Score
Gameplay:	8
Graphics:	9
Sound:	8
FunFactor:	8
PlasmaFactor:	8
Overall:	8.2

Destroy All Humans! Review
June 30, 2005 by Adam Gainer

by Adam - June 30, 2005

Citizens of Earth, prepare for invasion! In Pandemic�s newest game Destroy All Humans! you will be the invading alien force. This game is like playing the alien side of the movie, Mars Attacks!. Players will use mental powers and an awesome arsenal to wage war on those pathetic humans. The Humans will have many tools in which to thwart your attempts.

Take me to your leader

The game play in Destroy All Humans! is great. This game is from the third person overhead and plays a lot like Grand Theft Auto. This setup makes this game very easy to play and enjoyable due to its� random events. Initially you learn to control objects with your mind. The ability to move objects to and from you is a really cool skill as you can use it to shield yourself from enemies as well as use different items as weapons. The alien�s psychic abilities is not limited to telekinesis, they also have mental telepathy. They can read minds and hypnotize opponents to either sleep or cause a distraction. Be fair warned because your mental abilities can be tapped out if used too heavily. Reading people�s thoughts will recharge your mental stamina as well as humor you with some witty dialogue.

Mental abilities are not your only weapons. A standard lightning gun will put away most enemies and render them unconscious but alive. An upgrade to the anal probe will make your opponents head for the hills eventually bursting out that oh so sweet grey matter. Later on grenades and an incinerator will vaporize enemies into thin air. If things get too hot and heavy for you can always flee to your ship. Once you board your ship you will be able to fly around the city and destroy whatever you want. You can pick up tanks, cars, people, and fling them around opt to use your death ray and paint the town red.

Look to the stars

The graphics in Destroy All Humans! are impressive. A cut scene of in game rendered graphics launches before every mission. A very enjoyable aspect of this game is that you do not have to wait for loading screens. As you are landing the game loads and your mission is narrated to you. Upon landing in a level players will notice that the programmers did their jobs in making this game. It�s theme during the 50�s and has a great noir look and feel to it. All the cars, characters, weapons, and ads come from old B-movies. The lighting effects are really good throughout the game. The weapons effects all look really good. You can see enemies being taken apart atom by atom with the Ion Grenade. The aliens look really cool and run smoothly. There are a few bugs when vehicles and other characters will run into some clipping issues.

Klaatu Veratu Nikto

Destroy All Humans! is a game with great sound. The voice acting is some of the best work I�ve ever seen in a game. The characters exchange in witty dialog in virtually every mission. Even different in game menus characters will have clever sayings and phrases to accompany different menu choices. NPC�s thoughts are narrated by people who sound like stereotypical 50�s voices. Mentioning of the red scare and fear of commies adds anther layer of humor to this game as the main character is thought of as a �commie�. The sounds outside of the characters are great as well. The jetpack makes a cool hovering noise and the space ship�s engines scream to life. Missile impacts will make a deep thud and you will be able to hear humans screaming as you squash them under your ship. Weapons have really good sounding effects.

Invasion of the Pod People

Destroy All Humans! is probably one of the most faun games I�ve played in a long time. The witty dialog, and ability to pretty much destroy everyone and everything around you makes the game incredibly fun. Being able to imitate people while staying focused on your mission and evading the authorities becomes and increasing challenge with every different mission. When a player completes all the missions in an area they can go back and complete different challenges as well as find hidden packages that will give them more points to buy upgrades.

Die earth scum

I think the best thing about Destroy All Humans! is all of the fun this game provides. The central story is that human brains need to be collected for genetic code to help a dying breed. This is a really fun part of the game as you will go around collection brains in order to buy weapons and upgrades. There are many different styles you can go about collecting these brains as well. It�s better to be careful though and be smart so you won�t end up fighting the army as well as secret government organizations. I have beaten the game once through and I am only at 50 % complete. This means that this game has a lot of fun replay value.

Another thing that is great about this game is how well it captures the B-movie and 1950�s era of America. This game makes several references to classic B-movies as well as things that were happening in America at that time. NPC�s make references to many different celebrities of the 50�s as well as how some of the people during that era really thought and lived. It makes this game really fun to be a part of a B-movie.

 

We come in peace

Destroy All Humans! is a really fun game to play. I picked it up and played it virtually until the end. It took me roughly 12 hours but it went by very quickly, this only means I can go back and find more objects in the game. The nature of the B-movie mockery and the fresh dialog as well as excellent game play sets this game heads and shoulders above others. If you are looking for a new action adventure game with great humor and great game play be sure to check this title out