Destroy All Humans
Platform: Playstation 2 / Xbox
Developer: Pandemic Studios
Publisher: THQ
Players: 1
One of my favorite Tim Burton films is Mars Attacks!, the comedy that pits attacking aliens against America’s finest and goofiest. Destroy All Humans borrows from both Burton’s work and the plethora of old sci-fi alien flicks that aired before most of you were even alive. The plot of this third-person game is pretty self-explanatory: destroy all humans and just about everything else. Structures, animals, um….. and humans. Set in a generic ‘50s era, you’re put on the planet as the sole-invading force, using the tools given (and later earned) in combat on foot or via air (in your personal ufo) to kill and blow up just about everything. The killing of humans is especially brutal, as one of your requirements is to salvage various DNA from each person killed. It sounds complicated, but it’s really a matter of shooting the human, and then extracting the material from their corpse (in a very graphic manner). Actually, the entire game is pretty self-explanatory and lacks complication, which is both fun and, at points, a bit repetitive.
Destroy All Humans does keep things marginally fresh by throwing tons of missions and tasks at you, most of which are pretty easy and really only takes the skills of avoiding detection and dodging bullets from cops and tanks. The neatest feature in the game (besides the Rampage-like destruction) are weapon upgrades; for example, you’ll start with a mental capability to lift humans and similar weighted objects off the ground, and as you progress thru the game, this ability becomes much more powerful. Soon, you’ll be chucking police cars 50 feet into the air and laughing all the while. So what if this is all a bit mindless! It’s also fun as hell and pretty good looking too. I finished this game only wishing that multi-player had been added. A worthy addition to your collection.
