Baron Aloha
A Shining Example
I picked up the GC version today at EB (the only place in town selling it). I just finished my first play through. In short, I believe Alien Hominid (AH) may very well be the best run & gun shooter I've played in the past 5-10 years. Is it a Metal Slug ripoff? Absolutely. But its right up there with any of the Metal Slugs and I should know because I own all six of those.
Where do I begin? Well for starters its pretty clear that the people who made this game believed in the mantra that "variety is the spice of life". You want variety? This is one of the few shooters that actually has it and its got it in spades. For starters, just about every good weapon from Contra, Metal Slug, and Gunner's Heaven is here...plus some fresh new ones. There's probably 10 different types of guns in the game plus the grenades which were taken from Metal Slug.
Then there's vehicles. Just about every level has some type of vehicle in it that is totally different from any of the vehicles in any of the preceding levels. We're talking tanks, trucks, snowmobiles, bigfoots, robots, space ships, etc...you name it and its probably here. The bigfoot sequence was particularly awesome. You hop on the dude's back and he controls just like the monsters in Midway's Rapage games. The attack button punches (which you must use to knock down watch towers) and down + the attack button makes the bigfoot scoop up bad guys and eat them.
There are a wide variety (and large number) of levels as well including city streets, highways, deserts, area 51, communist russia, space, etc. I made it up to level 3-5 on my first play through and I had already gone through 16 levels. My favorite level so far is the highway level. In it, you must jump from car to car to progress (if you fall between the cars you hit the pavement and die) while dodging FBI agents, helicopters, bombs, etc. Its just really well done. In the Area 51 levels you can uncage captured aliens and they will help you kill the bad guys. It's a lot of fun.
The enemies? Too numerous to list. Most of them have humerous death animations... like the hawks in the Russia levels that explode and leave nothing but a bunch of feathers and a drumstick.
The animation in general is very well done. Your alien can meet its maker in any number of ways and each of them has their own animation.
There is also a customization aspect to the game. In the options screen you can name your alien anything you want and you can also outfit him with 1 of dozens and dozens of hats that you can unlock during the game. Some of the hats include regular base ball caps, an afro, chef's hat, nurse's hat, indian head dress, a single feather, a chinese hat (like what Raiden in MK wears), dog fight glasses/cap, etc. They are really too numerous to list. I thought it was nice of them to let you add your own touch to the character.
At $30 this game is a steal. I myself have spent far more and received far less in return for other games I have purchased in the past. In short, the game delivers. I highly recommend AH to anyone even remotely entertained by Contra, Metal Slug, or other similar shooters. Like I said, its right up there with some of the best slugs and it easily trounces Shattered Solider and Neo Contra (no doubt in my mind whatsoever). Do yourselves a favor, pull yourselves away from the Halos, the Metroid Primes, the GTAs, and the Metal Gear Solids for a moment and give this game a shot. It's a lot of fun and afterall isn't that why we play games in the first place?
Where do I begin? Well for starters its pretty clear that the people who made this game believed in the mantra that "variety is the spice of life". You want variety? This is one of the few shooters that actually has it and its got it in spades. For starters, just about every good weapon from Contra, Metal Slug, and Gunner's Heaven is here...plus some fresh new ones. There's probably 10 different types of guns in the game plus the grenades which were taken from Metal Slug.
Then there's vehicles. Just about every level has some type of vehicle in it that is totally different from any of the vehicles in any of the preceding levels. We're talking tanks, trucks, snowmobiles, bigfoots, robots, space ships, etc...you name it and its probably here. The bigfoot sequence was particularly awesome. You hop on the dude's back and he controls just like the monsters in Midway's Rapage games. The attack button punches (which you must use to knock down watch towers) and down + the attack button makes the bigfoot scoop up bad guys and eat them.
There are a wide variety (and large number) of levels as well including city streets, highways, deserts, area 51, communist russia, space, etc. I made it up to level 3-5 on my first play through and I had already gone through 16 levels. My favorite level so far is the highway level. In it, you must jump from car to car to progress (if you fall between the cars you hit the pavement and die) while dodging FBI agents, helicopters, bombs, etc. Its just really well done. In the Area 51 levels you can uncage captured aliens and they will help you kill the bad guys. It's a lot of fun.
The enemies? Too numerous to list. Most of them have humerous death animations... like the hawks in the Russia levels that explode and leave nothing but a bunch of feathers and a drumstick.
The animation in general is very well done. Your alien can meet its maker in any number of ways and each of them has their own animation.There is also a customization aspect to the game. In the options screen you can name your alien anything you want and you can also outfit him with 1 of dozens and dozens of hats that you can unlock during the game. Some of the hats include regular base ball caps, an afro, chef's hat, nurse's hat, indian head dress, a single feather, a chinese hat (like what Raiden in MK wears), dog fight glasses/cap, etc. They are really too numerous to list. I thought it was nice of them to let you add your own touch to the character.
At $30 this game is a steal. I myself have spent far more and received far less in return for other games I have purchased in the past. In short, the game delivers. I highly recommend AH to anyone even remotely entertained by Contra, Metal Slug, or other similar shooters. Like I said, its right up there with some of the best slugs and it easily trounces Shattered Solider and Neo Contra (no doubt in my mind whatsoever). Do yourselves a favor, pull yourselves away from the Halos, the Metroid Primes, the GTAs, and the Metal Gear Solids for a moment and give this game a shot. It's a lot of fun and afterall isn't that why we play games in the first place?
