Destroy All Humans! (2005 video game)
Destroy All Humans! is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. It was released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems on June 21, 2005. The game is set in 1950's-era U.S. and parodies the lifestyles, pop culture, and politics of this time period. The player controls Crypto, a member of the Furon race of aliens, who has come to Earth to harvest DNA from humans to continue the cloning process of his species.
The game
In Destroy All Humans!, players assume the role of Cryptosporidium-137 (Crypto for short), a warrior and member of the Furon alien race. After a nuclear war left their species impotent and without genitalia, the Furons were forced to turn to cloning as means of reproduction, as well as a process by which to achieve immortality. However, after generations of clones, the Furon DNA is degrading, and each clone is becoming less and less stable.
It is revealed that humans contain a small amount of Furon DNA in their genetic code. Crypto is sent to Earth to harvest this DNA from human brain stems, locate and rescue his brother, Cryptosporidium (136), and spearhead a Furon invasion of Earth. The game is set up in a "sandbox" fashion, much like Pandemic's January 2005 game, Mercenaries. The player has a selection of weapons and mental abilities at their disposal, as well as access to Crypto's flying saucer.
The 1959 B-movie Teenagers from Outer Space becomes available to view once the main story campaign has been completed.
Weaponry
As an alien, Crypto has extreme technological superiority over the humans; he can single handedly fight off troops of soldiers and tanks. His arsenal includes the Zap-O-Matic (blue), the Anal Probe (green), the Disintegrator Ray (yellow), much like the alien weapons in Mars Attacks) and the ion detonator (red). Crypto also has mental powers available, including psychokinesis, hypnosis, and mind reading. His flying saucer is armed with War of the Worlds-style heat rays and abduction beams. All weapons are upgradable by obtaining and spending "DNA", the game's currency. Destroy All Humans! implements the Havok physics engine, allowing for ragdoll effects on bodies and highly destructible environments.
Setting
Destroy All Humans! is set in 1950's-period United States. The game consists of six settings, all accessible from the mothership. These include two rural communities, a California suburb, an Area 51-style military base, an Eastern seaboard industrial city, and Washington, DC. Humans in these locations become alarmed by Crypto's presence, and while some run or hide, others are armed and will fight back. An alert system, much like Grand Theft Auto's "wanted level", denotes how much attention Crypto has attracted, leading to police, military involvement, and eventully a group called the Majestic will join the chase. Most buildings and structures in the game can be destroyed.
The hub of the game is the Furon mothership, in orbit around Earth. From there you can receive missions, upgrade weapons, and view unlocked content. This is also the portal to each of the Earth settings in the game.
Furons
Coming from the planet Gorta, the Furons are led by their emperor, Orthopox (voiced by Richard Horvitz), who remembers a planet he visited a long time ago and and travels there on the hunt for more DNA.
Furon Weaponry
The Furons have a wide range of weaponry. The clones sent down to Earth, called Cryptosporidium, carry four weapons with them. The first is the Zap-O-Matic which emits electricity at the enemy. The second, the Anal Probe, shoots a green beam into the anus of the victim and retrieves the brain stem, which once collected gives DNA to the clone. The third is the Disintegrator Ray which fires either a single, double or triple shot at the enemy, disintegrating them instantly. The fourth and probably most destructive is the Ion Detonator. It launches a sort of grenade into the air then on the second pull of the trigger it explodes, ionizing everything in its blast radius.
Saucer Weaponry
The Furons method of travelling is a saucer and of course that comes heavily equipped with weapons too. The first weapon is the Death Ray. This shoots a red beam at the target incinerating it. The second is the Abducto-Beam which, when activated, picks up anything from civilians to tanks and brings it with the saucer wherever it goes. The third is the Sonic Boom, which fires a small bomb at the target damaging everything in the blast radius. The fourth and most lethal of all Furon weaponry is the Quantum Deconstructor. This launches a bomb at the target, obliterating everything in its area of destruction.
Mental powers
The Furons have many mental abilities. Psychokinesis lets them move any target using only their mind then throw them into the distance. They can scan any living thing for its thoughts, allowing them to know about anything. They can also hypnotise the living to create a distraction, walk back to the saucer or even fall asleep. The final thing is to extract a human brain stem. Once extracted and collected the brain stem gives the clone more DNA.
HoloBob
The Furons can imitate the appearance of any human to slip through them unseen although the disguise can be broken by the extra-terrestrial investigators of Majestic.
Reception
Upon release, Destroy All Humans! received mostly positive reviews [1], although some reviewers complained of "repetitiveness" in mission design and gameplay. Graphics were described in a mostly good light, except for the large amount of pop-up in the game. Most praised was the game's satirical tone and comedic gameplay, highly derived from 1950's sci-fi movies.
Marketing
- Those who pre-ordered Destroy All Humans! received a copy of the 1950's Ed Wood sci-fi movie Plan 9 From Outer Space. The game contains many references to the movie, including actual scenes from the movie showing at a drive-in theater.
External links
- Destroy All Humans! Offical website