The flash site Newgrounds.com has had some pretty successful stuff, but nothing quite as successful as their flash game Alien Hominid. Six Million people downloaded the title, and it’s proved popular enough to spawn a version that’s coming to the GameCube and the PS2.
Alien Hominid is a side scrolling action shooter in the vein of SNK’s Metal Slug series, or Konami’s Contra games, but much faster. What that means is your character will be doing a lot of shooting, killing a lot of enemies, and blowing up a lot of stuff. Apparantly the AI is vicious and the action intense, so you’ll be dying a lot.
In order to counter act the action and the enemies your weapons will be upgradable. Ray guns are upgradable to cannons for example. There will be other power-ups, but none have been announced yet. If the comparisons to Metal Slug are any indication, expect a fairly large variety. Guns however, won’t be your only weapon, since you’ll be able to bite the heads off enemies, along with other melee attacks if you get close enough. R and L both roll your character to the sides, which will help make things easier to avoid.
The alien can also burrow into the ground to hide, which helps if you’re swarmed with enemies. He can, while burried, grab enemies, and pull them under with him, killing them in the process, but of course this is limited; he’ll die if he stays underground too long due to breathing requirements.
The new graphics engine looks capable enough, and the sprites look strangely detailed in their simplicity. The game really has a unique, and old school look, and the story is just as retro. The alien character you play as was just flying his space ship past Earth, when the FBI shoots him down. He’s forced to crash land, but convieniently on the door step of an FBI agent, who steals his ship, and takes it to Area 51. The objective is to get the ship back and leave.
Aside from the new graphics engine, more levels (16 to be exact), bigger environments, and other changes, the developers have included 2-player co-op play, which is always a blast in this type of title.
Alien Hominid has sleeper-hit written all over it. Fans of the old school will definately want to check this game out, and those who are looking for something similar to, but a little simpler than it’s closest competition (Viewtiful Joe 2) will also be pleased.
