Of all the games at PAX East, I was most excited to check out Behemoth’s new game that is also their old game (sort of), Alien Hominid: Invasion. Originally a side-scrolling flash game on Newgrounds, Alien Hominid was the first project that Behemoth co-founders Dan Paladin and Tom Fulp first collaborated on. Its enhanced console release, dubbed Alien Hominid and later Alien Hominid HD, marked one of the first console releases of what could now be considered an “indie game”. Finally, after major successes like Castle Crashers, Battleblock Theater, and Pit People, the team at Behemoth decided to look back to the past for their newest project; enter Alien Hominid: Invasion.
The differences between all past iterations of Alien Hominid and Alien Hominid: Invasion are vast to say the very least. You start on a grid, which is where you choose which level you’ll play on as you work your way towards the very invadable city in the middle of the map. Though this new take on the game is still an action-based side-scroller, all linearity has gone out the window. As soon as you’re dropped into a level, you can go in any direction to accomplish your various objectives. Enemies, items, and objectives are all around you, so it’s up to you to navigate through the glorious chaos until you either complete the minimum number of objectives and leave or for as long as you can survive and accomplish new objectives in the increasingly hostile stage.
After completing only a few tasks (collecting intel from agents, destroying specific enemies, etc.) I was given the option to leave the stage by using an enormous tractor beam in the center of the stage. Like I said though, you can stay and finish even more objectives to reap more rewards, so long as you have the skills to survive as the level fills up with crazier and more dangerous enemies. The risk vs reward factor blends nicely with the ability to go in any direction, as it makes each stage its own customizable challenge.
“From the characters to the joke-loaded backgrounds, Invasion retains and further enhances the classic charm of its predecessor.“
There’s far more depth to Invasion’s gameplay even behind the scenes, as your alien is entirely customizable in ways that affect your stats and appearance. For my demo, I was able to equip a helmet based on one of the Tankmen from JohnnyUtah’s classic animation that serves as the mascot for Newgrounds. I also had various buffs I could equip that would change my health regeneration and movement speed, as well as a scatter-shot gun with a wider range of fire and rechargeable ammo. Even the alien’s color could be changed, giving a feeling of personality to each player’s version of the alien.
It likely goes without saying, but Alien Hominid: Invasion looks incredible. Behemoth’s simple but distinct art style continues to shine, especially when applied to one of their older works that already boasted such fun designs. From the characters to the joke-loaded backgrounds, Invasion retains and further enhances the classic charm of its predecessor.
I’m tremendously excited for Alien Hominid: Invasion to release, as it builds upon everything that was great about the original Alien Hominid while adding a huge amount of exciting ideas to the package. Though the team has said there’s still lots of tinkering and changing to be done, I can’t wait to play whatever they come out with, as the build that I played was already ridiculously fun.
