Alien Hominid Invasion [Review]

Growing up in the Gamecube era and being a huge fan of Newgrounds.com was a highlight of my childhood. Everything during that time was always new and unique when it came to general content and gaming. I very clearly remember Alien Hominid for the Nintendo Gamecube and I'd say I'm probably one of the lucky few that still physically owns the game. After hearing about the newest entry in the series, I felt obligated to try the game out and give a short review. The name of this new game is Alien Hominid Invasion. It improved on some aspects of the first game, making small changes to the core gameplay in order to further evolve the game from a beat ‘em up, Metal Slug style game, to an objective based game.

Let's start with the few things I wasn't too fond of. When starting the game, for whatever reason, player one is always defaulted as player 2. Not sure if this is a Nintendo Switch issue but this does bother me. Each player has a very specific color they start with and each color has its own set of skins that come with them. So, if it’s your first time playing you are locked to a set predetermined overall look for your alien. Another thing I can note is the stages don’t really stand out at all. Alien Hominid Invasion has you complete various tasks, and many times the same tasks are recycled during each stage. That run and gun gameplay the past title had is somewhat pushed aside because the player is dealing with endlessly spawning enemies, and trying to carry something from point A to point B. Any fan of the previous game will not get the same experience with this game, although it's still very enjoyable. 

Being able to adjust the difficulty is such a nice touch, as you’re able to change the amount of lives and health you have. The original Alien Hominid did not have this option, and in my opinion, made  the difficulty level very high. Instead of the initial degree of difficulty the previous game displayed, this one gets its difficulty through the sheer chaos. The amount of enemies at one given moment, though fairly easy to defeat, can be overwhelming. There are things to do to help with the chaos, like its added customization options. It’s much easier to identify your alien when every player is wearing a different hat. In fact, I like the game’s presentation a lot. The aliens themselves have gone through a very miniscule design change;  their human-like feet being changed to a more stylized and pointed foot makes them feel more alien. And the game, as well as its animations, feel and look smooth. General moves from the previous game make a return, allowing the player to dig underground and hide, dodge roll, and even float a bit when shooting down with their gun. It's also surprisingly fun to hop on the back of a friend and just shoot behind while they run forward and shoot. Different types of guns and lasers are available this time around as you can swap weapons in the creation menu. The customization is a very welcome touch to the game.

From changing weapon types to making you a miniature maniac unique to your visual style. The new additions to the game do over all make it a far better and upgraded experience from the previous title. Alien Hominid Invasion is available for Nintendo switch, Playstation 4 and Playstation 5, Steam and lastly the Xbox Family of Consoles