Alien Hominid

[Gamerforlife]

I played Alien Hominid and liked it for awhile till I realized how cheap it is. I prefer Castle Crashers from Behemoth much more.

I always felt like people were so taken in by the cool art style and funny humor that they just didn't care that they were dying over and over again

You'll notice the game is very generous with extra lives and continues. There's a reason for that.

I just can't enjoy a game that isn't designed well, not matter how pretty its graphics are, or how funny it is or how cool whatever its gimmick is. Bad design = bad game to me

Now look on the internet, you'll find videos of people going through Contra games and Metal Slug games on one life. You won't find any for Alien Hominid. You know why? Because it can't be done, and that's because it's badly designed.

Now Castle Crashers can be a bit cheap sometimes(especially on its completely bullshit Insanity difficulty or the cheap as hell Necromancer fight), but having health potions and other items at your disposal balances things out and the game does allow for some skill. Being good with air combos really ups your game as well as picking a character with a good magic attack like the Red Knight. I actually like Castle Crashers a lot actually

[CRTGAMER]

Also released in Europe was a Gameboy Advance version of Alien Hominid, which was unfortunately passed on for a North American release. This conversion, coded by Tuna Fish, is probably one of the better console-to-GBA ports out there. The animation is near console-perfect, featuring the same bright colors and smooth animation of the original, just at a handheld resolution. Some of the music was altered or removed due to size constraints, and the animated cutscenes between levels have been modified into slide shows. At least one stage has been removed from each of the three levels, usually the ones which were most graphic-intensive (Stage 1-2 and 2-4). The last level of the game is completely revamped, removing one half of the boss fight completely. In addition, two smaller bosses were removed and replaced by palette swaps of earlier bosses. The biggest flaw with the hand-held port is the lack of difficulty. You'll have it beaten within an hour with over 10 continues remaining (roughly 90 lives). Another disappointment is the lack of mini-games. You'll unlock three of them with one being exclusive to the GBA (some chicken whacking crap), but once again, neither of them are worth playing

Thanx! Pretty harsh on the mini games, maybe I'm one of the few who likes them.

PS2 version, Mini Game err correction, PDA Game:

[CRTGAMER]

The U.S. release probably will come out on the D.S. at this stage, damn!
Import or try to find a JAR version for my cell phone.

[Pulsar_t]

Sometimes the art style and humour are the game. EWJ2 is a clear example of this. The game is very simplistic but it delivers on aesthetics and absurd humour, and is considered by many a 16-bit classic.

[AppleQueso]

You know come to think of it the last time I played this game was at least 4-5 years ago, who knows what I remember about its gameplay.

[racketboy]

Alien Hominid sucks

Everyone praises it for the same reasons. They like its style, they want to show their support for Indie developers and they feel like they have to show their hardcore or retro gaming cred by supporting a game that plays like old school Contra or Metal Slug games.

The truth is, however, that Alien Hominid plays like shit and everybody likes to just conveniently ignore that fact. It's full of cheap, random deaths and doesn't show the kind of care for its design that the classic Contra and Metal Slug games did.

The PDA mini-games however, are awesome and the Russian missile game is cool too. The main game itself is crap though.

Castle Crashers, their second game, is much better and actually shows some thought put into the game beyond how pretty it looks and how funny it is. Castle Crashers has some actual substance. Aliend Hominid is all style, zero substance

You're right for the most part. Yes, it has lots of cheap shots, but I'm willing to deal with it and just look at it as a challenge. Yes, it would be a better game if it were more polished, but it won't keep me from recommending it to people. To me, it provides fun and that's all that matters

[crux]

I wouldn't go as far as recommending it (not even among Xbox Live Arcade games), but I agree with racket. I played the game through to the end and its possible to overlook its shortcomings. It has a lot of style and its very clever, despite a lot of downright stupid flaws (it's possible to easily farm enemies, for instance, for a very easy high score). It was a flash game and they never took it much beyond that, but power to them nonetheless. Run 'n' guns aren't exactly a dime a dozen nowadays, with Capcom and SNK releasing the vast majority of them.

[Gamerforlife]

Sometimes the art style and humour are the game. EWJ2 is a clear example of this. The game is very simplistic but it delivers on aesthetics and absurd humour, and is considered by many a 16-bit classic.

But Earthworm Jim 2 actually had good gameplay. The levels were varied, the game was challenging and you had only your own lack of skill to blame for your deaths

Alien Hominid is just pure spectacle. You marvel at its visuals and laugh at the jokes. However, play through the game a second time after you beat it and you start to realize the amateurish design.

If people want to love the game just for its superficial qualities, that's fine. I admit I also liked its art style and sense of humor, but I think the game is very much a style over substance game and I just find it odd that its fans usually don't want to admit that. It irritates me when people say, "if you like Metal Slug or Contra, you'll like Alien Hominid". I don't see how that applies when those games actually had quality design

I look at it this way. Metal Slug has great comedy and a great visual design, Just like Alien Hominid, but the Metal Slug games play extremely well too. Alien Hominid really only compares to Metal Slug on a purely superficial level.

As a flash game, I'd say fine whatever, but I just don't see how a game as poorly designed as Alien Hominid managed to become a retail release for the Gamecube and PS2. You'd think they'd polish it up after realizing they were gonna hit the big time and make it to actual gaming consoles with their game, but in its retail form it still plays like an amateurish, homebrew game made by people who don't know anything about designing games

I think reviewers and critics have a responsibility to their readers and it really bugs me that this game got great reviews and NO ONE bothered to mention how horribly designed it was. I don't see how these people can in good conscience tell people to go buy a game that is all style and nothing else. That's just my opinion

[Scooter]

I bought a nice PS2 copy because I heard so much praise about the game but I'd be more than happy to unload it to someone else who would appreciate it. It sure ain't my cup 'o tea.