You’ve no doubt seen the commercials on television or sat through them while waiting for a movie to start at a local theater. Generally speaking, it is rare for a video game to be promoted with such incredible vigor, but apparently THQ decided to make an exception for their newest game Destroy All Humans. Suffice to say, they have gotten the word out. Many of you are likely approaching the situation with a certain amount of skepticism considering the atypical way this game is being marketed. Is this game merely hype, or does it really have something to offer those of us bored by a stagnant industry summer?

The answer is simple. This game at its core is smoothly executed, third person action. The game play is fairly simple without a steep learning curve, but is not lacking in the fun department. Honestly, I am having a difficult time finding fault with it. The game does get a little repetitive towards the end, but games that grab you from beginning straight through to the end credits are the exception rather than the rule. These are the game of the year candidates; the one’s that stand up to even the harshest scrutiny. But just because Destroy All Humans is not a member of this elite category does not mean it lacks worth as an action game. In fact, I found it quite enjoyable from beginning to end and here’s why.

First off, the premise of the game is awesome. You play a member of the Furon Empire, an alien force to be reckoned with. Normally, they wouldn’t pay us Earthlings any mind, but their stocks of Furon DNA (they reproduce entirely by cloning) are close to depleted. Since ancient Furons seeded our entire civilization, our DNA is compatible with their cloning processes. So what better way to refill their reserves than by harvesting the DNA of a planet full of ignorant hicks? And who better to do that than a little-gray man (call him green and see if he doesn’t disintegrate you) armed to the teeth with alien technology and a sarcastic disposition. Combine Clint Eastwood’s “make my day” attitude and a Jack Nicholson-like voice and you have some idea of the makeup of the main character Crypto.

As Crypto, you are armed with a bunch of different weapons to both defend yourself against the human authorities and to extract the DNA you were sent to Earth to collect. These are exactly what you would expect from a game that is a throwback to all those old-school science fiction movies that we love if only because they are so cheesy. Weapons like a Zap-o-matic gun that shoots lightning leaving the victim’s DNA intact, a Disintegrator ray that vaporizes whoever or whatever is in its path and an Anal Probe you can use to extract DNA the hard way. There are grenades, but they don’t really have anything to do with aliens so they aren’t really even worth mentioning.

When it comes to transportation, Crypto rides in style in his very own flying saucer. It comes standard with a Ray Gun for destroying buildings, cars and people when you can make them out running from buildings ablaze. You get an Abducto-Beam that you can use to pick up people, cars and cows and use them as battering rams for buildings or projectiles for pedestrians. Later in the game you get a Sonic Blast weapon and finally a Quantum Deconstructor with varying ammo capacities and destructive power.

To top it all off, Crypto has certain abilities by virtue of his huge cranium that afford him control over the material world. He can invade the simple minds of humans and extract hints about the current mission or humorous 50’s era comedy, everything from jokes about Marilyn Monroe to communism to Elvis Presley. He can assume the form of anyone he comes in contact with to both avoid detection and masquerade as government officials or high-ranking members of the military. Finally Crypto can use his powers of the mind to pick up objects and move them out of the way or use them as projectiles against his many enemies. In some situations, you may find yourself frustrated with the more powerful authorities and the quickest way to be rid of them is to pick them up and hurtle them off into the stratosphere.

As far as the game play goes, it claims to be open-ended, and technically is but it doesn’t really need to be. There are several missions arranged in chronological order, but they let you go back to any of the cities or towns you visited before. The only reason to go back and experience the openness has to do with the upgrade system. In order to get upgrades like stronger telekinesis with the ability to pick up heavier objects or chain effects for the Zap-o-matic you have to trade DNA you’ve collected. These upgrades are almost necessary to complete the game and they require quite a bit of DNA. Since the later areas have very challenging opponents, collecting DNA without getting killed is a daunting task without going back to previous area. These previous areas have special ways you can earn DNA points by running timed races or wiping out a certain number of cows or farmers. These are not as fun as the normal missions and honestly could have been left out.

Excepting the farming of DNA to purchase upgrades, the game play follows one of three patterns. The first has you using stealth to manipulate the politics of the area or infiltrate areas to find out what the authorities are planning. The second and most commonplace puts Crypto on foot with his ray gun blasting away at farmers, the police, the army and finally the super secret defense organization known only as Majestic. The third takes place with you in your flying saucer, still in third person, where the mission is usually to destroy key buildings or wipeout a particular county fair and generally create mass mayhem.

The first mode is fun and decently challenging because as you progress in the game there are devices and enemies that are capable of eliminating your disguise if you get too close. You sneak up on these guys and either put them to sleep using hypnosis or send them flying through the air to a distant land where they can no longer bother you. As you use your powers, though, your concentration is drained and you need to scan the thoughts of various humans to replenish it. This has you doing tricky maneuvers like scanning someone to fill up your bar, picking up someone or something and launching it, then scanning someone else so you don’t lose your disguise. If you fail at this, and the mission is not one where you automatically fail upon detection, you experience the second mode of game play.

You run around the streets of suburbia probing people until their heads explode or zapping them into a stupor and extracting their DNA using telekinesis. When you start to get overwhelmed, you switch to the Disintegrator Gun and blast them into oblivion or you activate your jet pack and fly to another area of the city. This is by far the most fun of the three game modes since it packs in the most action. There are secrets all over the city that give you extra bursts of DNA if you can find them and get to them. On one level, I was able to get on top of an impossibly tall skyscraper. It seemed like fun and I wanted to see how open the engine was (was there a ceiling, did the designers prevent anything specific). Well it turns out they completely expected it because there was a secret Probe worth 75 DNA at the top. I was very pleased with the combination of the wanton destruction of the human race and a game engine that was so wide open.

The third mode is fun, but can be frustrating because of the lack of camera pitch control. I’m not sure why they did it this way since it seems easy enough to support, but you can’t adjust the elevation of the camera. What results is a lack of visibility of the buildings further away. Other than that, I have no real complaints about the saucer mode. Its not as interesting as the other two modes, but it does break up the game play and give you a more rounded alien game.

Which is exactly the phrase that I would use to describe this game. It’s a well-rounded 50’s era alien game. It’s got the ray guns, and the mind control and even the flying saucer. The game mechanics are solid and the game is fun to play. It may not be a game of the year, but Destroy All Humans is definitely a worthwhile addition to any gamer’s collection. At the very least, you have to rent this one just to experience the 50’s B-movie hilarity.