Scot is reminded of the good old days.

Gentle readers, I've hit a snag. I've become… jaded. Over the past few months, fewer and fewer videogames have been blowing me away. I've even started to turn to my ever-growing back-catalogue of incomplete classics to pass the time. And it's not that general quality of games is dropping – no, quite the contrary. I've just grown bored; bored of the countless numbers of action-adventure titles featuring bad-ass marines fighting to save the world. Or streetwise gangsters driving pimped-up motors around cities the developers would have you believe are more freeform than they actually are.

I want something fresh.

It just so happens that I found it. The game to relieve my cynicism actually started life on the internet, home-grown and incredibly popular – prompting more than seven-million downloads and catapulting developer The Behemoth to instant success. Alien Hominid became an internet phenomenon. A game so popular that some bright spark decided it would be worth recoding and porting to home consoles – a task pulled off without sacrificing any of its overwhelming charisma or old-school roots.

Alien Hominid doesn't bog you down with unnecessary details. All you need to know is that the FBI have stolen your ship and you need it back. That paves the way for a pure, old-school side-scrolling classic that owes much to the likes of Metal Slug and Gunstar Heroes – a game that is so brazenly simple in design, but one that can be as involving as most multi-layered productions. What separates this from other side-scrollers though is its effectual charm: the quirky hand-drawn visuals are brought to life splendidly thanks to some expert animation, and its cute, fuzzy violence – while often graphic – is never more sadistic than your average "Itchy and Scratchy" segment on The Simpsons.

Hominid handles much like other lead characters in side-shooters, although he does possess an assortment of abilities that separate him from the pack. For starters, he can drive vehicles and ride big yetis, or pilot his spaceship through several Asteroids-inspired levels. He can jump on the back of enemies and watch them run around in a panic before chomping their head off or hurling them into a group of oncoming allies. He can even bury himself in the ground and pull an unsuspecting agent down with him for an instant kill, although remain there for too long and he'll pass out through lack of air.

You'll have to make good use of his numerous abilities to withstand the difficulty level, which often reaches unprecedented levels of insane. It's crazy hard. Death is always, always only ever a simple mistake away, but it's never too difficult beyond the point of challenging. That is, the game has been designed to provide a tough test, but after a length of time you'll begin to uncover patterns and strategies to overcome it. Bosses seem like a doddle once you've sussed them out, but they'll still throw you around if you get too cocky. The loading screen gives perhaps the best advice in the entire game: "Stay calm! A crazed alien is a dead alien!" If you want to survive, you'll have to pick your moments with care.

Bam

People may get a little uptight about the difficulty level but to them I say this: you're missing the point. The game is just too damn fun and addictive to care about dying. You will die, but at that time you'll be enjoying it too much to care or, at times, notice. It's harks back to the old times – the times of emptying your pockets of ten pence pieces. Insert credit. Continue? Yes. Bam. Dead. Game Over. AAA. END. Pull in a second player and the fun multiplies – you'll both laugh riotously at the hilarious death animations, or the wonderful designs of each end-of-level boss – my favourite being the hammer and sickle robot on level 2-1.

Sure, it's a tad short. Yes, there's not enough meat here for a full game. That's why it's priced as a budget release. But it's a breath of fresh air. A videogame that shows us that it's not all about how many polygons you can graft onto a character's left butt-cheek, or how many nasty marketing gimmicks are scrawled on the back of the box. It's about how the game makes you feel, and about how enjoyable it is to play, and play on despite the steep challenge. It's the kind of game that repeatedly takes pleasure in grabbing you by the Jacob's and twisting them multiple times, but you end up loving it anyway.

Alien Hominid is an old-school experience that many half-baked games on the shelves today aspire to reproduce; a videogame in the purest sense of the word. And, above all else, that's the reason I can't recommend it enough.

GAME's Verdict

• Simple, effective old-school fun.
• Charismatic hand-drawn, animated graphics.
• A wonderful reminder of why we all play videogames.

• May be a little too difficult for some players.
• It's too short, damn it.
• Some deaths are seemingly inevitable.

Review by: Scot Bennet
Version Tested: Xbox
Review Published: 08.06.05