While there’s a zombie game released every five seconds, there aren’t nearly enough alien games out there. I mean sure, there’s a handful of titles based on the actual Alien franchise with Xenomorphs running around causing havoc, but think of how many games are around with actual aliens, whether it be little green men or humanoid creatures from another planet. With a bold and obvious title, Crazy Alien Invaders (Free) seeks to rectify this unfortunate shortage.
Your goal is woefully straightforward, but the way it’s presented is endearing. Your job, as a pair of quirky aliens, is to abduct mankind bit by bit until you can colonize the Earth. This is also an altruistic goal, as the duo also wants to “escape the wrath" of the queen alien. It’s made clear that you are part of a “Galactic Empire of Evil," but the playable characters sell it and are extremely likable in their own way. The dialogue isn’t award-winning by any means, but it’s funny and silly, and enough to keep players going — anyone who loves silly sitcom-like banter will feel right at home.
To actually get anything done, you’ll whisk yourself away to Earth periodically through a wormhole by way of a UFO, extracting unsuspecting humans in an “endless"-esque format. It’s relaxing, in a way, to move to and fro abducting humans, especially since the on-screen controls are “move left and right" and “queue the tractor beam." Tapping the UFO at any time will bring you back to base, where players can check in with missions, upgrades, and their overall progress. It gives you a decent amount of control over the action and is intuitive enough for anyone to pick up — though I wish there was more of a focus on vertical levels rather than go with the same back and forth plane setup.
Over time it can get a bit monotonous, just sucking up humans constantly, but it’s clearly meant for frequent breaks chopping down some of that fatigue. Quests also constantly dangle a carrot in front of you, like earning enough cakes to satisfy the queen or finding jewels for a princess. Some variation occurs with enough of an investment, like picking out certain age groups out of a crowd, or locating items on the horizontal play area before they disappear or walk out of harm’s way. There isn’t that much of an incentive to power forward since these goals usually just unlock more goals in turn, but the story does shift over time, including a focus on other planets.
The visual style in Crazy Alien Invaders reminds me of classic NES games of old, with a tint of 90s DOS thrown in for good measure — specifically of the Japanese variety, in that the spritework is perfectly reminiscent of a game like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy pre-VII. The soundtrack mostly consists of just a few songs that are forgettable throwbacks to a bygone era, and the sound effects are familiar territory, almost to a fault, including the Metal Gear Solid “exclamation noise" strangely popping up when frightening human NPCs. Translation-wise the text is also a bit rough, with some slight errors in terms of syntax.
There is some form of IAP in the game, but it’s not in your face by any means and I didn’t even notice it until a few hours in. If you want, Coins can be purchased piecemeal, which grant upgrades like a better tractor beam or a greater UFO speed, but they’re by no means required in the slightest. I managed to make my way through the entire affair without spending a cent, and it seems like the transactions are merely there as a form of a tip jar. In other words, it’s not balanced around spending money.
Every once in a while you get a chance to see such an unassuming release, and this is the latest example of that. For a free game that doesn’t pull any punches, Crazy Alien Invaders is a nice little ride. I got way more time than I expected out of it, and I’m interested in seeing what this particular developer has up their sleeve next. I for one welcome our alien overlords.
