I recently starting playing Swat 4 through co-op missions with the BF. It’s a good thing there’s co-op for whole campaign because I think if I had to go about the game in single-player mode, I would have quit playing about halfway into the game due to cruddy teammate AI. Why do I always get stuck with mentally retarded AI teammates in every game I play?

Anyway, so far, we’ve been going through each mission with just the 2 of us despite the recommended 4-5 players. It’s not really that hard, despite dying a few times in one campaign, but it would be cool to see how the game goes with a team full of competent players. I played one regular pub co-op game but it was a bit less than ideal; 2 of the guys 4 seemed to have just barely installed the game and immediately jumped to multiplayer and had no idea how to play. So, if anyone else has Swat 4 and would like to play with us, let me know. I can host legit and *cough* non-legit players.

Also, why aren’t there more games with co-op campaign missions for the PC? Imagine something like Doom 3 or Far Cry, but co-op. Far Cry especially would be fun since one guy can drive and the other guy can man the gun. Damnit, why doesn’t Brothers in Arms have co-op? *shakes fist at mentally retarded AI teammates*

/2am rant.

I was itching to play a frantic 2D shooter, something like Metal Slug, these past few days and became a bit obsessed with Alien Hominid. I had read about the game somewhere before, but didn’t really give it much thought until a few nights ago. After playing the flash verison of the game, I was hooked. I had to have it.

After about four or five phone calls to various game stores and a lot of searching online, I finally located a store somewhat close to my house that I could get it from. Sure, I could have ordered it online, but I wanted to play it now. The bad news: the store didn’t have any new copies. The good news: I got a used copy for $17 instead of paying $30 for a new copy.

So what is Alien Hominid? It’s a 2d side-scrolling shooter where there are countless enemies and a bunch of mini-bosses and bosses. It may seem like repetitive button mashing, but there’s a lot of variety in the game including a few different types of weapon upgrades to choose from as well as mini-bosses and bosses which require some thinking to beat (kind of like the bosses in Megaman). My favorite boss so far is the one with the vulnerable point at his head, but you wouldn’t know it unless you read the sign that says “Warning! Do not shoot the head!” written on the chess of that boss-robot.

What made me buy this game instead of any other 2d shooter was that Alien Hominid wasn’t made by some giant, well-known game developer. It was independently developed by a few guys who really just liked making the game. The detailed backgrounds, including humorous graffiti on the walls, the death animations, all the little things, proved that these people really cared about the game.

I’d recommend this to anyone who likes Metal Slug, or anyone who has always wanted to jump on top of an FBI officer’s shoulder’s, force him to run around blindly, and then bite off his head in front of his comrades.

Three visits to three different stores later, I finally have Shining Tears. And it pwns me. An old-school RPG that has co-op options?! My dream has finally come true. *dies*