worth 800 points but the single mission just leaves me with a bad taste.

    I'm quite disappointed, I really wanted this to be good.

  • Xerx3s #38 5 years ago

    Weee! \0/

    Achieved the rank of 37 in Urban Challenge whilst drinking tea with one hand and bashing the joypad with the other.

  • DanMW #39 5 years ago

    Downloaded the trial, played for 10 minutes. Good game but I'm not paying 800 points (£7) for it. For 400 I might have. I'll save my points for other more appealing (to me) games.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #40 5 years ago

    Just realised I blew my last points all on the Viva Pinata accessories. I'm a sucker :(

  • in5ane #41 5 years ago

    This is twice the price it should be.

    I'm increasingly shying away from these sorts of purchases, what with 'micro' payments going on the 360, PS3 and Wii now. And what do I have to show for it? No product I can sell on in a few years, no boxes to add to my game collection and lovingly stare at... I'm slowly spending a fortune on digital content that is guaranteed not to work in the future at some point.

  • convercide #42 5 years ago

    Alien Hominid is not an 8/10 game. It is horrific. Comparing it to Metal Slug is like saying Daikatana is on par with Doom. Both were first person shooters but the latter came out earlier and was far better. It's just not fun.

    As iterated before: Worms please. And Castlevania:SOTN.

  • DanMW #43 5 years ago

    convercide wrote:

    "As iterated before: Worms please. And Castlevania:SOTN."

    Yes please. And space giraffe, quick.

  • Xerx3s #44 5 years ago

    Lol at the people giving this a 1. I wonder how many of those even dl'ed the demo.

  • Farcabio #45 5 years ago

    "I got blisters on my fingers!" Ringo shouts it at the end of Helter Skelter.

  • guvner #46 5 years ago

    I deleted the demo after 10 minutes. I do however feel I gave it a decent go, since in that time I died approximately 89,597 times, which is usually enough to have formed an opinion on a game.

    I simply had zero fun with it; wouldn't even buy it for 400 points, and this from someone who has recently played through all Metal Slug episodes on PSP several times over, and loved the challenge. As others have said, Alien Hominid seems simply unfair rather than challenging.

    "It's *really* not as hard as people are making out. Maybe the widescreen aspect ratio helps - you've got more time to see the bullets coming."

    Yes, it helped me a lot I must admit. I'd stay alive for five seconds each life, as opposed to four seconds.

  • HenryMancini #47 5 years ago

    @Farcabio: dam you're right! I had always assumed it was George who yelled that (well, it would make my fingers bleed to play it) but Wikipeia says you're correct...

    Anyways up: AH, excellent fun!

  • morriss #48 5 years ago

    "I got blisters on my fingers!" Ringo shouts it at the end of Helter Skelter.

    I could've sworn it was Lennon.
    Edited by 1 at 01/03/07 @ 00:09

  • krudster #49 5 years ago

    Definitely Ringo.

  • Caimbeul #50 5 years ago

    Bought the PS2 version and it sucks. Cant see whats going on on screen and collision detection is awful. Demo it first if you are intent on trying it.

  • Darren #51 5 years ago

    I downloaded this last night... love the graphical style and presentation but I'm afraid I found the game as dull as proverbial dishwater, fighting hundreds of the same dumb enemies separated by various, marginally more interesting boss fights.

    These kinds of games were great stuff back in the late 80s/early 90s - I used to love 'em on the Amiga, particularly the Turrican series and the then-awesome S.W.I.V. - but these days side-scrolling shooters are just soooooooooooo repetitive and boring in my opinion that I actually felt my eyelids drooping while I was playing it.

    Sorry!

  • ElChuncho #52 5 years ago

    8 out of 10 for this rubbish? Why do people love this awful game?

  • QJ #53 5 years ago

    I wanted to like it but just couldn't, found it to be utter tosh I'm afraid.

    @Darren
    Turrican and SWIV are so much better than this it just isn't funny - and still are fun to play today, unlike this abomination which I struggle to see how its garnered such high praise!

  • Hypocee #54 5 years ago

    I've got a huge soft spot for The Behemoth and AH. I'd say the head-jumping animation alone is worth 200 points

    ...but yeah, I couldn't consider it an 8/10 game at any price point, and at 800 points specialists only need apply.

  • bloodflowers #55 5 years ago

    Too hard for all the wrong reasons, and a visual mess - great if you were passively watching, horrible for interaction. Metal Slug does it better (and allegedly is coming to XBLA anyway)