Finalmente, zerei o Alien Hominid original aproveitando o embalo de sua sequência, Alien Hominid Invasion, e que jogo bom!

Possivelmente meu Run'n'gun favorito. Adapta muito bem o espírito de um jogo de fliperama, mesmo que tenha saído para consoles, e toda fase é devidamente pensada a terem sua própria personalidade, implementando setpieces durante o jogo inteiro. O jogo grita carisma como todo game da Behemoth e é uma jogatina muito deliciosa para você tirar umas horas do seu dia. Para sempre um clássico!

Full video review: https://youtu.be/W6iV6ZsM0iw

Over 20 years since the original Alien Hominid released and it is just now finding it's way to Steam.

It is basically a simple port of the original HD remaster from Xbox Live Arcade, but with just a few tweaks for modern hardware. You get higher resolution and framerate support, but the game is practically the same thing. Same fun levels, same crazy boss designs, same run and gun style gameplay, same everything. This includes the difficulty, which I won’t deny, can be pretty unfair at times. This was back in the day when enemies and bullets spawning on top of you and having extremely limited lives was common.

I had to reset at least a dozen times just to clear the game once, which isn’t even that long at 2 hours, but goes to show just how difficult a game this is. Some of the boss designs are also just outright bad, with annoying gimmicky moves or straight up bugs in some areas. I was also not a fan of the complete lack of iframes when dodge rolling and the mere split second you get when respawning. That alone led to so many deaths simply because I would spawn on top of an enemy and just die.

Still, I can’t deny there is a bit of a nostalgic feeling to it. If you grew up playing games on Newgrounds, that same energy can be found here and it is perfectly preserved for modern platforms. It may not be for everyone, but I had a good time playing through it.

Overall
I would say Alien Hominid HD is worthy of a light recommendation. It is a fun throwback to the Newgrounds days, with straightforward run and gun style gameplay complete with crazy boss designs, but also insane and often unfair difficulty. Might not be an immediate buy, but worth a look if you can catch either on sale or if you’re just a big fan of the genre.

A sloppy, hard-as-nails arcade-style run-and-gun with a uniquely 2000's aesthetic that is absolutely charming. I remember playing the browser demo back when I was in my early teens, and itching to buy the Gamecube release, though never doing so. I didn't own a 360, so it's first re-release also evaded me. This is my first experience with the full package, and I have to say, I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected!

This is definitely more Contra 1 than it is Hard Corps. Despite clear homages to the latter, the gameplay is raw as hell, with little thought on player convenience. Hominid's movement is stiff with few mobility options, and enemy attacks have very strict tells. I grew up playing a ton of brutally difficult NES releases, so I'm tolerant to this sort of gameplay. I think it's charming and serviceable, but your mileage may vary.

My only real gripe with this game is attack visibility. On-screen chaos can tend to blend together. Particularly, enemy bullets. They flash several different colors, which is meant to catch your eyes, but depending on what is occurring in the playfield at the given moment, they can blend in with explosions or corpses. Next thing you know, Hominid's on the floor, and you're left with no explanation. I think a sharp outline, or bolder colors to contrast against the slightly-washed palette would've been enough to address this issue.

Alien Hominid feels like a game that would be hard to recommend. I think the appeal it does have is niche in this day and age. I'm surprised it took this long for us to finally see it again on modern storefronts, and I don't really expect even the smallest surge in its popularity, though I'd love to be wrong. Still, it's jam-packed full of charm. If the game ever caught your eye back in the day, and you've yet to experience it, I think you'll find something to like. Give it a shot.

Idk if somebody has made a video essay using Alien Hominid as a demonstration of the true value of Metal Slug's spritework, but if not somebody should!

It just ain't very readable, man. Metal Slug controls very similarly but feels a lot better just because of the visual clarity

It's a charming little game though, and it’s historically significant. The minigames are frankly the part I enjoy more, so them being included is real good fun. It does remind me that I'm not as good as mashing as I thought I was though...