Destroy All Humans Updated Hands-On

Currently scheduled for release toward the end of next month, Destroy All Humans is a third-person action game in which you'll assume the role of an alien named Crypto Sporidium 137, who is sent on an important mission to Earth in the '50s. Your primary mission as the anal-probe-wielding Furon will basically be to save your species from extinction by recharging its overcloned DNA pool with genetic material (human brain stems, mostly) retrieved from Earth. Back in the '50s, of course, humans weren't really enthusiastic about having their brain stems extracted by aliens, and it's not long before Crypto's mission turns into an orgy of destruction--as we found out when we had an opportunity to play through the game's early levels on both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The first thing we noticed about the latest work-in-progress builds of Destroy All Humans is that the game is looking significantly more polished than it was a few months back. There's an amusing intro movie and plenty of in-game cutscenes in place now, each of the missions is prefaced by a '50s-movie-poster-style loading screen, and the in-game visuals have been made a lot easier on the eyes through some masterful use of light bloom. Crypto Sporidium 137 has also undergone some kind of Furon face-lift, and he looks far more menacing now that his eyes have a cold, chrome-finished look about them.

Many of the in-game humans will never get close enough to Crypto to get a good look at his eyes, of course, and if they do, it's unlikely they'll live long enough to tell anyone about him. Not all of the missions in Destroy All Humans involve the wholesale slaughtering of humans, but you'll rarely be denied the opportunity to go on a killing spree if you really want to, and since the DNA you get from human brain stems is essentially the game's only form of currency, you're pretty much encouraged to from the outset.

Your first mission in Destroy All Humans, for example--if you discount Crypto's amusing interactions with cattle--will be to kill a farmer, kill the farmhands, kill the police who show up to find out what's going on, and then, from the relative comfort of your flying saucer, take out the soldiers and tanks who want to bring your mission to an abrupt end before you've even started. This whole sequence of events is essentially a tutorial, and as you play through it you'll be prompted to try out different controls, such as Crypto's jetpack or his targeting system, which assigns context-sensitive actions to each of your controller's four face buttons once it's locked on. When targeting other life-forms, your options will most likely include scanning its brainwaves (reading its mind, essentially), hypnotizing it (targets can be persuaded to sleep, create a distraction, or perform other actions specific to your current mission), extracting its brain stem (this works a lot better if the target is already dead), or using psychokinesis to pick them up and throw them around like rag dolls.

Once you complete the tutorial mission (or any mission, for that matter) you'll have the option to return to your mothership for your next mission briefing or to hang around and explore the current locale. All of the environments that we've visited in Destroy All Humans to date are significantly larger than the relatively small areas in which our mission objectives were located, and as we explored them we noticed that the development team at Pandemic is clearly in the process of adding bonus missions and minigames to the proceedings. Every level features a checkpoint-based jetpack race, for example, and we've found a number of bonus missions that required us to kill a certain number of targets or to destroy buildings within a time limit. Every level also contains a number of "probes," which, like the hidden packages in recent Grand Theft Auto games, can be tricky to locate but will (presumably) unlock some kind of reward once you find them all. It's all pretty mindless stuff, but if nothing else the minigames and probe hunts encourage you to explore large '50s USA environments that you might otherwise have no idea stretch as far as they do.

Got Green Milk?

As you progress through the game, both your mission objectives and the abilities at your disposal will become increasingly varied. The most significant new ability that we've learned is to instantly disguise ourselves as any human that we see simply by pushing a button. The visuals that accompany this transformation aren't particularly impressive right now (there's a small flash of light, and then the Crypto character model is replaced with a translucent model of the human you're imitating), but the ability's gameplay ramifications are huge, since, for the first time, you can employ something that vaguely resembles stealth tactics when you're not in the mood for an indiscriminate killing spree. While disguised, you won't be able to interact with objects or even use any of Crypto's weapons, but you'll be able to walk freely among crowds of regular people (cops and soldiers will see through your disguise if you get too close) and scan their brain waves, both to find out what they're thinking and to replenish the brain wave energy that fuels many of your abilities--disguise included.

The disguise ability, although not really conducive to action sequences, can make for some interesting nonlinear gameplay since it affords you an entirely different way to approach many situations. If you need to get from one end of a small town to the other, for example, you might opt to disguise yourself as a police officer or local resident and simply walk. Alternatively, you might decide to use your jetpack to fly from rooftop to rooftop or just run through the town disintegrating any humans that get in your way.

Surprisingly, one of the most amusing sequences that we've played thus far was one that required us to do nothing more than choose conversation paths when we were disguised as a town mayor addressing a small crowd. The residents of the town in question were understandably concerned about the radioactive exploding zombie cows that had appeared on their farms and were looking for some reassurance that everything was under control. We were invariably able to choose from around four different responses every time a question was put to us, and since telling the truth just felt plain wrong given that we were disguised as a politician, we opted to blame the whole thing on communism, ending our address with a rousing display of patriotism and a handful of empty promises that we'd catch the communists responsible for the mess that the town had found itself in. The assembled voters were pleased, we were able to return to the job in hand with less interference from alien-fearing townsfolk, and the real mayor had his brain stem removed, so everyone (with the possible exception of the mayor, and eventually the townsfolk) was a winner.

Although the unfinished state of the versions of Destroy All Humans that we've been playing is all too apparent in places, we've enjoyed checking the game out and are looking forward to getting our hands on some more-complete builds. Criticisms of the game at this point would be that none of the missions are particularly challenging and that the flying saucer sequences can get repetitive pretty quick. Neither of these criticisms is a major cause for concern right now, though, particularly since we've played through less than 10 percent of the game at this time. We'll bring you more information on Destroy All Humans as its May 24 release date closes in.