Developer: Black Forest Games, Pandemic Studios
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, Google Stadia,PC
Tested on: PC
Destroy All Humans! – Review
Remakes are a pretty touchy subject; they tend to rely on pleasing old fans as well as new ones. Luckily, the one for Destroy All Humans! really does provide a great experience and manages to live up to the original.
Story
The story of Destroy All Humans! has a pretty messy structure, though it does not detract from the experience. As the game starts, the player is presented to a
UFO getting blown by a military test rocket, with its occupant getting captured by soldiers. After this, another two aliens are introduced, these being Orthopox and Cryptosporidium, a pair of Furons.
In order to keep being able to clone themselves, the Furons have come to Earth to retrieve some of their pure DNA implanted in humanity eons ago. This DNA is required for them to be able to reproduce by cloning, due to the lack of sexual organs in their species. To fulfill this task, Orthopox leads Crypto through several plans in order to control humanity; all while battling the military and the mysterious Majestic organization.
The messiness comes with how the game handles the different plot points, jumping from one to another without really retaining a focus. This issue mostly disappears in the latter part but a lot of things still remain without much explanation as to why they’ve happened.
Regardless, the dialogues are genuinely enjoyable with great deliveries and fun jokes. The extra snippets that can be scanned from the minds of humans in-game are also quite fun and varied.
Graphics
Destroy All Humans!’s graphics have been incredibly well made. Some of the designs have been made completely anew from the original game while still retaining the same feeling. Everything looks crisp and colorful, though a bit plastic-like at times. The attention to detail in the game is also great, with little details hidden here and there to see.
Sadly there is a “but” to this as the NPC designs are very repetitive, with only a few per type. Luckily this is mostly irrelevant while disintegrating them and important characters are still completely unique.
Sound
Sound design is also very well covered, with an amazing cast for the voice acting and great SFX. The soundtrack is also quite good, though sadly it tends to get drowned by the other sounds in the game unless the parameters are messed around with.
As a fun fact, the voice actor for Orthopox happens to be Richard Steven Horvitz, the voice for the titular character from Invader Zim, making him a pretty good cast for an alien.
Gameplay
Staying in trend with the other categories, the gameplay for Destroy All Humans! is great. The controls are slick and clean, making movement easy and fun. That said, the targeting system while inside the saucer could be optimized, being somewhat imprecise and requiring a lot of repositioning due to the forced perspective. Nonetheless, things are quite well handled for an action-packed Third-Person Shooter.
Somewhat of a qualm, though not an issue, is how underutilized the saucer and another weapon, the anal probe, tend to go. The first is limited to the sections where the game urges the player to use it for the mission and the free roam maps, while the second is completely outdone once the player has upgraded other skills a slightly. While, again, this is not a problem since the game provides more than enough content, it is somewhat of a letdown.
This also applies to some of the other skills, such as the mind control ones in general. Due to the reliance on shootouts of the game, there are few occasions where these have a use besides prompted ones.
The missions themselves are pretty varied, ranging from all-out shootouts, to zone defense, to infiltration. This variation keeps the game fresh and entertaining without spreading out too thin. The length of the missions is also quite varied, though they stray on the shorter end, with about 15 to 30 minutes for each of them. This is also the case for the difficulty which stays pretty light with some spikes on bosses and some later stages.
The gameplay itself aside, it is worth mentioning the game at max settings can be taxing on PCs, with some rare frame skips once in a while. This is not the case for higher-end PCs or lower settings, which run perfectly smooth.
Conclusion
Destroy All Humans! is a very good remake of a classic, with some great extra additions. While it does stray on the shorter side for an AAA game, the enjoyable experience and reasonable price tag make it well worth it. The optional challenges also add some replayability to the game, making it more enticing.
Personal Opinion
“I had a lot of fun with Destroy All Humans!; the levels all play really well and just messing around tossing humans with the psychic powers is enjoyable. The open roam areas, while somewhat small, also provide even more freedom to just explore around or destroy whole zones freely. While I’d personally wait for a sale to get the game, it is reasonably priced and worthwhile.”
Destroy All Humans! - Review,
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