When I first saw Hyper Sentinel on Kickstarter I thought of Space Invaders. Admittedly I thought of Space Invaders on steroids, but I was definitely thinking “oh look, it’s new age Space Invaders”. Maybe I should have been thinking oh look it’s Space Intruders. I’ll be perfectly honest, I had no idea who Andrew Hewson was before this Kickstarter appeared. However, after reading up about the guy, I’m not all that surprised at this retro-style, modern-era Space Invaders game appearing.
Andrew Hewson was the founder of Hewson Consultants Ltd. The company had a good reputation way back in the 1980s and were known for making high-quality games. One of the first games produced was a game called Space Intruders which was Z clone of Space Invaders. Personally, I feel like Hyper Sentinel is a call back to that time. Hewson Consultants Ltd closed in 1991 but reappeared on Kickstarter to seek funds for Andrew Hewson’s book about his experiences in the video game industry. The second name I keep seeing is Rob Hewson. It doesn’t say on the Kickstarter page what relationship he has with Andrew, but I’m pretty sure their last names aren’t coincidental. Rob Hewson was also involved in the production of the book, but whether he is a brother or a son still remains a mystery to me.
Games published under Hewson Consultant Ltd
Anyway, it seems like Hyper Sentinel has a pretty interesting crew behind it. The game seems like a souped-up Space Invaders and I’m not complaining. I find it a little dodgy that you have to back the game in order to view the demo. Still, there’s a solid team behind it and they seem to have an established fanbase so it seems like the game will make its goal.
Do you know anything about Andrew Hewson? Are you going to back Hyper Sentinel? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
