Destroy All Humans! (PS2)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.5 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Alex Navarro
• Reviewed on: 06/21/2005
• Released on: 06/21/2005
• Originally published on GameSpot: Destroy All Humans! (PS2) Review

Stories of alien invasion are nothing new to gaming, though the usual methodology involves humans having to fend off some vile extraterrestrial species from wiping them out. Well, what if you don't want to save humanity? What if you wanted to join up with the evil aliens to kick humanity's self-righteous ass into oblivion? That's the premise of the newest action game from developer Pandemic Studios. Appropriately titled Destroy All Humans!, you take on the role of a comically murderous alien on a mission of domination and destruction against humanity. It isn't all just blasters and explosions, however, as the game takes a decidedly tongue-in-cheek stance on the subject matter, modeling itself after the good-natured cheesiness of 1950s-era B-grade science fiction. Flying saucers, death rays, mysterious G-men, government conspiracies, and lots of anal probing are the order of the day here. And while the gameplay doesn't really do anything especially remarkable, and the adventure is unfortunately quite short, Destroy All Humans! shows such enthusiasm for its thematic inspiration that you can't help but at least appreciate what it tries to do.

Crypto Sporidium 137 is the name of Destroy All Humans!' hero...or villain. Hell, he's just an alien who wants to kill a lot of humans. And can you really blame him? Crypto comes from a race of black-eyed, gray-skinned aliens called the Furons, who survive almost exclusively thanks to cloning technology. Crypto's predecessor, Sporidium 136, has crash-landed on Earth, and now the humans (or the monkeys, as Crypto so affectionately refers to them) have him and his Furon technology. Crypto's apparent boss (or at least his slightly less homicidal cohort), Pox, assigns Crypto to investigate Earth and its inhabitants, for these silly human creatures actually harbor precious Furon DNA in their puny brain stems (as the direct result of some crazy experiments from the past, of course). And that DNA is much needed to keep the genetic purity of the Furon species intact. Crypto is then sent to Earth, only to discover a clandestine plot by a secret government agency, called Majestic, to capture him and develop Furon technology for their own clearly insidious purposes. Crypto, being the gung ho soldier of the Furon empire that he is, won't stand for such nonsense, and with his buddy Pox helping him along the way, he destroys an awful lot of monkeys by the time the ending credits roll.

Crypto doesn't seem like much of a warrior at first, given his relatively slight stature. But when he's armed with Furon weaponry, humanity is toast. Crypto is given three basic weapons throughout the game: his trusty gun, his psychic powers, and his flying saucer. All have various types of upgrades. For instance, the gun can launch grenades, send out electric blasts, discharge painful anal probes, and disintegrate anyone unlucky enough to get in front of its blast. The only psychic power he can upgrade is his telekinesis power, which works pretty similarly to practically every other TK power recently featured in other recent sci-fi action games. When bigger threats appear, Crypto is directed back to his saucer, and from there he can launch everything from basic death rays to sonic blasts to even quantum explosions. The game breaks up the on-foot and airborne combat sequences relatively evenly; though while these would seem like two vastly different combat mechanics--regardless of which one you're engaging in--it all kind of feels the same.

This is because the overall combat really feels pretty basic across the board. There isn't a lot to it other than just running around while blasting humans, periodically harvesting their DNA via the brains that pop out of their recently exploded heads. This isn't a terribly involved process, and it becomes even simpler when you're in your saucer, as all you have to do is just keep dodging and moving and you'll barely ever be hit as you lay waste to droves of military vehicles and entire cities. It's a touch harder on foot, as you'll find yourself fighting off the inevitable authorities that come running once you tip them off to your presence. The game uses a GTA-like tiered alert system, where setting off varying degrees of panic alerts the cops, the military, and, finally, the Majestic agents. It makes sense here, since you can actually wander about any of the game's environments all you please once you've completed a mission, and during that time, you'll probably want to get in on some DNA collection. Unfortunately, even when you're being bombarded by soldiers, tanks, giant robots, and Majestic agents, it's still supereasy to just duck into a corner, regain your health, and then just run around blowing stuff up without too much worry of death. While there's a certain visceral thrill to it, it does get kind of old.

While you're in between main missions, you can also get into some occasional side missions. You'll need to get into them, actually, since some missions can't be unlocked unless you collect a certain amount of DNA. (DNA can be used to purchase character and saucer upgrades from Pox.) Sadly, you're unlikely to have much fun with the additional tasks. They rarely transcend the two basic concepts of simple checkpoint races and killing missions, where you just have to kill enough of a specific type of human or creature to earn a DNA bonus. A few of these missions are also easily exploitable, to the point where you can just do them over and over again to get superquick DNA boosts.

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