Aliens have been getting lazy lately by just using tractor beams to abduct people and animals rather than the old-fashioned way of doing it all by hand. Alien Havoc takes you back to those old ways by giving you the task of stealing cows by hand, but is this launch game for the PSP Minis worth its $5 price tag?

Being advertised as leaning towards a similar style to classic games of the past, Alien Havoc doesn’t really have much of a story to why you’re doing these cow kidnappings by hand. The basic gist of the game is that you must at least try to grab every cow on a level without being caught by a farmer, of which they are at least a few in a level. Levels can be divided into three styles of farmer patrols that are spread out over its 20 levels: normal patrols, hiding in scarecrows, and hiding in barns. Scarecrow farmers wait for you to get near them to pop out and chase you while farmers in barns head straight for you once you pick up a cow. You can stop the chase by hiding in patches of grass whether you are carrying the cow or not, which is probably the extent of the stealth portion of Alien Havoc.

There are different options of getting the cow from where it’s grazing to your spaceship in Alien Havoc that give it some depth. You’re able to pick up rocks to toss at farmers to knock them out or you can toss the cow itself, though they’re not really out long enough to be useful for more than a distraction. You can put the cow down to cause the barn farmers to leave, though doing that too many times makes the cow mad enough that it’ll run away the next time you put it down, which can be used as a strategy to get through levels quickly for a more lucrative time bonus rather than the small bonus you get for the cows themselves. The controls for picking up an object are a bit too picky, so you need to be right behind the rock or head of lettuce to pick it up. There are some instances where farmers get stuck in a spot as a glitch that can help, but they’re not too hard otherwise once you do get the hang of the controls.

The real issue with Alien Havoc is just the lack of modes or anything of merit that encourages replays. The only options you have when starting up the game is to play the main mode or customize your alien by changing its head or body and head colors, which is a bit shallow for even a $5 game. The Cow Caper mode is a simple sequence of 20 levels that really lacks one simple feature that could help it out a lot, which is a high score leaderboard, so aiming for a high score won’t do you much good if you’re not writing it down yourself. Nothing about that mode makes it stand out as something that’s interesting about this game.

Alien Havoc has a very simple, Super Nintendo or Game Boy Advance style to its sprites and presentation. Every farmer, cow, tractor, and the alien itself have simple animations to it that just makes this feel like a game that came out 15 years ago rather than something that was made today with a classic look to it. The music is pretty much a decent country tune that is looped over and over again, which can get old as you get further into the game.

Unless you have low standards for what you should expect for $5, Alien Havoc is not something that most anyone should consider unless it can be had for a buck or two. Even then, you’d have to really be into its simple concept to make it a worthy purchase. If you’re aching to get a PSP Mini, there are bigger fish in the sea that are probably worth your time more than Alien Havoc.

Final Score: 4.8 | Recommendation: Skip It

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About This Author: Chris Selogy

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