Graphics:
The animation and style of the game are breathtaking. It's cute and very smooth. The alien(s) you play is extremely adorable and the backgrounds are as unique as the buildings (which often have very funny names for the businesses they house). Everything looks absolutely fabulous in high-definition as well. So those of you with HD TVs are in for an animated treat.

Music/Sound:
Alien Hominid HD's soundtrack is a lot of fun and highly energetic. In stage 2-1, the first Russian area, the music bears an uncanny resemblance to the first Severnaya stage music in GoldenEye for the Nintendo 64. I think that is a homage to video games they have played. The developers, I believe, are in my age group anyways, so such things come as no surprise, but it is nice to see/hear. As for the sound effects, they are top notch. They are just as fun and quirky as the rest of the game...I especially enjoy the big laser beam that the first two bosses shoot at you.

Abilities:
You have a set of abilities and things you can in the game. For example, you have the ability to jump on your enemy's head and bite it off. In so doing, you have the potential to frighten those around you giving you the advantage in shooting them up. ...or, if you're close enough, cut them like a bitch with your knife in a touching homage to the Metal Slug series (I love Metal Slug). If you don't feel like being seen, you can press down and Y to burrow underground and reach up to pull enemies into the ground and down to your stomach. In addition to the weapon you are given, you can charge up your gun for some 'screen clearing action.' Plus, you can gain a variety of different weapons from an ice ray, flame thrower type gun, lasers (pew pew pew!), a spread gun and an enlarged version of the default weapon (by the way, when you get these, you get a shield that lasts a hit or two depending on the difficulty level).

As if that weren't enough, you can take over vehicles that appear in the background and drive them over the various agents you encounter, all the while shooting your gun out of the window. So far, I've taken over cars, trucks, tanks, a spaceship and even an Abominable Snowman/Yeti. Each one was a blast.

Gameplay:
The action is extremely fast, and if you get too panicky, you're dead...simple as that. In some parts, the agents keep on coming and they do not stop, but this is often incredibly fun and turns into a furious knife fight! Especially when they start dropping in on you from helicopters or start popping up from under the snow. Not much more to say about this other than it's freakin' awesome and lots of fun. On top of that, it controls very well, which is crucial for games like this. Which leads me to the boss battles.

The bosses are very creative. From giant robots with swinging arms/laser beams, flying robots that shoot fireballs and have giant knives underneath them, an award winning pudding boss who I thoroughly enjoyed killing, to a giant Russian machine that ended up being a sinister type of Matryoshka that tries to kill you. Each boss I've encountered is very satisfying to battle and once you figure out the pattern, they are pretty easy to defeat...but still somewhat of a challenge, for sure. If it's too much for you, you can change the difficulty level to suit your abilities.

During the campaign, you can chose to play alone or with another via co-op...on the same system. That is to say, you cannot play co-op over Xbox Live, which is incredibly disappointing. I cannot stop saying how disappointed I am with The Behemoth for not including two player co-op over Live...but it certainly is available for the mini-games. Perhaps this will be remedied in an upcoming update for the game...as well as some curiously missing music in the missile mini-game where you try to direct a Russian nuke, through helicopters and birds, to the United States.

Bonus Stuff:
Along the way, you can unlock different achievements, hats and mini-games. The hats are adorable and you can wear those through the campaign if you so desire. The mini-games are a nice distraction but I've yet to try them out with friends over Live...but I'd much rather have an online co-op pow-wow than the mini-games.

Final Thoughts:
Alien Hominid HD is a highly enjoyable game and, in my opinion, the best one to come out on Xbox Live Arcade, yet. The graphics, sound, gameplay and musical score of this game never disappoint. The mini-games are a nice distraction, but only for about 5-10 minutes...hopefully more fun when playing with others. Don't let the lack of online co-op through the main campaign dissuade you from buying this gem. For only 800 points (roughly $10.00), it's totally worth it. ...and besides, who's to say that such an option won't be included later on? Kameo stands as such an example of a single player game becoming co-op via Xbox Live through a patch/update...so I believe it's still in the cards and that it will happen. So in conclusion, if you love shoot-em-ups like the Metal Slug series or just want something that not only looks awesome but is incredibly fun, load up some points and grab you some Alien Hominid HD.

Alien Hominid HD Official Site