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22 December 2023
Player One: Staff Member #716
If you’ve read maybe two or more editions of this column, you know I love to prattle on about old school games. Hardly a month goes by in which I don’t mention some old Sega Genesis game, or wax nostalgic about how game design was a simpler science in days past, or use terms like \"2-D\", \"side-scrolling\", or \"Contra\". So to find a modern game that actually plays like some of the classics of way back when, but with the sharpest, clearest hand-drawn graphics current technology will allow, feels like a second Christmas to me.
I don’t think it’s a big secret that Alien Hominid [AH] isn’t going to sell well, though. Probably 90% of the video game-buying public scoffs at the idea of a two-dimensional game out of principle, while the remainder is divided into two groups: people who have never heard of AH, or worse, AH fans who figure the PS2 version is the same thing as the Flash game they’ve been playing on Newgrounds for free. If you’re a member of either of these groups, shame on you.
If you have played the Flash game, think of it as a demo for the full version. Pretty much everything that could be improved about the game was covered: now it’s longer, has upgradeable weapons, adorable 2-D vehicles to commandeer, and two-player cooperative play (more games need co-op)-- not to mention it’s a hell of a lot easier to control your character with a PlayStation controller than with a computer keyboard. Plus, the PS2 incarnation of AH has so many distinctly memorable sequences that are unlike anything else in the game, such as riding a giant yeti the size of your TV screen, or dropping enemies into a woodchipper with your flying saucer’s tractor beam.
After reviewing three games from Electronic Arts alone in the past five months, it’s really refreshing to find a damn good game from an independent upstart developer. It really illustrates what I love about video games when just a handful of people with a passion for what they’re doing can produce something exponentially more fun and original than some big-budget mainstream turd. Big ups go out to Tom Fulp, Dan Paladin, and the 16 other people listed in the credits of this game.
And as for you, the reader: play Alien Hominid. Tell all your friends about it. Support the independent video game industry. And, with any luck, Bork and I will be reviewing Rag Doll Kung Fu in a few months.
Player Two: Das Bork
Me and the Colonel (you know, from KFC) sat down and played this until our thumbs bled, mandingo! What fun it is to once again play an animated side-scroller. I couldn’t help feelin’ like I was playing Earthworm Jim again.
So what is it about this game that makes it so much fun? Besides playing the game with a KFC zombie icon, you play as an alien that has crash-landed on planet Earth, and the FBI is out to get you. So what should a cute alien such as yourself do? Kill the humans!!! That\'s right, pull out that laser gun and blast away in a bloody rampage against humans and robots. Some of these robot bosses are out of this world. Remember when you had to memorize bosses\' fighting patterns to defeat them? Well, that shit is back! It makes it difficult, because I am so used to 3-D games where you can pretty much dominate with mindless ease.
The game is short, but it won me over so much that it deserved multiple plays. (Try this game on the hard setting... ain’t too easy now, eh?)
The game doesn’t cost much, so it is a good buy for old schoolers and fans of the Flash game. Oh, gotta go! The Colonel just barfed in my kitchen because I fed him some sausage instead of chicken.
I can’t believe I just said that.
If you’ve read maybe two or more editions of this column, you know I love to prattle on about old school games. Hardly a month goes by in which I don’t mention some old Sega Genesis game, or wax nostalgic about how game design was a simpler science in days past, or use terms like \"2-D\", \"side-scrolling\", or \"Contra\". So to find a modern game that actually plays like some of the classics of way back when, but with the sharpest, clearest hand-drawn graphics current technology will allow, feels like a second Christmas to me.
I don’t think it’s a big secret that Alien Hominid [AH] isn’t going to sell well, though. Probably 90% of the video game-buying public scoffs at the idea of a two-dimensional game out of principle, while the remainder is divided into two groups: people who have never heard of AH, or worse, AH fans who figure the PS2 version is the same thing as the Flash game they’ve been playing on Newgrounds for free. If you’re a member of either of these groups, shame on you.
If you have played the Flash game, think of it as a demo for the full version. Pretty much everything that could be improved about the game was covered: now it’s longer, has upgradeable weapons, adorable 2-D vehicles to commandeer, and two-player cooperative play (more games need co-op)-- not to mention it’s a hell of a lot easier to control your character with a PlayStation controller than with a computer keyboard. Plus, the PS2 incarnation of AH has so many distinctly memorable sequences that are unlike anything else in the game, such as riding a giant yeti the size of your TV screen, or dropping enemies into a woodchipper with your flying saucer’s tractor beam.
After reviewing three games from Electronic Arts alone in the past five months, it’s really refreshing to find a damn good game from an independent upstart developer. It really illustrates what I love about video games when just a handful of people with a passion for what they’re doing can produce something exponentially more fun and original than some big-budget mainstream turd. Big ups go out to Tom Fulp, Dan Paladin, and the 16 other people listed in the credits of this game.
And as for you, the reader: play Alien Hominid. Tell all your friends about it. Support the independent video game industry. And, with any luck, Bork and I will be reviewing Rag Doll Kung Fu in a few months.
Player Two: Das Bork
Me and the Colonel (you know, from KFC) sat down and played this until our thumbs bled, mandingo! What fun it is to once again play an animated side-scroller. I couldn’t help feelin’ like I was playing Earthworm Jim again.
So what is it about this game that makes it so much fun? Besides playing the game with a KFC zombie icon, you play as an alien that has crash-landed on planet Earth, and the FBI is out to get you. So what should a cute alien such as yourself do? Kill the humans!!! That\'s right, pull out that laser gun and blast away in a bloody rampage against humans and robots. Some of these robot bosses are out of this world. Remember when you had to memorize bosses\' fighting patterns to defeat them? Well, that shit is back! It makes it difficult, because I am so used to 3-D games where you can pretty much dominate with mindless ease.
The game is short, but it won me over so much that it deserved multiple plays. (Try this game on the hard setting... ain’t too easy now, eh?)
The game doesn’t cost much, so it is a good buy for old schoolers and fans of the Flash game. Oh, gotta go! The Colonel just barfed in my kitchen because I fed him some sausage instead of chicken.
I can’t believe I just said that.
artid
2952
Old Image
7_6_nowplaying.jpg
issue
vol 7 - issue 06 (feb 2005)
section
entertainmental