Looking back into the annals of gaming – 2005 was a really good year for campy games. That year alone saw releases of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, Psychonauts, Stubbs the Zombie, just to name a few. All were fantastically witty games that really showcased the respective developers’ skills with respect to then-mature gaming consoles. Sandbox gaming was still in its heyday at the time, and pushing the limits of the current technology was resulting in fantastic degrees of freedom that gamers had not yet seen.
One of the surprise hits of the year was Destroy all Humans!. A game by EA’s Pandemic studio, Destroy All Humans! is loosely modeled after the campy Tim Burton film Mars Attacks!, which mocked the post-Roswell New Mexico alien invasion scare of the 1950’s.
Overall, I find it a bit odd writing a review of a game that was released over ten years ago, and is being released in its original form with only an HD upgrade and a few gameplay trophies tacked-on for good measure. In fact, the PS4 release of Destroy All Humans! is so unchanged from its original, the PS2 boot screen appears during loading. But there has been a recent surge of re-releases showing up in the PlayStation Store listed as “PSN Game” rather than “PS2 Classic” or “PSone Classic” as before, so it is interesting to see what they are getting away with now.
Destroy All Humans! follows the exploits of two foul-mouthed Furon aliens, commanding officer Orthopox-13 and his Furon warrior Crypto-137, who have been sent to earth to rescue their comrade who has been imprisoned on Earth following an unfortunate run-in with a rocket during a prior reconnaissance mission.
Crypto-137 first arrives at a farm in the fictional town of Rockwell where he learns about his duties on Earth – which basically revolve around destroying anything and everything in sight. At least that’s the plan at first, because as the story progresses into San Modesto , Area 42, and onto its final stop in Capital City, the missions take on varying levels of stealth, destruction, and difficulty.
During the campaign, gamers are introduced to the Furon aliens’ weapons – the Zap-O-Matic and the Anal Probe, as well as their mental powers – which include telekinesis (moving/throwing objects using only mind), hypnosis (controlling others’ minds), HoloBob (the ability to disguise oneself within a hologram), and DNA Extraction (removing a brain from a corpse to collect DNA which serves as the currency to unlock new areas).
The gameplay takes place both in the air and on land at the gamer’s discretion. Each level has a landing spot at which the player can exit Crypto’s saucer and take to exploration. The aerial gameplay consists mainly of demolishing large buildings, vehicles, and crowds quickly; the on-foot gameplay is more one-on-one combat and stealth. Switching between the two is seamless, with the camera simply panning to a new perspective.
Visually, the game looks surprisingly decent with the HD upgrade. While it is nowhere near the quality of any current-gen PS4 releases, it is noticeably improved compared to the original PS2 and Xbox offerings. There is still a bit of pop-in when it comes to some of the texture details in the distance, but the framerate keeps a fairly consistent clip and there is little-to-no controller lag that sometimes accompanies platform ported-games.
Destroy All Humans! might be ten years old, but the gameplay holds up even by today’s standards. Considering how many casual tablet apps are being passed off on the PlayStation Store as full-fledged $10-$20 games these days, this $20 HD upgrade of a classic game like Destroy All Humans! is a solid purchase.
