I previewed Alien Hominid Invasion at PAX at the beginning of the year, so it’s only fitting that I’d check-in on the new PAX Online demo. I was already excited about the game at the time, and playing a good amount of the demo has only made me more excited as both a fan of the flash game and as someone who’s looking forward to Invasion.
Your main goal in Alien Hominid Invasion is, naturally, to invade Earth. There’s a fun opening cinematic that explains why all these aliens took so long to get to earth when the original alien has been there since the original game’s release, followed by a quick and comprehensive tutorial that gets you ready for the extraterrestrial carnage you’re about to unleash.
After choosing a stage from the grid-based map, I was dropped into the very chaotic world of Invasion. Huge FBI agents are blasting at you from all around, while drones and helicopters fly in to try to take you out. You can charge up blasts to rip foes apart, or rapid-fire to peck away at everything around you. It’s hectic, violent, and glorious, making it easy to get lost in the fun when you’re supposed to be leaving the level upon completion.
“I can’t wait to get my hands on the full game when Alien Hominid Invasion releases on PC and the Nintendo Switch, as I’m looking forward to wreaking havoc on the planet with my friends for hours upon hours.”
I quite like the amount of customization available, both visually and in terms of stats. After ravaging a few blocks of the city, I opened a number of boxes that contained different cosmetics and weapons that each provided different boosts and nerfs to each stat. At first I made speed my top priority, so I had a red alien with a wig and later mouse ears who could speed by FBI Agents while blasting the skin off their faces. If you can’t tell, this game is pretty wild.
A minor thing that I really enjoyed was seeing that the alien bases were run by what seems to be a league of “fat kids” from the original game, each of varying height and build. The idea of the fat kids sympathizing with the aliens is still funny and somewhat heart-warming, but it works really well. References to the flash game and first full release are always fun, so I hope to see more of them in the full release.
I can’t wait to get my hands on the full game when Alien Hominid Invasion releases on PC and the Nintendo Switch, as I’m looking forward to wreaking havoc on the planet with my friends for hours upon hours. If you’re interested in trying out the demo, you can download it off Steam until September 20th.
