Destroy All Humans! Review

Pandemic Studios have rightfully carved a name for themselves in recent years with the release of Full Spectrum Warrior, Star Wars: Battlefront and Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction; their latest title however, THQâ??s Destroy All Humans, may be stretching the formula a little thin and comes short of the mark on a number of occasions for all but the biggest B-Movie buff.

Players take the role of an irate alien named Crypto, a Furon warrior more specifically, sent to Earth to clear the way for a total invasion. Inspired by a range of B-Movies and the likes of Tim Burtonâ??s Mars Attacks, Pandemic has done a fantastic job of replicating the style, which in turn helps to lend a comedic tone throughout the entire experience and will please fans of the material â?“ certainly the explanation of the alienâ??s invasion sets the tone for the rest of the adventure.

Destroy All Humans takes place in several fictitious cities from across the United States during the 1950â??s, so once again itâ??s a case of routine missions taking place in an open-plan gameworld similarly to the likes of Mercenaries. Where Destroy All Humans differs from Pandemicâ??s previous smash-hit is the fact that missions take place in restricted areas blocked off by borders, removing the sense of continuity and lending a tired, linear feel to the whole experience. This factor is worsened by the need to transport back to the Mother Ship every time a mission is complete or failed, breaking any sense of immersion as the game switches to a Menu almost continuously.

The gameplay is broken up into two major components and provides to be an exciting blast to begin with. The opening objectives typically begin the game on foot with Crypto having to complete an assortment of objectives, ranging from wrecking carnage to abducting the local beauty queen. Having completed these the player is then tasked with stepping aboard the spaceship, flying around the environment and causing as much destruction as possible with the Death-Ray and Abducto-Beam.

Beginning in a stereotypical redneck village, expanding to the local town and ultimately sprawling cities, Destroy All Humans manages to tick all of the criteria when it comes to replicating the look and feel, with everything from Men in Dark Brown Suits to Radioactive Zombie Cows â?“ fans of Plan from Outer Space 9 will be in their element.

As playersâ?? progress through the game, Crypto learns a variety of new techniques and can upgrade both his and the spaceships abilities. These work well within the game and often provide the impetus to progress through the game, after a short duration Crypto learns how to play around with objects and humans in the air using hi psycho-kinesis powers, shoot anal-probes with hilarious results and disintegrate humans Mars Attacks style, to mention but a few. Extracting DNA from humansâ?? acts as the gameâ??s currency, however attract too much attention and youâ??ll soon find the cops and authorities on your back.

The main stumbling block when it comes to Destroy All Humans is one that many in the genre face, namely repetition. The initial comedic and novelty value wears thin all too quickly and isnâ??t helped by the restricted areas and the structure of progress through the game; whereas Mercenaries provided plenty of bang for the buck to begin with and tailed off after a considerable time, Destroy All Humans just fails to get going and never really entices the player completely.

Following on from Mercenaries, Destroy All Humans is once again a chance for Pandemic to flaunt their physics engine. Thereâ??s no doubt that flying around in the saucer, picking up cars from below and using them as makeshift catapult ammo can be amusing, coupled with the destructible environment; equally the outrageous animations greeted whenever Crypto hoists a body into the are entertaining. In an attempt to inject some sense of variety, thereâ??s a vast selection of secondary quests, while one particular mission sees Crypto assuming the role of the town major to calm an anxious mob via a novel little mini-game; ultimately they fail to sustain the interest however and provide very few benefits to progress within the game.

Visually the game is a somewhat mixed bag; the style oozes out through the models, animations and one or two neat little touches. However an overall lack of detail coupled with a few graphical glitches hinders the overall look, leaving a game that is somewhat short of the standards set by previous Pandemic titles.

No fault however can be applied to the music and voice acting throughout, which plays a major role in ensuring the atmosphere throughout the game is spot on. A wide selection of citizens populate the gameworld each spouting something odd and irrelevant, while the dynamic soundtrack helps to build up a certain sense of tension when the action heats up even if the actual game doesnâ??t.