E3 '07: Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed First Look

One of the surprises at THQ's booth here at E3 2007 is the revelation that the next Destroy All Humans game is actually two games. One of them, Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed, is being developed for the Wii, PlayStation 2, and PSP, while the other, Destroy All Humans: Path of a Furon, is coming to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. To make things more interesting, the storyline of Big Willy Unleashed takes place during the first half of the 1970s and acts as kind of a prequel to Path of a Furon, which takes place in the latter half of the same decade. You won't need to play both games to get a satisfying story, however, as each of them are fully-formed games in their own right.

Big Willy Unleashed puts you back in the shoes of Crypto as the 1970s gets into full swing. We weren't given too many details about the storyline, but we were told that Crypto and Pox are involved in a get-rich-quick scheme involving a number of Big Willy fast-food restaurants. Pox wants more customers, not only for their dollars, but for their brain stems, which lets Crypto harvest precious DNA. Unfortunately, a rival fast-food chain uncovers their plot and wishes to take down the aliens, forcing Crypto to fight back against them.

One of the new ways in which Crypto takes on his enemies is by entering the large Big Willy mascot robots that Pox has constructed outside the restaurants. Think of a huge Big Boy mascot that moves a bit like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and you have the right idea. The Big Willy acts a bit like a UFO that can be controlled on the ground, in that it has a number of super-powered abilities that can be used to spread havoc, including a heat beam that can be shot from its eyes, as well as a belch and a “Windbreaker” attack that act as puerile but potent area-of-effect attacks.

While Big Willy Unleashed doesn't look to bring any groundbreaking newness to the Destroy All Humans series, it should prove to be a fun continuation of Crypto's story for fans of the series. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more information on the game as it approaches its release date, tentatively set for early 2008.