Destroy All Humans! Reviews

Destroy All Humans! is a modern looking remake of a game that is clearly from another time. The open level structure allows players to create chaos and play around. The story isn’t anything to write home about and is still stuck in 2005 but all things considered this is a decent remake of a game that didn’t set the world on fire over 15 years ago.

Destroy All Humans is a fun sandbox to wreak havoc through, but it spends too much time on other things.

The effort made in reimagining this oddball classic is impressive, but Crypto may have lost his currency

Destroy All Humans! is a fun and modernized action game that is held back by its 2005 design structure.

Destroy All Humans is out now — or rather, it’s been available for a day or two to those who’ve pre-ordered — and that right there is rather telling. Simply put, the remake of a 2005 plays like one, for all the good and bad that can be associated with that… so hopefully you knew what you were in for if you pre-ordered.

Overall, Destroy All Humans! is a fantastic remake that I’m sure will please returning fans of the series but might frustrate new audiences. Everything about the game looks great and runs well but since nothing about the core gameplay has changed, it feels stuck in the early 2000s.

As awesome as it is, the arcade action in Destroy All Humans! is only a part of the experience, struggling to carry its rudimentary stealth missions and hit-or-miss writing. It’s definitely a blast to level entire neighborhoods and disintegrate humans; we just wish we had to spend less time impersonating them.

If you thought the original was good, Destroy All Humans! looks and plays even better. Crypto-137 controls incredibly smooth and looks awesome in action. Still, the short length and untouched voice acting are quite disappointing.

For a brief period in the mid-2000s the Destroy All Humans! games were suddenly everywhere, as THQ flooded gamers with yearly sequels and a barrage of edgy TV ads. But then, just as abruptly as it had begun, the invasion ended. The first Destroy all Humans game came out in 2005 and three years and three sequels later, the series was done, seemingly for good.

Destroy All Humans was originally released in 2005 and developed by the sorely missed Pandemic Studios, the same people behind the original Star Wars: Battlefront games. It clearly was a product of its time. A wacky open world game (or as we used to call them back then, a “GTA clone”) themed after sci-fi B-movies from the 1950s, with an equally crass and endearing sense of humor. It wasn’t exactly the most beloved game, especially when talking about its mediocre sequels, but it still ma...

All great works are products of their particular era. However, some pieces of art reach beyond those bounds; it’s why literature students still read Shakespeare, and why Citizen Kane is still considered one of the best films ever made. Removed from their historical context, they transcend time and tap into something universal. Destroy All Humans lacks this special quality – a fact that was constantly apparent as I winced my way through this remake.

The sights and sounds of Destroy All Humans are another highlight, as everything is crisp and new without losing the original game’s art style. Enemies are delightfully stumpy and cartoonish, while the Furon have a nasty amount of detail to them (I’ll never unsee Crypto’s pulsating holes on the back of his head.) Locations each have their own style to them that makes it feel like you’re always in a new place instead of a quickly-reskinned one. The audio is delightful as well, from the very hammy voice-acting that most of the cast provides to the spooky theremin-laden tracks that ooze “50’s sci-fi.”

I love the concept behind Destroy All Humans and want to see what a game with a higher budget and more modern design sensibilities could do with this concept. THQ Nordic owns the rights to several unique franchises like Destroy All Humans, and should develop new experiences for these games rather than remaking titles without resolving their biggest problems.

I had fun with Destroy All Humans, I mean how couldn’t I? You can give Crypto an alien skateboard to ride while he makes brains pop out of human heads. That sentence alone is reason enough to at least check out the game. That being said, Destroy All Humans doesn’t have the staying power of the alien Furon Empire, and I doubt I’ll be booting it up again any time soon.

Destroy All Humans! has no qualms with being a silly, dumb game that just wants its players to have a good time, and it's better for it.

Overall, Destroy All Humans! does a really great job of recapturing the spirit of the original. But, in a time where we’ve seen some developers take the originals and expand on them greatly, often adding new features altogether, the remake for Destroy All Humans! feels like it missed the boat. I really feel like the developers could have experimented with new things a bit more and really made the game standout a bit better in the current generation of games. Still, though, if you’re looking for a fun romp through one of the best games of the early 2000s, then Destroy All Humans! hits the spot.

Destroy All Humans is a faithful remake that retains the charm of the 2005 original, while dramatically overhauling the visuals and making some improvements to the gameplay. Perhaps a bit too faithful, with missions that now feel too simple and limited to the point of just being a bit boring.

In any case, Destroy All Humans! Is a straight up fun and hilarious game to play regardless of it being released in 2005 on the PS2. The plot is well made, voice actors did an excellent job, It has an engaging gameplay and the graphics fit perfectly the style of the game. There may be a few problems like missions being repetitive or the lack of direction, but If you are one of those people those would want to take a trip down memory lane, I would recommend you to play this game.