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Alien Hominid [Consoles]

Developer: The Behemoth Publisher: O~3 Entertainment
21 November 2004
Alien Hominid [Consoles] - cover art
Glitchwave rating
3.20 / 5.0
0.5
5.0
 
 
204 Ratings / 1 Reviews
#2,272 All-time
#109 for 2004
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2004 The Behemoth O~3  
DVD
XNA 8 73469 00301 7 SLUS-21090
2004 The Behemoth O~3  
Disc
XNA 8 73469 00501 1 DL-DOL-GAHE-USA
DVD
GB 5 060034 552871
Show all 6 releases
Cartridge
XEU 5 060034 554158 AGB-BAHP-EUR
2023 The Behemoth  
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Title
Newgrounds was a staple in the burgeoning internet landscape of the 2000s. It was one of the pioneers in content creation. Content creators are so omnipresent today that becoming one seems like a viable career, but these kinds of things didn’t exist in the days of Newgrounds. Newgrounds was a collection of artists that wanted to express themselves on a radically new platform: the internet. Newgrounds was one of the biggest hubs for flash animation, artwork, music, etc. and the creators had limitless artistic freedom on the site. I was too young at the time to plunge into the cutting-edge goldmine of Newgrounds, but a friend showed me the wonders of early internet content on the site at the ripe age of 9. I was fascinated at what Newgrounds had to offer, even risking getting in trouble watching videos involving Mario and Sonic swearing and doing drugs when I was a kid while waiting patiently for these videos to load on a dial-up connection.

Newgrounds was indicative of the indie landscape of the 2000s. The internet was merely in its adolescence in the 2000s and hadn’t blossomed into changing the landscape of the entire world just yet. This gave creators a new avenue to make a name for themselves without needing the budgets of big businesses to finance their dreams. Conversely, the indie video game market was starting to emerge during this time. The overlap between both Newgrounds and the indie game boom comes with Alien Hominid: a flash game developed by subsidiary Newgrounds-related developer The Behemoth. Initially, this was a free-to-play game on the website but was released on every major console of the early 2000s. The game came as a surprise for everyone who wasn’t already familiar with the style and tone of the content featured on the website. They were dazzled by its weird direction, old-school influence, and twisted sense of humor. While I can appreciate aspects of Alien Hominid, I am not as beguiled by it as some critics were back in the day.

Alien Hominid lets the player play as a nameless yellow alien that adorably looks like an intergalactic bug with opposable thumbs. The FBI immediately chases down this alien and try to apprehend him. Fortunately, the alien is armed with a blaster, grenades, and a sharp, knife-like weapon to defend himself. There are also vehicle sections and sections where the alien pilots a saucer, turning the level into a multi-directional shooter. Immediately as the game begins, the player will probably notice that this game’s biggest influence is Metal Slug. Alien Hominid is a tried and true run-and-gun game with the unique difference of having the art style of an early 2000’s flash cartoon. Most of the enemies die in one hit, as does the player if they aren’t careful. This leads me to my biggest criticism of the game and the reason as to why I’m not too keen on this game: the difficulty.

In many of my reviews, I’ve heavily criticized the use of arcade-style difficulty in console games. Consoles don’t eat quarters, so I’m not exactly sure why so many games act as they do. I do not find having to start the entire game over again to be an engaging feature or something that compliments the difficulty. I’m giving Alien Hominid the benefit of the doubt that it’s merely emulating old-school titles with this feature, but it suffers regardless. As far as tributing the run-and-gun genre is concerned, Alien Hominid is still leagues behind the games that inspired it. The flash cartoon presentation isn’t the factor that causes this, but the hiccups that come with indie-developed titles. The normal combat is fine and is just as tough, but fair as any other run-and-gun game. It’s Alien Hominid’s bosses that are worth criticizing. In a run-and-gun game like Contra, the bosses will come at the player with a barrage of things to kill them. Luckily, most of the weapons have a large enough range to deal with each boss. Many bosses in Alien Hominid have specific weak points that are the only way to damage them. This is as early as the first boss in the game, a robot with a small, green eye on the center of its head. The blaster is a piddly weapon that can only be shot in two directions, so the accuracy needed to beat this boss needs to be incredibly precise. The boss also only takes a minuscule amount of damage from each shot as well, grating on my patience as he tears away my lives with his head cannon. I admittedly have not gotten very far in Alien Hominid, but instances like this are present throughout the game as well. I’d be surprised if most people have ever completed this game, or at least without cheating. If you’re going to emulate the difficulty of old-school games, there should be a 21st-century game genie equivalent to get through it. It would be authentic after all.

Alien Hominid is a game that I appreciate for merely existing. Newgrounds was a staple of my childhood (for better or for worse) and Alien Hominid’s place in both the history of the website and indie video games cannot be understated. Despite all of its rocky charm, I cannot look past its faults. I know arcade-style difficulty was not present in most flash games on Newgrounds, so the developers implementing them in respect to its run-and-gun influences turns me off completely. The charm does not make up for its faulty gameplay either. Alien Hominid is essentially The Behemoth essentially charging a mere flash game at full price in the major video game market. Its amateurish charm starts to verge into being tawdry because there isn’t much of a solid foundation in the gameplay to work off of.
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Catalog

GuySamstag Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-03-19T03:02:05Z
2024-03-19T03:02:05Z
2.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
eliottstaten Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-03-16T20:12:22Z
2024-03-16T20:12:22Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Anatommy Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-03-12T10:14:31Z
2024-03-12T10:14:31Z
4.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
PurpLeCatO2 Alien Hominid 2024-03-11T03:24:42Z
GBA • XEU
2024-03-11T03:24:42Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Nomorechie Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-03-04T08:41:05Z
2024-03-04T08:41:05Z
4.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Coast_of_utopia Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-02-29T16:42:56Z
2024-02-29T16:42:56Z
3.0
1
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
hunterskull1234 Alien Hominid 2024-02-08T15:15:47Z
Windows
2024-02-08T15:15:47Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
DJSuleiman Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-02-04T01:49:13Z
2024-02-04T01:49:13Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
crapballa Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-01-30T21:18:48Z
2024-01-30T21:18:48Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
CHUCKPERSON Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-01-21T03:27:29Z
2024-01-21T03:27:29Z
3.0
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
PrayforSake Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-01-14T03:46:22Z
2024-01-14T03:46:22Z
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
TehGuy Alien Hominid [Consoles] 2024-01-13T15:09:10Z
2024-01-13T15:09:10Z
4.5
In collection Want to buy Used to own  
Content rating
ESRB: T
Player modes
1-4 players
Media
1x DVD
Multiplayer options
Local
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  • BigGuy4U 2021-07-18 12:53:31.545413+00
    honestly it was kinda nuts playing this on newgrounds then hearing it was getting a full console release
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  • HOT_STUFFDX 2023-08-04 15:15:28.459263+00
    It's a bit of a shame alien hominid is remembered more as an icon/character rather than a game. Most people have never played this, but theres bucketloads of fan-art. A flawed, but super fun and stylistic run & gun that's pretty easy to learn. Hope it become more accessible in the future. : )
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  • Winter_Wizard 2023-11-05 14:38:07.896224+00
    GB, GBC, and GBA ports should have their own pages.
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