Destroy All Humans
For once we have a game where you get to be the bad-guy, or good-guy depending on how you look at it. Destroy All Humans on the PS2 system is loads of fun.
You are Krypto, the gun toting, smart talking, little GREY alien. You are sent to Earth to gather information. On the first mission you learn how evil the human race is. When people see you they attack you or run away and call for help. If enough people call for help the police get notified. After the police come the military. And after the military comes the unknown Majestic. Majestic is a group that hunts aliens, and gets stronger each level that you progress. Luckily, as you get further in the game, you get a few stronger weapons; the Zap-o-matic, Anal Probe, the Disintegrator, and the Ion Blaster. With each of these weapons you are able to purchase an upgrade on the Mothership from Pox. Upgrades cost DNA, which you can either take from Humans using the Anal Probe or by extracting their brains once they have been killed. With your brain-power you are able to hypnotize people into doing silly acts that distract the other people around. You can even scan their brains for their thoughts, or pick them up and throw them somewhere all using your brain.
Other than using Krypto on foot, you can enter your saucer. With your saucer you can use your Death Ray, Abducto Beam, Sonic Boom, and Quantum Destructor to destroy people, buildings and structures. The use of the controller is a little difficult at first because every button except the select button, and the L2 button are used. Both directional sticks are used which makes things difficult because you fire your weapon with the R1 button and cycle through weapons with the R2 button. Your brain-powers are controlled using the O, Square, Triangle and X buttons.
The graphics of this game are cutting edge. Before each mission, there is a short movie sequence that explains what your mission is going to be about. Even the load screen is fun, a space view of Earth with the Mothership, Krypto and his ship rocketing towards our planet. The graphics are very detailed. You can see freckles on peoples faces if you get close enough and when you are on top of a building and look down, if you look in the right spot you will see your shadow. The music of Destroy All Humans is a lot of fun. Most of the songs and themes sound like authentic tunes from the era the game is set in, the 1950s.. The sounds all the weapons make are so exciting to hear because they sound so real. Of all the sounds from throughout the game; including the people screaming when they see you, to car tires screeching when they stop to avoid you, nothing is better than the voice of Krypto. He sounds a lot like Jack Nicholson with a lot more attitude.
Destroy all Humans is a lot of fun to play. And can be played over and over again. When you finish the game, you can still play after the credits finish running, and cause some mayhem on the towns with your saucer, or your wonderfully fun Anal Probe. With the probe, after you charge it up and shoot someone, firs thing they do is complain about the discomfort, then they grab their buttock and run until their head explodes and their brain falls to the ground. The brain is how you get DNA to buy your upgrades.
Overall, Destroy All Humans is tons of fun with a lot of replay value. This game is one that will show the world what Pandemic Entertainment can really do. 8/10.
Reviewed by Cole Wassner © 2005
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