ic-games Review - Destroy All Humans! - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Destroy All Humans! - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Destroy All Humans!

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Publisher: THQ
Reviewed: Xbox
Genre: Action/Adventure
UK Release: 24th Jun 2005
Article Date: 25th Jun 2005
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: £39.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 83%

Discuss this review in the Forums

Pros

Freeform nature

Great presentation

Brilliant soundtrack

Cons

Slightly repetitive

Screenshots

75 of 137

Ever since THQ and Pandemic Studios (Full Spectrum Warrior) announced ‘Destroy all Humans’ we must admit we got a little excited. The cult movie style of the game certainly struck a nerve, and the two game styles in one was just icing on the cake. So after two long earth years we finally got to see if the Austrailian division of Pandemic Studios delivered everything they promised.

‘Destroy all Humans’ begins with an unexplained UFO crash landing in Roswell. After the alien pilot (known only as Crypto 136 to his leaders) emerges from the wrecked craft he finds himself surrounded by an obviously excitable US military presence. Fearing for his life the alien raises his gun, but before he has the chance to shoot he collapses to the ground obviously fatally wounded from the landing.

Meanwhile on the mothership, Crypto 137 has just been genetically engineered to complete the task of worldwide domination. Crypto 137 soon decides with the leader that the best place to start would be where the previous fallen alien went missing, planet Earth. It seems the strange planet has a race that contains ancient alien DNA that can be harvested to purify there own genetic makeup.

The gameplay consist of multiple missions that need to be completed to further the storyline. These can range from assassinating human scientist to altering television antennas to broadcast your own subliminal messages. As in Rockstar’s ‘Grand Theft Auto’ you are always free to do your own thing in-between, such as harvesting extra DNA between missions or completing any one of the multiple bonus tasks that can also be found on the map. Since the actual missions revolve around the same ‘collect, destroy, assassinate or abduct’ formula things can become repetitive at times but thanks to the excellent presentation you’ll have more than enough to come back for.

But it quickly becomes apparent that these third person missions are only half of what ‘Destroy all Humans’ offers. At any time (unless a mission strictly disallows it) you can jump into your flying saucer and wreck colossal damage. The standard flying saucer weapon, ‘The Death Ray’ is pretty poor in comparison with the stuff you can eventually own but it still makes a good beginner weapon. The Death Ray is the quickest way to deal damage to vehicles and buildings but is liable to overheat very quickly leaving you exposed to counterattacks (yes you are still exposed to attack in the saucer). Whilst the Death Ray is effective against people as well, the Abducto Beam should be the weapon of choice when dealing with the general populace. The Abducto Beam simply picks up any person (or even object) and allows you to drop them elsewhere. This is especially useful for removing any police presence ot obstruction. As with the field weapons, you’ll also be able to get hold of upgrades and further weapons such as the Sonic Boom and Quantum Destructor as you progress.

Borrowing heavily (and at time ridiculing) cult movies like ‘Plan 9 from outer space’, Destroy all Humans’ intentionally becomes exceptionally funny, very quickly. Knowledge of how bad these movies were 50 years ago does help you appreciate some of the in-jokes but on the whole the humour translates easily enough. Anyone in need of a refresher course should simply pop in the free ‘Plan 9 from outer space’, DVD that accompanies the game.

The graphics look pretty standard in comparison to some of the Xbox’s recent titles but they still manage to hold your attention. Once again the Havok engine is called in to re-enforce the belief that you are throwing around people and vehicles and the engine doesn’t disappoint. There was the occasional problem with graphic corruption, torn textures and other tiny anomalies but nothing really to stop the show. Graphically though, what does set ‘Destroy all Humans’ apart is the attention to detail with some of the alien weaponry. For example the blaster effect (especially when upgraded) disintegrates anyone who gets in its path, when you hit someone up close the actual effect is remarkably similar in style to all the classic films of yesteryear. Backgrounds are highly destructible and have a high amount of detail for a non-linear pathway title like Destroy All Humans! The superb art direction and general solidness to the rendering and animation will pull you through the pop-in, however. Cut-scenes are taken from gameplay footage, so they won’t look overly pretty, but they too have been given the appropriate 50’s touch and wield first-class art-direction

Pandemic Studios should be thoroughly applauded for what they have achieved in the audio department as ‘Destroy all Humans’ is without a doubt an aural treat. The background music fits the classic B movie style the game is trying to portray and actually demands to be played through decent speakers. The same is true of the voice acting, (and quite a lot of it there is as well)

The further you progress, so does the likelihood you’ll need some updated weaponry and skills. Even though new weapons are issued periodically, you do have the opportunity to visit the mothership at any time to upgrade these weapons. As you would expect, the all important DNA becomes the currency in ‘Destroy all Humans’ and if you collect enough of the stuff you’ll be able to purchase new abilities or upgrades as soon as they become available. You’ll be able to upgrade your PSI powers to pick up vehicles for example, along with multiple other upgrades.

If anything, Destroy all Humans is well presented. All the menus are a joy to navigate and hold some pretty decent bonus material. The ‘B movie reel’ showcases any videos you have unlocked, and these range from trailers, promotional material end even clips from the classic B movie ‘Plan 9 from outer space’.

Destroy all Humans may not be the blockbuster we had originally hoped for but Pandemic Studios have still managed to pull together a pretty compelling package. Multiplayer would have been an absolute blast, but even with the standalone single player storyline ‘Destroy all Humans’ is certainly worth a look especially if you have a keen interest in classic Science Fiction.

DETAILED GAME INFORMATION

Version Reviewed: Xbox Promo (no instructions)
Live! Enabled: No
Price: £39.99
Age: 15 (UK)/M for Mature (USA)

Destroy All Humans! Trailer #1 - DOWNLOAD HERE
Destroy All Humans! Trailer #2 - DOWNLOAD HERE
Destroy All Humans! Screenshots (.zip) - DOWNLOAD HERE

USA Release date - Out Now!
UK Release date - Out Now!

Discuss the Destroy All Humans! review in the Forums

IC-Games RSS Feed

IC-Games Reviews and Previews (c) 2002-2007

Designed by James Collins

To have your product featured contact The Editor
Found some news? contact The News Desk
PR Dept - Andrew St.Denis
Additional Coding by James Collins and Phil Douglas
Get credited, submit breaking news at The News Desk
Want to hire one of our journalists? Enquire here
Want to see your advert on site? Enquire here

Ic-games.co.uk banner Ciao.co.uk

Find the best console offers for the video game lover like Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and all types of PC games.

Xbox 360 Games

Internet bingo is played by large and a vast amount of gamers, so you’re sure to make a network and friends. Whatever age or gender.