Destroy All Humans! developed by Black Forest Games and published by THQ Nordic will be available on Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4, July 28th 2020.
Destroy All Humans! puts you in the shoes of evil alien Crypto-137. Crypto must harvest Furon DNA from humans and bring down the US Government to stop them from using the technology against them. To do this Crypto will journey across America reducing cities to rubble and infiltrate the government to fully restore the Furon Empire. Destroy All Humans sends you back into the 1950s and has very comedic overtones through-out, from fighting farmers that love their cows a little to much, to army soldiers who love nothing but shooting bullets at people, there is plenty to laugh at. The campaign remains unchanged from the original and truly does feel nostalgic going back to a time where some games were completely crazy. Each mission gets Crypto performing different tasks from protecting TV stations, infiltrating government facilities and destroying a fair-ground. The missions can sometimes get a little repetitive but the narrative through-out makes it entertaining and never a bore.
In Destroy All Humans, the game encourages you to upgrade before going full speed ahead, hell, I encourage you to upgrade. Along the way, you’ll gain new weapons and powers to take on the pesky humans… I mean humans. From an anal probe that blows their head up so you can eat the brain for points to the ability to disguise as a human to infiltrate or wind people up, there is plenty to chose from. People will either be satisfied that it remained so true to the original or crave more additions in my opinion but it is a completely solid remake which is fantastic to see. There have been some changes to the gameplay, for example, you can now jump when you’re disguised which is a very welcome addition and the way you get around has been made very responsive on the dual shock 4. It doesn’t feel like a PS2 game anymore it feels like it was truly kitted out for the current generation.
As a child, I loved Destroy All Humans and it is nice visiting it again, getting that freedom to just mess around is great fun. I love abducting people and then throwing them at buildings to destroy them, am I sadistic? Well, this game lets you become sadistic in any way you can. Even the simple powers of mind-reading were fun because each NPC has an array of crazy lines and some that are questionable but fitting within the theming of the game, though it does make you want to be team Furon rather than team Human. As mentioned earlier, some missions can be repetitive but I felt that the developers gave you enough ways to do the mission how you’d like to make it interesting rather than making it to much of a grind. Unfortunately, there are bugs, no game-breaking ones but there are a fair few glitches, some barely noticeable, some can be a bit strange, the audio bug is the worst due to sometimes having voice lines stack on one another and suddenly you get a loud army mans voice line but at 4 times the volume your TV is on. I have faith though that a day one patch will sort it right out, even if they don’t the game is still a ton of fun and it doesn’t ruin the experience at all.
The Destroy All Humans remake is one of the best looking remakes out there. Everything recreated in a current-generation engine and it pays off. Each character looks so cartoon-like and fits in with the aesthetic. Destroy All Humans was always a B-Movie type video game and with new technology they’ve been able to give it its unique style and I truly loved it. NPC’s will often perform tasks while you roam about so each level has been made to feel quite alive and it’s nice to sometimes just see what they’re up to. Black Forest Games did such a good job on recreating a legendary title from 2005. I loved the amount of detail put into each level to make them unique from themes to the way each building looked, the way everyone had different accents, different vehicles all little details that made it shine. The audio sounds like it has been ripped and enhanced from the PlayStation 2 version when it comes to voice lines but music, action sequences, everything else seems brand new.
Verdict
I had a ton of fun replaying Destroy All Humans and seeing it completely rebuilt rather than just a simple remaster was stunning. It proves that if they do decide to continue the franchise it would work. There are bugs here and there and some repetitiveness but it stays true to the original and I think now a whole new generation can enjoy it and see what they missed out on. My my Crypto, it’s good to be back. Pssst THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games, if you’re really reading this, please remake the 2nd or give us a sequel.
9.0/10
Nerdy Bird Games 