Destroy All Humans!

Short version:

Pros:
+ 50s setting is awesome
+ Bright and colorful graphics
+ Enjoyable story mode
+ Voice acting is over the top and very enjoyable
+ Plenty of upgrades

Cons:
- Repetitive gameplay
- Drags a bit towards the end

"Long" version:
Destroy All Humans is a third-person action game developed by Black Forest Games and Pandemic Studios and published by THQ Nordic. You follow the adventure of Cryptosporidium-137 in his quest to gather human DNA to save his dying race from extinction, as years of cloning started degrading its DNA.

The story does not take itself seriously and is very silly, which I really enjoyed. Crypto is an okay protagonist, as he is unashamedly cold and apathetic towards humans, but his demeanor is a bit one-note, as it never really changes. It does work for the story, however. The other characters are just caricatures of real life political figures or stereotypes of 50s tropes, like the bimbo blonde with an exaggerated accent, the dimwitted farmer that mistakes the protagonist for an ugly wild animal or the idiotic FBI agents/army men that are terrible at their job. It does not come across as mean-spirited, however – more like self-deprecating humor.
I felt like the story had a strong start but slowly lost steam, especially towards the end of the campaign.
Gameplay shines in Destroy All Humans.
You have two different types of gameplay – on foot, where you use Crypto, and you can also use your spaceship to fly around.

Crypto controls well, as you have a wide array of deadly weapons and movement abilities. Each weapon has strengths and weaknesses and it was enjoyable to scroll through all of them and dispose of humans
by the hundreds. Your abilities provide much needed versatility to your arsenal, as you will be able to fly around with your jetpack, slide across the map at high speed and lift enemies up with telekinesis and yeet them across the environment and against each other, for example. There are also several abilities that allow you to engage in a bit of stealth gameplay, which is nice.

The flying saucer controls are okay, but I felt the game did not offer much in terms of variety when it came to spaceship missions. You usually just have to destroy everything – enemy forces and buildings – and cause as much mayhem as possible. While not necessarily bad, it did grow boring.

You can upgrade your arsenal with a considerable number of upgrades, but most of them felt like basic stat boosts that did not change my approach to gameplay.

My main problem with the gameplay only came up later, near the last third of the story - it grew repetitive. Pair that up with the story’s lack of focus I mentioned above and everything starts feeling same-y and uninspired.
Graphically, Destroy All Humans looks awesome.
The color palette is vibrant, character models look silly (definitely intentional) and you get to explore different areas of the US with diverse biomes, citizens and enemies. Even the loading screens have a lot of personality and charm, which I really appreciated.

Both the soundtrack and the sound effects are great. The voice acting is a lot of fun, as it leans into the cheesiness of the premise and makes fun of the humans.
While I did not care much for the last third of the campaign and the side content (mission challenges) was very repetitive, I did enjoy Destroy All Humans. Overall, I think it is a fine game. It embodies the best aspects of early 2000s games, though it occasionally shows some of their flaws. It provides 10-15 hours of pulpy fun. While I feel like its base asking price is a bit steep, I totally recommend getting it on sale. The game plays well, has a strong art direction and does not take itself seriously.

Final score: 8 out of 10.

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Destroy all humans is as beautiful as the day I first played it. It's a love letter to campy sci fi movies of the 50's and 60's. Besides that there's just something cathartic about the level of destruction you go on. It's not particularly deep but it doesn't really need to be. This fuels that niche that 'Rampage' games used to fuel.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS
---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't
---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf
---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer
---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data
---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls
---{ Grind }---
☑ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life
---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☑ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond
---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☐ Worth the price
☑ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money
---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs
---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☑ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Goofy adventure game where you play as alien.
Story is not all too serious and mostly comical.
Visually decent, great soundtrack and voices.

Great game and some of the challenges took me a few tries to get 3 stars. Took around 30 hours for 100%. I also had no bugs and it ran flawlessly. Overall a great remaster of a classic and it goes on sale often.

If you played the original Destroy All Humans! back in the day, this 2020 remake is like revisiting an old favorite, but with way better graphics and smoother controls. It's got all the same charm, goofy humor, and destruction, just with a fresh coat of paint.

Visually Updated, Same Good Vibes
The game looks awesome. They really nailed the cartoony 1950s vibe with all the alien tech and small-town America stuff. Blowing up buildings and zapping humans never looked so good. The destruction physics make tearing up the world even more satisfying.

Upgrades Make You Feel Powerful
One of the coolest things is the upgrades. They really mix up the gameplay and keep things from getting stale. I found myself wanting to fight way more because the upgrades make you feel like an unstoppable alien powerhouse. Honestly, being stealthy just felt boring after a while, even if it meant missing out on some extras.

But Oh Man, the Loading Screens...
Now, the worst part—THE LOADING SCREENS. Holy hell, they take forever, and I have no idea why. The game even froze on me during one of these long loading sequences, which happened after my first death (on the final mission, of course). It only happened once, but still, it was annoying.

It's Got That 2005 Edge
Look, this game has some humor and themes that probably wouldn’t fly in 2024, and honestly, that makes me like it even more. It’s got that cheeky, irreverent vibe that games used to have before everyone got super serious.

Short but Sweet
The game is pretty short—like 8-9 hours max—which was pretty standard for games back then. If you’re into 100% completion, it’ll probably take you around double that (I’m working on it now, and by the time you read this, I might already be done).

100% Worth It for the Price
Here’s the kicker: I got this for like $5 on CD Keys, and for that price? This game is a no-brainer. It’s absolutely worth it if you want a fun, quick romp as an alien causing chaos.

With the current political climate in the US currently, I thought why not play a game about politics and destruction! Oh this game was FUN to 100%. For the most part the game isn't that challenging. Most challenges can be completed after a few trials and up until the end boss I didn't really struggle.

A lot of the humor still holds up and it doesn't hurt that Pox is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz. Who is he you might ask? Invader Zim! It all fits so well and I can't wait to play the second one. I can't believe I missed this gem growing up.