Destroy All Humans! Review

Humor Saves the Day

What keeps Destroy All Humans! afloat is the surprising amount of detail and obvious love of the subject matter that was put into the game. It just oozes 1950’s Americana from every pore and it is a treat to just soak everything in. The game is also absolutely hilarious and the laugh-out-loud moments are balanced throughout the game perfectly so that you want to keep playing just to find out what outrageous thing you’ll hear next. There are a surprising number of different things you’ll hear when you read minds and pretty much all of them are hilarious. You have to know a little history and a little about the culture of the time to get all of the jokes, but the jokes are so rapid fire that you’ll get more than you miss so it is all good. I also really love the way the game has that perfect B-movie feel and fans of classic sci-fi will really appreciate it.

Graphics and Sound

Graphically, Destroy All Humans! looks outstanding. The environments you explore, which include a farm, a small Midwestern town, a California beach town, and an army base in the desert, are all very detailed and look just like you would expect. There aren’t a ton of different human models, but it is good enough. Crypto is nicely detailed and is smoothly animated and special effects for all of the weapons look great as well. The game has a filter on it that give it a soft sort of dreamlike look that smoothes everything out as well as keeps up the old sci-fi movie look.

The sound is also very well done. There is a ton of voice work and pretty much all of it is amazing. The music is also really good and fits the theme of the game perfectly.

Bottom Line

Destroy All Humans! doesn’t really show us anything we haven’t seen or done before, but it does it with a style and a sense of humor that makes it worth playing in spite of its obvious flaws. The gameplay is fun for a while, but it is incredibly shallow and the thrill of being an alien and destroying all humans fades pretty quickly. Luckily, the attention to detail that makes this really feel like an old drive-in sci-fi movie and the rapid fire humor turn this very average game into something that is worth experiencing. It isn’t very long and is only really worth playing through once so it is hard to justify a purchase at full price, but Destroy All Humans! is an enjoyable game and is definitely worth a rental.