Underrated classic (Destroy All Humans (PS2))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Destroy All Humans (PS2)
Date:	12/09/09 (0 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Style and gameplay

Disadvantages: None

Destroy All Humans is a rather clever game in that it picks up without a hint of subtlety on the charm present in 1950s-style B-movies. It's a very smart and knowing game that really has a feel for these sort of films, and channels it into a gloriously goofy game. Set in America during the 1950s, the game has its finger on the pulse in every regard towards 1950s American culture and even the political climate of the time (Red Scare, everyone?)

You control an alien named Crypto who belongs to a strange alien race called the Furon. Your goal is to extract human DNA from as many humans as possible in order that you might use the DNA back home to ensure that your species doesn't die out. The game's smart enough to encapsulate every part of the alien experience, as it also allows you to ride around in a UFO and lay waste to the human cities. Although there are objectives, it's very much a sandbox game at heart, as there's a great amount of freedom with regard to just travelling around and causing utter mayhem.

Visually, this was quite an impressive outing for its time - the models are very well rendered and the environments look like living and breathing locales rather than just dull and drab rendered backgrounds as they do with so many games. The sound department is also very crisp - the lines are written and read with a very apt sense of humour, and the human parts are also appropriately terrifying.

Despite a seemingly thin premise, there's actually a lot here to keep you interested - the human destroying doesn't get boring because its manner is varied throughout, and of course, because there's so many ways to destroy the humans! Not only can you destroy buildings and other structres the humans reside in, but you can get many different types of weapons, and even mess with the local farmyard animals!

Summary: A smart and funny game