Destroy All Humans!

"humor+mass murder=DAH!"

Ever since I saw the previews for Destroy All Humans, I was hooked. It's been an eternity since we got a game that had you playing the 'enemy' the entire time, and this one really makes up for that. Here's the review:

Graphics: 7.5/10

The graphics are really interesting, but it still seems that they saved the best for the intro and outro animatics. The gameplay gfx aren't bad, but there are a few flaws. First, the landscape has some serious pop-up issues. One minute you're looking at a horizon filled with nothing more than white space, hover forwards a few feet, and there's a giant city in front of you. Good, but nothing to brag about. At least the characters look realistic enough.

Sound: 8/10

First off, I must say (for the 1,000,000 time) that Crypto sounds EXACTLY like Jack Nicholson. But that's a good thing, as he sounds less and less like those anorexic green things you used to see in alien movies. Crypto's instructor, Pox, is voiced by Richard Horvitz (who also voiced the alien Zim in Invader ZIM) and once again he plays the part of an annoyed alien wonderfully. There are a few parts where the sound just blanks out for a few seconds, but that's not really much. The sound track gets repetetive after awhile, but it fits the alien theme well.

Gameplay: 8.5/10

The reason I gave it the score I did is because of the large humor factor. Scanning peoples minds will reveal heir innermost and sometimes naughtiest thoughts. Some of the missions have large amounts of humor, but several of the missions and side missions become VERY repetitive. Even ripping peoples brains out and blowing up buildings gets old eventually. The story is surprisingly short, and a bunch of the missions are easy; I finished the game in a day or so, no cheat codes.

Replayability: 5/10

Unless you just want to scan more minds, get more unlockables, and play more boring side missions, there's not much to do once you beat the game. Go back and get more probes if you want 100% completion, but there's no real point except the ability to say you did. You get nothing for side missions except DNA, and probes will unlock Furonigami items when you collect enough, but most are just little concept art and trailers you've probably already seen on TV. Not exactly worth the time.

Rent or Buy?

Got it as a gift=keep it, beat it, then sell it unless you want to keep the humor around

You know you can beat it in a few days=rent it

You're not sure, and you know you'll want to replay it multiple times=buy it

You saw a trailer for it and aren't sure=if you need another comical shooter/adventure game, it's a good addition to your collection

Kids or Adults?

Older kids (suggestive themes) and younger adults (not quite violent enough for older audiences, but still fun)

It's an amazingly well-done game, and is fun enough to want to buy it. Although I finished it fairly quickly, I enjoyed most of the game. I'm pretty sure others will agree, based on the reviews I've seen. So get out there and Destroy All Humans!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/14/05