Alien Hominid is an anachronism: it looks and sounds better than an early ‘90s game but the frantic and easy-to-pick-up-but-hard-to-beat gameplay is all in the tradition of shooter games from that era. This first title from independent game developer The Behemoth, exhibits what the big companies have lost along the road to corporate mega-bucks – pure and undiluted fun.

Alien Hominid started life as a 2002 downloadable PC game (still available at www.newgrounds.com ) that tells the uncomplicated story of a little yellow alien out for a cruise in his new space ship when he is unceremoniously shot down by FBI agents. His craft is immediately snatched by the Feds and taken away for study. Alien Hominid (AH) manages to avoid immediate capture but if he is ever to get off this rock he will have to reclaim his ship. What follows is multiple levels of absolute mayhem as our alien friend shoots, slashes and bites his way to freedom.

There is just no avoiding the comparison between Alien Hominid and the SNK Metal Slug series from the early ‘90s. The gameplay is just too similar. Alien Hominid consists of a series of levels where the player maneuvers his on-screen avatar from left to right on a scrolling playfield. Along the way he’ll combat scores of enemies in the form of FBI agents and their nefarious alien-capturing gadgets and a suitably tough boss character at the end of the levels. The Alien Hominid’s main weapon is a blaster pistol that seems to start at a “destroy” power setting and, with the collection of the proper power-ups, progresses to an “annihilate” setting that mows down all in its way. At close quarters AH will slash his enemies. By jumping on the backs of foes AH can bite off their heads. AH may also commandeer vehicles and run his enemies down. It is even possible to play cooperatively with a second player.

If Alien Hominid has a major fault, it is the difficulty level. As anyone who has played a Metal Slug game in the arcades will attest to, this type of shooter is hard. In the arcade it was possible to just keep feeding quarters into the machine until you beat the game. When SNK brought Metal Slug 3 home for the Xbox, they limited the available continues and had players start at the beginning of the level they had died on. Alien Hominid chose a similar route. Difficulties in Alien Hominid range from Thumb Sucker to Hard. The difficulty level determines how many continues the player gets, how many shield points AH can carry and how much damage the bullets fired do. At the Thumb Sucker level the player is also prohibited from progressing beyond a certain point in the game. Even at the lowest difficulty level, the game is a stern test of a gamer’s hand/eye coordination. Playing with a buddy in the cooperative mode helps a great deal.

Alien Hominid’s presentation is a tour de force. All the art was hand drawn and animated. This makes the game look very much like a cartoon strip that has come to life with bright colors and huge explosions. During the course of the game AH will slice and blast to pieces a host of FBI goons. The way he does it could have been presented in a very bloody manner, but the artists opted to continue the cartoon-like look, so an FBI agent being cut in half is greeted by a brief spurt of blood and a body that looks more like a ham cut in half than a human. It’s actually more comic than gross. Sound is also good, with a soundtrack that I kept thinking was from some big action movie but was just different enough to keep me from identifying it. Game sound effects were equally good.

In addition to the main game, there are a handful of unlockable mini-games and other items, plus the exceedingly bizarre “PDA Games.” The latter you’ll just have to see for yourself.



The Behemoth has to be commended for bringing gamers a really nice shooter with a fantastic look and feel. In these days of development teams with a cast of dozens, it is nice to see a small group of passionate individuals produce a game that is clearly a labor of love. I hope we get to play a lot more of this talented group’s work in the years to come.



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