Alien Hominid is a name that has been echoing around the 'hardcore' gaming scene for around eighteen months now. Alongside the likes of Ico and Katamari Damacy, the home console version of what launched as a budget title has become a sleeper hit, gathering a sizable cult following. Why? Because it's just plain, simple fun.

Alien Hominid's rise to fame is a bit of a fairytale story - launching as a Flash game on popular Internet entertainment site NewGrounds (Run by Tom Fulp, coder on the various console ports) before being snapped up by publisher Behemoth and launched upon an unsuspecting but nevertheless thankful public. The game rushed through development and onto release just roughly twelve months after its humble beginnings as a 'time waster' on the Internet.

"That's all very nice, but what is it?" I hear you ask. The game itself revolves around a small yellow alien (presumably named Hominid) whose ship crash lands on Earth and is subsequently carted away by the FBI. Understandably miffed by this, Hominid (if I'm wrong in calling him this, someone pull me up on it) takes up arms, grabbing his adaptable alien ray gun and launching a full-scale assault on the secret service to regain his stolen ship and go home. Good on him.

That's it. No deep, involving plot line with cunning twists and emotive characters (although personally I felt a bit sorry for the little guy), just a skeletal but perfectly adequate excuse to blow all manner of hell out of things. This thin plot perfectly demonstrates the mentality behind Alien Hominid - that everything should be kept simple.

The level layout is easy enough to understand. Players go from left to right on a two-dimensional scrolling screen, shooting FBI agents until you reach the end. Occasionally you switch to flying levels, where you get to pilot your space ship in a format reminiscent of the retro game Asteroids, whereby you rotate around, boosting in all directions and avoiding obstacles.

Controlling Hominid himself is simple and intuitive; the A button jumps, the B button shoots. You can throw grenades with the right shoulder button, whilst the left allows you to dig into the ground and leap forward to avoid enemy fire. Crucially, control is tight and incredibly responsive, which is essential considering the number of bullets on screen at any one time. You can also take control of a vehicle or two, although any context sensitive situation is always helpfully explained on screen.

You'll need to get to grips with this simple control system pretty quickly, since at times the enemy AI can be absolutely merciless. Helicopter attacks from above and what seems like an army of tanks surrounding you can all come at once, forcing you to develop lightning fast reflexes. Thankfully, a wide variety of power-ups for your gun, ranging from a flamethrower to some kind of toxic bullet, are readily available. Still, occasionally the learning curve will go completely out the window and you'll waste ten lives (no exaggeration) on one level, only to breeze through the next on a single attempt.

The game's bosses also suffer from this inconsistency, often pulverising you before you've got a chance to learn their weak point (not too far removed from the Megaman series, in this respect). But you'll forgive them this frustration, since the bosses, like all the game's graphics, are stunningly well presented on the Game Boy Advance's hardware.

Everything is drawn in an ironically cheerful cartoon style, which personally reminds me of Saturday morning toons on Nickelodeon (Invader Zim, in particular). Everything is smoothly animated and vividly coloured, and Hominid's yellow body stands out well against the rainbow backdrops and shadowy FBI Agents. Again, due to the sheer number of people and bullets on screen, this is essential. It's an incredibly impressive conversion, especially considering how absolutely nothing has suffered coming over from the home console versions.

The background audio is usually a cheery little jingle, which will raise a wry smile in many as you demolish hordes of enemies in a generally bizarre cartoon-themed bloodbath. There's also the eerily realistic sounds that the Agents make as they split in half and a vast array of deeply satisfying explosion noises. Generally, considering the platform, the overall presentation of Alien Hominid is some of the best you'll find. Even Nintendo themselves would be hard pushed to reach this kind of quality.

Ultimately, that's what makes this title so appealing. On home consoles it was a humorous and refreshing novelty, but on the Game Boy Advance it becomes a compulsively playable title, which hints that perhaps this is what portable gaming is supposed to be like. Its charm is absolutely undeniable and I defy anyone to play it for at least fifteen minutes and not love it.

If I were to have one criticism of Alien Hominid (And I suppose I really ought to have at least one) it'd be that it ends far too soon; four worlds with five levels in each is all you get. Twenty levels sounds like a lot, but everything moves at such a fast pace that anyone with moderate skill or previous experience with games of this type won't be challenged for very long. Still, there's the old-fashioned lure of high scores to go back for (and I actually do, frequently) as well as a few humorous little mini-games, including one where you guide a soviet missile into America in Atari-esque graphics… Hmm…

Overall, Alien Hominid deserves to be the cult hit that it's become and should stand proudly next to Katamari Damacy as a symbol of simplicity in computer games. It's a bit like picking up a game marked as a retro classic that you've never played before, only with much better graphics. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to beat more high scores…

Reviewed by Zayne Finch for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).