I have so many good memories playing The Behemoth’s games and visiting their booth at PAX.  It all started with Alien Hominid.  I had this game on the GameCube, but it originally started out as a Flash game on Newgrounds.  It was a hand drawn 2D run-and-gun that was very similar to Metal Slug, with lots of goofy humor and challenge.  Since then I’ve enjoyed playing and reviewing other games from them, like Castle Crashers (one of the best beat ‘em ups ever made), and BattleBlock Theater.  And now they’re back where they started with Alien Hominid Invasion, a brand new game with a multiplayer focus, but still fun for one.  It’s available on some game consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

So the premise here is that the aliens are seeking revenge on the FBI after they blew up the alien’s ship from the original game.  So they send a mothership with a horde of aliens to wreak havoc.  You play as one of those aliens!  The game starts out on a map where you choose a level path.  They are different each time you play.  Some paths may have bonuses and extra challenges, depending on where you choose to go.  When you are ready, you can start the stage.  Your alien can run, jump, roll and dodge, hop on enemies and bite their heads or ride them, shoot a gun, and throw grenades.  As you play, you’ll unlock more weapons and other things to use besides grenades (the game calls these ‘mutations’).  You can also customize your alien with colors and heads you’ve unlocked.

The stages are presented in 2D fashion and you’ll start by shooting FBI agents and collecting papers.  Then you take the papers to a dumpster and they get tossed in and then the mothership will send you a mission.  These missions may be to destroy a certain number of enemies, rescue a certain number of kids (the same kids who were on your side in the original game), among other things. If you complete the mission, you’ll get bonuses.  If not, you’ll have to do the process again until you do.  After a few of these, you’ll have to find the exit to get beamed back up and start another stage.  After each stage you’ll level up and unlock new bonuses.  Up to four can play online or local co-op.  You can also select your difficulty level and you get an energy bar this time, which is nice since in the first game it was a one hit and you die kind of situation.

The game has a few minor problems.  Even though it’s fun for a single player, you can really tell you’ll get more enjoyment out of it with others.  The mission objective text was way too small to read, even on a big TV.  And even though they explain the controls pretty well, I wasn’t exactly clear on how certain bonuses worked and how to equip them.  But even so, I still had a lot of fun with this one.  It’s accessible for any skill level and has a lot of humor and I laughed out loud a bunch of times during play.  So if you like The Behemoth’s games and especially Alien Hominid, you’ll want to check this one out!

Kid Factor:

Alien Hominid Invasion is rated T for Teen with ESRB descriptors of Blood, Violence, and Crude Humor.  You can shoot cartoony FBI agents and they can spew out blood and turn into piles of meat and bones when defeated.  But you also have the option to turn off the gore if you like.  With the gore off, I’d say this one would be OK for older kids.

Tags: Game Reviews