Flashback Friday Alien Hominid Game Retrospect

Retrospect: Alien Hominid

Like Wednesday I've decided that Friday will also be a themed day here on the intrawebs. It will be known as “Flashback Friday” from hence forth. I will take a look at old games from the 90’s and early 2000’s, probable with a cutoff date around 2005. By doing this, it gives me access to all the great web games made since the birth of the web. Ill mostly be looking at well known high rated games, and also judging how well the game has held together all these years.  I hope you all enjoy this new section on site.

For the first Flashback Friday I’m going to look at one of the most well-known web games and probable the second most iconic figure besides Pico to come from newgrounds.com. I’m of course referring to the one and only Alien from Alien Hominid. The game launched on newgrounds.com in late summer of 2002 and was programmed by none other than newgrounds founder Tom Flup and the game art was done by Dan Paladin. So how does it hold up after 11 years? Let’s find out.

The story here is that an alien has crash landed here on earth, and out of all the places he could land, he lands in the worst spot ever, right in front of the US FBI Building. Right from the start every FBI Agent wants him dead and from there the story is unknown. If I had to guess I would say he just wants to fix his ship and go home, but he may also be a scout for an alien invasion. Who knows?

The art work done by Dan Paladin is Awesome. Some other games by Dan and Tom include “Dad and Me” and “Castle Crashers” on Xbox live arcade. His style is his own, a very unique look you see nowhere else. Everything looks hand drawn with colorful, cartoony, and funny animation. Even today you couldn't tell when it was made. A lot games and flash videos back then were made using game sprites from snes and genesis titles. It defiantly stood out in 2002 from everything else.

The game play is action packed, fast paced, fun, and challenging. When I first played it I got my butt handed to me hard. The FBI agents are no push overs what so ever and they move very fast and shoot often. Even today some people complain about the difficulty and slam the well-designed game. In truth you just gotta master the game play mechanics which can take a little time. For starters if you stay duck down the entire game you should make it to the end as all bullets go over the aliens head. The best way I find is to ride the agents and let the other agents shoot the one you're riding. You also get a combo score by doing this called a freak attack. Usually at most there are two agents on screen with more spawning every time you kill one. There are two power-ups for the alien’s gun, a fire upgrade and a electric one that tears through all the agents. There is also a melee weapon that works when you’re right by an agent. The best weapon, and my favorite is the alien’s mouth, where you can bite the agents head off after riding on their backs and instill fear into the other agents watching. The biggest short coming of this game is its length. It is only one stage long and then it’s over. Now today with some games being very long, for example Aqua boy, it took me an hour to beat that game but it wasn't as difficult. Plus this made in 2002 and the level of quality and programming put in, you can just tell doing the one level was tough enough, so I can let it slide.

YEEEEEEHAAAAW

In 2004 A full game of Alien Hominid was made for the PS2 with 25 levels based on the 2002 release game and received an above average score from most critics. I think the original holds up very well today and is still a great game.  

I’m going to give Alien Hominid 5 Headless Agents out of 5

“Did I kill the kid? Yezz im a bad person :(”

OVERALL SCORE: 5

Art by Dan Paladin

Programming by Tom Fulp

Music by LHM
Hosted on newgrounds.com

Mystery IQ Test Game Review

Review: Mystery IQ Test

 

Time to see how smart you really are

Mystery IQ Test is a puzzle game where you will need your wits to achieve a high IQ score. There are 30 puzzles, with 1 puzzle placed per room, and the only way to advance to the next room is to solve each puzzle.  There are 3 games modes, but the difference between the modes isn't much. The higher modes reward more points and take more points away when you make mistakes. Most of the puzzles are patterns that you must recognize to succeed, but be warned every mistake you make hurts your overall score, so take your time when trying to solve them. 

The story takes place in a room where your character awakes not knowing where they are. There is a note on the floor explaining that if you are smart you will get the answers you seek. As the story goes on more is reveled, and it explains why your character is being put through this test.

The art style is good your character has a big head small body and is animated well. The rooms pretty much all look the same except for the puzzles within. I can’t really say more on it, but for this game it works well.

Ugh gimme second here...

The game play is good the character moves where you want him to go. For some puzzles you will have to pick up things and place them on a switch or to use them to solve a problem. Puzzles are very unique and differ every room. Clues are given and most are fairly easy to solve but some I did get stumped on for a few minutes. Your overall score doesn't really mean much. I guess you could use it for bragging rights, however if you just play the game again you can have a perfect score. The game supports 6 different languages which I must say I don’t think I've seen much. That really makes it widely available to a lot of people on-line to play. Overall though I would like to see a lot more levels, but I guess future sequels would shut me up. I played through it in about 20 minutes, but I think I’m just greedy.

I’m going to give Mystery IQ Test 3 super brains out of 5

OVERALL SCORE: 3

Game Developed By Entertainment Forge

Art By Gilbert De Vera

Sponsored by yepi.com

Weak Wednesday Slender Survival Game Review

Review: Slender Survival 

Okay so here on the Intrawebz I've decided to have Wednesdays be all about bad web games. A game will be targeted in this category if it is (crappy, stupid, boring, unoriginal, or all the above). Now I don’t mean to just pick on the bad games here. I know people work very hard to create and express their ideas with their games and I will try to point out anything I like about it first, before I stab it with my verbal sword. So look forward to every Wednesday which I am now dubbing WEAK WEDNESDAY on the Intrawebz.

Slender: The Eight Pages is a game that has become huge all over the Interwebz. Anybody reading my blog here knows who Slender Man is. If you haven’t played it you at least heard about it or seen a meme describing the scary white face figure wearing a suit. Now that I'm pointing that out, no I’m not ripping on Slender which was created by Parsec Productions. I’m ripping on a little flash game that was based on it called Slender Survival. The best word I could use to describe it is capital ‘B’ oring.

Now first off I will talk about the pluses, which there aren't  many. It’s got that horror atmosphere like the source it was based upon. The sound to the game is perfect. It’s quiet but has that shrieking otherworldly Slender Man sound playing in background. First time playing I was on edge waiting for the demon figure to pop out and murder me.

Oh no don't hurt me cardboard SM  :-7

That is until I started playing and figured out all you do is walk left and right. Yup that’s it. You walk to left then walk to the right collecting pages. Not only that but you have a stamina bar that goes down every time you walk. Now I could understand that if my character was say “RUNNING”, but walking come on. I mean if the avatar on screen was a huge "350 pound guy walking through the creepy woods I would understand, but he looks like a fit young man in his 20’s to me. Not only that but slender is not scary at all. His standing stiff like a cardboard cutout and just floats after you when he is on screen.

The graphics suck. Its very pixely and doesn't look very good. There is a field, fog, and a cabin in the background, with obstructing trees in the foreground and it just loops over and over like a Flintstones cartoon.

Now I know it’s just a simple little game that you’re trying to get a high score on but man it’s so boring and dull. There are tons of games where your object is to last as long as you can heck it’s how games started. The reason I believe it has gotten a decent score to begin with is because it’s got slender in it. If you take him out, no one would like this game.

Now I don’t think this game is a lost cause. If there were rounds with different backgrounds, obstacles to avoid, speed up game play, and made slender increase in aggression per round that be a start. Could you image? You would get to round 10 and slender would be all Cthulhu on your ass that would be awesome.

I’m going to give Slender Survival a 1 cardboard Slender Man out 5

OVERALL SCORE: 1

“maybe the reason this guy has a hard time walking is because he has asthma … wheres the inhaler upgrade!!!”

Developed by Bruno Dev and Zanzlanz

Hosted on newgrounds.com

Aqua Boy Game Review

Review: Aqua Boy

Grab your scuba gear because were diving in to fantastic underwater adventure that is Aqua Boy.

Aqua Boy takes place in a wonderful underwater world where you explore and fight off all sorts of sea creatures. Each area you explore is different from the last and usually rewards you with an upgrade at the end. The order in which you should do the areas is unclear, so it’s not uncommon that you will get to an area where you will be blocked and then learn that you need to explore to find an item that will let you through. The game is great fun and of high quality which proves you don’t have to spend money to have a good game experience.

The story involves the main character Aqua Boy who is on a journey with his monkey sidekick named Albert on a quest for the Helm of Pathandor, which lays in underwater ruins. Aqua Boy has a special diving suit which supplies him with all the air he needs without the need of oxygen tanks. For some reason their submarine crashed, and when Aqua Boy came to Albert was gone. Aqua Boy then later learns Albert has betrayed him and intends to use the helm for his own evil intentions. It’s up to Aqua Boy to find Albert his old friend and end his evil ways.The story only gets better as you go on. Albert has somehow got everything that lives in ocean on his side, so naturally every creature wants you dead. All for except a few NPCs that help you along the way by letting you know when item upgrades are near. The enemies are great and the mini bosses are a lot of fun. The game is broken into 3 stages with a very short tutorial stage in the beginning that explains controls and items.

The graphics are nice. Aqua Boy’s look is simple. He himself is just a boy with orange diving suit and clear helmet. Even though the look isn't eye popping, the game is big with many areas and colorful enemies. It works and has a nice charm and appeal.

The game play is awesome! I just love this game. The controls are excellent. When fighting creatures that shoot projectiles, you can just swim circles around them and own them. Aqua Boy handles great. He can swim in 8 directions in a fluent speed. He also shoots in all directions with long range and has a burst shot when weapon meter is full. Never once did I blame the game when taking a hit, it was my own fault and not because Aqua Boy wouldn't move his aqua butt. The game is full of upgrades (heart containers, bigger charge, stronger weapon, bomb, teleport gem, and many more). To use items in the game you have a charge meter that deplenishes when using an item, but will find upgrades for it later on. The game is very expansive it took me little over hour to get through and I know I missed a few power-ups along the way. The in game map is excellent. Rooms you haven’t been through yet flash, so you never feel lost at all. A lot of paths end in a dead-end but a teleport gem was put in that warps you back to the begging of the stage, so no backtracking ( I hate backtracking with a passion).  

Aqua Boy is a great game. I would have no issues of throwing down

$15-$20 to have a longer version on my 3DS with 12 more stages. I hope there will be more adventures with him in the near future.

I’m going to give Aqua Boy 5 rare gems of 5

“Never Trust Monkeys AB … didn't you see planet of the apes?"

I also Threw poop at you while you were passedout :P

OVERALL SCORE: 5

Created by Duncan Fenn

Hosted on armorgames.com

Disaster Will Strike 2 Game Review

I hate Eggs … oh you get to kill em let me at em.

Review: Disaster Will Strike 2

DWS2 is a eggcellent strategy game where you must kill all the eggs per round with the provided disasters. The highlights for me are the egg personalities and egg fatalities. Each round you do not finish the nasty little guys off they mock you. Not as bad as green pig mocking, but for some reason they piss me the hell off. It’s so much satisfying to see there little egg heads split open when you defeat them.

There is not much story going on here, it’s just  40 rounds of trying solve each way to annihilate the evil egg squads.

Graphics wise its simple enough. The background has simple tress and mountains that just change colors every round. You got bricks, glass, metal, boxes, earth that are all drawn and shaded nice. The stars of the game the eggs stand out the most as they should. There are 2 kinds of eggs a blotchy yellow egg with buck teeth, and a pale egg with vampire teeth. There is no difference between two difficulty wise, whatever kills one egg will kill the other.

In the game you get 6 different kinds of disasters that you must utilize to kill all the eggs in the round. There is…

Earthquake that shakes only earth

Tornado that blows the eggs either left or right on screen

Landslide that will remove a line of earth

Wasps which will seek at eggs not blocked from their path (my favorite)

Fireball blows an object up

Epidemic which causes a viral outbreak that makes one egg sick and will spread to any nearby eggs.

There faces are priceless

The challenge of the game is done very well. The beginning stages are easy and increase in difficulty evenly throughout the 40 stages. First few stages teach you how to use the disasters while playing, I hate tutorial stages in games and it is done fast and simple here. Score is calculated by how fast you complete the round.

DWS2 has decent strategy that won’t hurt your head but will keep you entertained for 20-30 minutes

I’m going to give it 3 scrambled eggs out of 5

“Yez my beautiful wasps sting them till they bleed out there yolk … my god I have problems”

OVERALL SCORE: 3

Created by AntonK

Hosted on notdoppler.com