Destroy All Humans!

Ahh! The glorious days when pop culture collided head-on with UFO conspiracy theories, with sometimes (unintentional but) humorous results. This time around, the humor is intentional, as is the sense of joyful adventure.

Cryptosporidium 136, one of the cloned Furons, was on a reconnaissance trip to Earth when he inadvertently hovered over a launching missile in his flying saucer and was subsequently shot down. All of this was monitored by the boss Furon who calls forth another of the cloned race and tells him of the Furon secret. It seems the Furon race’s DNA pool, from which all clones come, is starting to dry up. In order to save the race, the Furons must recover DNA from a race it once visited a long, long time ago.  

That means a trip to Earth. Of course, the last trip met with some trouble, which infuriates Crypto 137.

“There is a time for thought and a time for action, and this is one of them!” he yells.

“Which?” asks the master.

“The second one!”

THQ and Pandemic Studios are offering up Destroy All Humans!, a PlayStation 2 release slated to hit store shelves in mid-June. Offering homage to Plan 9 from Outer Space (Ed Wood’s incredibly bad motion picture about an alien invasion), with a little of Mars Attacks! thrown in for good measure, the game is a mixture of action and humor all rolled into a tasty visual experience that is delightful and fully three-dimensional.

When one first meets Crypto 137, there is just a touch of the Jack Nicholson timbre to the voice, as well as the dry wit. Nonetheless, and with a few reservations, the intrepid Furon is sent to Earth to begin the invasion of the planet on a small scale.

When Cryto 137 first arrives (level 1, Destination Earth), he lands in the field of Farmer Turnipseed and mistakes the cows grazing in the pasture for the intelligent human life force. After a brief conversation, he gets to the bottom line:

“Right now we are abducting you for scientific research. The procedure will be protracted and invasive. Do you have any objections?

 Moooo!”

…

“I don’t care how many stomachs you have, I don’t have time for this.” Crypto yells. Thus begins the indoctrination to the telepathic abilities and weapon uses available to this advanced race.

And, of course, there are cerebral cortexes with DNA to recover, as well as tiny robotic-looking devices with DNA as well – leading to a somewhat arcade-like experience. Power-ups are available to repair hull damage to the saucer when flying and destroying elements. The game evolves with tutorials through the first level to get players accustomed to the control scheme – which is not all that tough anyway. If there is a problem, it stems from the no in-level save. If you get close to the end of the level and die, you regenerate as the next Crypto and start the level all over again.  

The game’s controls are kept simple, whether controlling Crypto and his telepathic abilities and weapons or flying his ship and destroying human civilization as we know it, and the game instead relies on a difficulty level that ramps up as you progress. You do get feedback from the very sarcastic boss Furon, who will insult you, give you intel on human troop movements and guide you through the initial levels. It really adds up to a terrific audio assault that is certain to have players chuckling.

Visually the game is terrific. A fully three-dimensional world, colorful and with some great effects awaits in this tale. This is a bit of eye candy worth tasting.

Destroy All Humans! is wonderfully stylish, rife with humor and adventure, and comes with a fair amount of challenge thrown in. This is a game that should be on the radar of all gamers.