Put it out of it's misery.
Story:
There's really no story in HelpTheAlien whatsoever. You control some force that has to help an alien escape a void prison, by blowing it up ? Yeah I got nothing.
Graphics:
Taking one good look at the screenshots you can easily see that this game is no looker. The alien is basically in a model pose, like it's ripped out of some asset store and everything else looks like it was made in microsoft paint. It's just a horrible looking game.
Even when you can unlock new cosmetics for the Alien to wear, they will phase into the model as they weren't even intended to be placed on the model. Everything about this game screams incredibly cheap and very little effort put into.
Audio:
The audio design is just as horrible as everything else. There's one track that plays for like 5 seconds before you click on a level and then it goes mute for the rest of the time. The only other sounds you hear is the constant explosions you place to move the alien and the level complete track.
Everything is overly loud and will probably make you go deaf or insane, whatever happens first is better than listening to whatever the audio in this game was.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in HelpTheAlien is very simplistic. The basic gist is that you can place explosions which will propel the alien around the map and your goal is to get him to a white field which will finish the level. It's a very simple physics based game on the surface, however it's dethroned Bad Rats in the worst physics I've seen in a game.
Levels start out simple enough and it might give you a false impression that the game is a fun, yet overly simplistic, however that doesn't last long. Most levels are designed really poorly and are overly difficult. For example the last ten levels have platforms that have no collision from one side which means you will hit it from one side and fall through the other.
As there's no safe space to land and calculate a different move to get to the finish you have to juggle the alien in the air, but this is where the biggest problem of the game begins and that is the incredibly inconsistent physics rules. The same move will never lead to the same results.
Place an explosion ? The time it takes to explode will be different every time, It can propel you into random directions, hell it can even just not propel you at all, so you just fall. Levels require incredible fast movement and for you to understand the physics perfectly, however when they never act the same way learning this game boils down to luck.
It's just not a fun game and will infuriate you more than provide a decent time. Beating it proved quite the challenge and actually took me over four hours on a single level, which almost drove me insane by itself.
Verdict:
I didn't know where to add this, but this game is like The Twilight Zone of steam. The developer released this and just vanished, according to SteamDB I'm the only person to have ever played this (and have beaten it) so I feel like I'm the only person to know of this games existence.
That's why I have to warn any people that might stumble across this secret steam game, that it's really bad and not something I recommend picking up. The novelty is not good enough and the game is an infuriating mess that makes Bad Rats seem competent in it's physics design.
Final Rating:
1/10
Pros:
N/A
Cons:
- Level design is infuriatingly difficult and at times borderline impossible
- Horrible graphics
- Audio design will either make you go deaf or insane
- Physics are inconsistent and make learning the gameplay impossible
NOTE: I was provided with a review key for this game by the developer/publisher on the behalf of the group Completing the Backlog. This did not impact my opinion on the game whatsoever.
If you liked this review please consider joining https://steamcommunity.com/groups/completingthebacklog
