Well the premise is a simple one and one that players will immediately adhere to as intrepid alien explorer comes to Earth but unfortunately gets captured by the men who deny everything. The game is set somewhere in the 1950’s America and everything that you see reflects this. After much deliberation on the Alien home world it is decided that a lone clone is to be sent to Earth to find out what happened to their brethren and also find out more about the inhabitants of planet. However there is some disagreement between the clone and his superiors as to what methods be used; it seems the clone would rather a direct approach of revenge yet the superiors feel that their might be something to be gained by being a little more discreet. Either way this conflict of interests carries on throughout the game and at the end of the day the player can Destroy All Humans if they so choose!

Gameplay:

Playing Destroy All Humans comes in two main forms and these are both 3rd person affairs with one taking place on foot and the other taking place in the air on board your alien spacecraft. What the game offers is a wide area to freely roam at will where you can carry out your mission and then once that is completed you can either cause havoc as you choose or undertake one of the many side missions (which can be played over and over).

The missions themselves are quite varied and involve all sorts of wacky objectives which include things like abduction, impersonation, destruction, hypnotism and much more to boot. It seems that as you progress through the missions more abilities become available to you including the awesome psychokinetic power which enables our alien friend to pick up objects, humans, cars etc and toss them into the distance or simply smash them repeatedly into the ground or side of a building. There is also an element of stealth, however in this game it is more like subterfuge as you can target any person and then look identical to them which is handy for blending in. However this takes mind energy which has to be replaced by reading the thoughts of humans otherwise the disguise is lost. There are plenty of wacky comments that are made by the inhabitants even though you will often here the same phrases repeated over and over such as “ People call me Johnny six pack, I don’t know why I never work out”

Destroy All Humans also has a stages of alertness where the more people are alerted to your presence the more police, troops etc will come looking for you, however it is pretty easy to blend in again and let things die down when thing get rather too hectic. Destroy All Humans is all about fun and at the end of the day with things like the Anal Probe and the disintegrator gun means that there is no end of humans to panic and ultimately kill in a variety of ways. The fact that you can freely travel to any location and cause mayhem is great and offers some release if you’ve had a hard day and wish to imagine that some of the humans are annoying relatives or your boss at work. The weapons and your spacecraft can also be upgraded as you progress through the story which offer even more power to our little alien friend however other than the upgraded telekinesis the upgrades are rather superficial and don’t drastically alter game play.

Graphics:

The graphics are bold and colourful although somewhat sparse in some areas; I guess this is fitting for the time period that the game is set. However I did notice some pop up on occasion which did create an unpolished feel to the game’s looks. The ability to destroy both on foot and in the spacecraft is handled very well (despite a lack of camera views for when you are in the spacecraft) and at the end of the day is presented well enough especially when burning victims by using telekinesis on a BBQ stove and smashing it into hapless victims as one fine example.

Sound:

The music is very B-movie inspired and fitting for the theme of the game albeit a little repetitive on occasion. There is a lot of spoken dialogue which is great and I love the voice of the leading character who sounds more like a 50’s gangster than an alien (although I’ve never met an alien to know what it would sound like). Either way there are some good voice performances on offer despite some repetition of phrases which will either get on your nerves or make you even more of a killing machine. Other sound effects are pretty good as are the explosions and screaming people as they get blown up.

Longevity:

Not the longest of games by any means and also not the hardest either. Whilst players can simply undertake missions and then complete the game there are a number of side missions to mess around with as well as hunting down secret DNA items on each map. This adds to the replay of the game as does simply messing around in the sandbox environments; however the length of time you will be playing is down to how quickly you are going to get bored. In reality there isn’t much more to do once the main story has been completed.

Overall:

Destroy All Humans is a fun yet relatively short foray into the B-movies of times past. Instead of playing the hero from a human perspective you are playing from the side of the bad guys (so to speak) which makes a change. With so much carnage on offer it is great to simply rush in to a crowded area and let rip with your powers, however the enjoyment only lasts so long and soon becomes quite stale if you over indulge. There is a good game here and with some more tweaking could be even better especially if there were more time periods on offer. That said Destroy All Humans is a worthy title and at least should be rented for a weekend to see if it’s your thing or not. I like the game although like I said earlier once beaten there isn’t so much to do despite having sandbox environments to mess around with. I guess it boils down to how fun you think it is to toss cows at unsuspecting people!