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Apparently it’s cool to use exclamation points in titles. Pandemic Studios’ Destroy All Humans! mirrors the campy science fiction movies that were all the rage circa 1950. Instead of trying to save the Earth like in so many games, you’re going to be playing as these aliens as you proceed to lay waste to our precious planet’s inhabitants.
In Destroy All Humans!, you play as Crypto Sporidium 137, an alien of the Furon variety, who has been tasked with investigating planet Earth since it was discovered that humans contain some Furon DNA in their brainstems. Once he arrives, he realizes that an evil government agency by the name of Majestic is trying to capture him and his Furon technology. Crypto, of course, has other plans and proceeds to destroy as many humans as he can with the help of his boss Pox.
Crypto has three main weapons to destroy the humans with: his saucer, a gun, and psychic powers. The gun is powerful enough and can do a multitude of things that range from launching grenades and electric blasts. What kind of campy sci-fi game would this be without some disintegration and anal probing? Not a very good one, it seems, as these are also functionalities of the gun. Psychic powers include telekinesis, although the gun gets the job done by and large. When Crypto can no longer take the humans on his own, he is taken back to his saucer where he can then continue his rampage.
The humans don’t really want an alien going around blowing them up and do fight back. The game uses a warning system similar to that of the Grand Theft Auto games. At first, you’ll simply get the attention of the local cops, then the military, and then the eerie Majestic agents. Aside from simply getting rid of the humans, you can harvest their DNA by means of the brains that pop out. You’re able to explore the environments when not in a mission as a means to get more DNA. There are a few side missions to get additional DNA but these very interesting.
Though the actual gameplay revolves around destroying humans, it isn’t the best part of the game. You’re also given the ability to disguise yourself as a human. To keep up the disguise, you’ll need to scan the minds of the pedestrians. Doing so will raise your concentration meter and also give you some funny dialogue as you gather the thoughts of that person’s brain. There is a lot of dialogue to be found and most of it is extremely funny. The humor continues all throughout the game. Destroy All Humans! is clearly based on 1950s era sci-fi movies and pokes fun at them with ease. The whole 1950s culture is actually well represented with fun being poked at the constant talks of communism.
The game’s visuals fit the theme perfectly. The technical aspects of the character models aren’t particularly appealing but the game gets the artistic facet perfectly. You’ll encounter everything from weird scientists, to “hip” 1950s teenagers, and some creepy G-men, suit and all. The environments are quite varied as you’ll destroy humans in locations including a beach town, a farm, the desert and even a military base. The framerate keeps up with the game for the most part. Unfortunately, the draw distance is lacking. Pop-in is incredibly apparent as you play through the game and is even more noticeable when you’re in the saucer.
The game’s audio shares the same great atmosphere. The background music fits the theme perfectly – it sounds just like a sci-fi flick from the time period. Some of it is cheesy, yes, but that’s what the game was aiming for. The sound effects are less spectacular but do their job well. The voice acting is where really shines, though. The dialogue is just downright funny. The many conversations between Crypto and Pox will have you bursting with laughter. The bits of dialogue that you get when you scan someone’s head are equally amusing. Pandemic Studios did an excellent job at getting the atmosphere just right.
Destroy All Humans! would have been a decent game on its own. The gameplay isn’t spectacular but it is solid enough to warrant playing through for the game’s eight or so hour length. The atmosphere whether it is the environments or the dialogue or the music is simply top-notch. The game mirrors its source material with amazing fidelity and keeps you laughing all the way through. That elevates it from a simply okay game to one that is certainly recommended. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Jul 5, 2005
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