Destroy All Humans! Hands-On

Destroy All Humans! is the upcoming third-person action game from THQ and developer Pandemic Studios that lets you live the adventure of invading the earth. You'll be cast in the role of Crypto Sporidium 137, a member of the ill-fated Furon race. It seems the all-powerful race, which was pretty cocky about its immortality (because of its persistent cloning), has hit a bit of a snag with its technique. Due to various occurrences, the race has dwindled to just 2,000 different individuals, all of whom have continued to be cloned over and over again. This has resulted in some musty DNA that's been breaking down. The Furons' solution is to get new DNA from a species that was seeded with Furon DNA, which, as luck would have it, is the human race.

The demo we tried started us out at the game's opening, when, hot on the heels of Crypto Sporidium 136's untimely demise in the intro cinema, Crypto Sporidium 137 arrives on the earth. You'll be brought up to speed by your prickly mentor Pox, who is quite wise and thoughtful for an alien invader. Unfortunately, whereas Pox is a mellow kind of guy who's all about getting the job done right, Crypto 137 is more about just getting the job done. The end result is an alien "odd couple" that will be clashing quite a bit. The early levels start out where all good alien invasions do...on a farm in the countryside. Pox will put you through your paces and familiarize you with Crypto's main abilities, in addition to acquainting you with Crypto's psychokinesis, telepathy, hypnotism, camouflaging, and, of course, ability to extract the necessary Furon DNA from unsuspecting humans. Aside from Crypto's own inherent abilities, he'll also have access to a handy death ray and a fully armed flying saucer.

The farm level serves as a tutorial, and it gives you a rough idea of how the game is going to play out. Levels will have several objectives to complete that will entail you going about and interacting with humans, as well as causing some old-school destruction with your flying saucer. In addition, there will also be collectibles you can find that, along with the brain stems you collect, can go toward either upgrading Crypto's abilities or his arsenal of weapons. The later levels send you on journeys through such farmland landmarks as the town square and the country fair to seek out specific individuals or to destroy cars. What we've played so far represents a good mix of challenges, and this mix features a surprising amount of methodical gameplay and stealth on Crypto's part.

While you'll obviously want to avoid being recognized as Crypto, the feisty alien has a few tricks up his sleeve and can actually mimic a human's appearance. While he can maintain the illusion just fine when cavorting about with your garden-variety slack-jawed yokels from town, suspicious law enforcement officers will scrutinize Crypto. The extra attention forces his concentration bar to quickly dwindle, and once this bar is depleted, the illusion fades, and Crypto is hosed. Once you're discovered for whom you really are, you can use whatever weapon you have handy, or you can run until your concentration bar refills. A full bar improves your chances for survival because it powers all your psychic abilities.

In addition to having the ability to mimic humans, your psychic arsenal will also include psychokinesis, which lets you toss people and objects around by force of will; telepathy, which lets you read the thoughts of others; and hypnotism, which lets you bend others to your will by giving you the power to implant such subconscious commands as "Follow me." into their tiny minds. If all of the above isn't enough to keep you alive, never fear. You'll return (thanks to the magic of cloning) a little worse for wear.

The graphics continue to shape up well. Pandemic has an almost unearthly grasp of both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox hardware that's showcased by the game's impressive engine. Crypto is a fine-looking extraterrestrial who both sports a detailed character model and animates smoothly. The assorted humans you'll interact with/torment aren't at quite the same level but they still look good.

While the audio was still pretty rough, there was still plenty to enjoy thanks to the retro feel of the game and its excellent sense of humor. The music we've heard so far represents a faithful homage to the classic B movies of the '50s, with dramatic instrumentation and an unearthly whine in the background. The voice work is obviously placeholder, but we have to say it's pretty awesome for placeholder material because of the snappy one-liners and inherent humor to be found in a grown man trying to sound like a hypnotized beauty queen.

While what we've seen amounts to just a slice of the lengthy storyline, the few levels we've tried show that the game is headed in a positive direction. Good humor that extends to the solid gameplay (and we defy you to not find some perverse pleasure in either pitching cows around with your psychokinesis or hypnotizing the locals) and impressive visuals all add up to create an offering you'll definitely want to keep an eye out for in 2005. Destroy All Humans! is slated to ship early next year for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.