Alien Hominid (GameCube) review "Shooting your way out of Earth was never so much fun"

Alien Hominid blasts through your GameCube with a fun run'n'gun action the likes gamers had fun since the Contra days, only this time instead of playing the valiant shirtless Earth hero you play the part of the alien who shoots off any human who dares be in his way to escape Earth. After being shot down from space and crashing on a city, government agents promptly pick up your ship and try to get rid of you. Little did they know you are an alien with an itchy trigger finger and a sharp knife, both which you aren't shy of using against anyone that becomes a threat. You shoot your way of men in black with huge blasters and their tanks trying to annihilate you, as well as gigantic mechanical machines and mutants that await you at the end of each stage. However not all humans are rotten, and there are a few who help out lending a hand in the way of giving away power-ups and such.

The game itself started as a flash game in the site Newsgrounds and it must've done something right, as it has been released in multiple platforms within a year of its release on said site. It is quite easy to see why this would be, the game itself its just so addictive.

Each mission in Alien Hominid consists of four parts, on which are filled with enemies and obstacles for you to shoot your way through. At the end of an entire 4 part mission a custcene awaits and then you begin the next stage consisting of four parts as well to continue the massacre, trying to find your ship anew and escape from being killed by paranoid human soldiers. While most of Alien Hominid's stages are that of mindless shooting, there are also variants within each mission consisting of using vehicles and air combat, which adds variety to gameplay. This combined with its cartoony art style and graphics makes it hard for the player to find the game boring.

The soundtrack rocks on along your reflexes while the little yellow aliens shoot about, keeping its pace along its frantic, chaotic gameplay. While the game is not as hard as one would expect, but its hard enough to keep you on your toes as you die instantly after being hit once. The titular aliens do not have a double jump feature, something I can state would help out immensely, but you can use your gun to keep yourself hovering in the air by shooting downwards and thus, avoiding tricky situations where you could easily lose a life. You can also lob hand grenades which come in limited quantity and use various gun power-ups which you can use to become stronger in battle and laugh out loud on how enemies die with each different gun type. You can also use a knife to slice enemies that get too close as in games like the Metal Slug series.

On the downside the game does indeed become a bit too chaotic. You find yourself shooting relentlessly as you are showered with enemies in some segments of the game. The explosion effects at times make the screen too busy, cluttering it up which leaves you a bit lost on where your character is located while fending off enemy characters left and right. Boss battles, while not as punishing as one might think at first, are also tricky when you try figuring out the pattern to use in taking them down. Once you learn said pattern however, said bosses become quite the pushovers.

While the stages aren't too long, it will feel like an eternity when you first go through them, however its very hard to feel bored when playing this game therefore you are quite ready for more once you make progress and wait to see what comes next. Having a two player co-op only doubles the experience instead of hindering it. After each stage you are graded on how you performed and gain extra lives while accumulating the final score before continuing, something which is very gratifying when facing off a new wave of enemies in the next stage.

The game also features unlimited continues, which in my opinion, makes said extra lives pointless, but its something someone would simply shrug off shooting their way out. Even when you continue, you keep your score instead of being reset, so it makes me feel quite satisfied that I did not wasted all those lives just to start anew on that concept.

Alien Hominid is a great way to kill the time, I found myself smiling at the cartoony carnage and the surprising tidbits added here and there such as driving vehicles and even riding the shoulders of a Yeti-like monster as it carries your little happy alien munching on Russian soldiers along the way. Before I knew it, hours simply flew by and it was only when I stopped continuing the game that I realize I had woken from a trance which left me quite satisfied after playing it. Its just that good.

Community review by CptRetroBlue (February 04, 2019) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.