Destroy All Humans! (2005 video game)
Destroy All Humans! is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. It was released for Xbox and PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems on June 21, 2005. The game is set in U.S. in 1959 and parodies the lifestyles, pop culture, and politics of this time period. The player controls Cryptosporidium 137, a member of the Furon race of aliens, who has come to Earth to harvest DNA from humans to continue the cloning process of his species. Destroy All Humans! has gameplay similar to the Grand Theft Auto series, a series renowned for its controversial content; however, "Destroy All Humans!" does not contain blood and gore; it is slightly edgy because of its language and sexual humor, resulting in an ESRB rating of T (Teen) and a BBFC rating of 15.
The game
In Destroy All Humans!, players assume the role of Cryptosporidium-137 (Crypto for short), a warrior and member of the Furon alien race. After centuries of warfare against inferior species using unchecked nuclear weaponry left their species impotent and without genitalia, the Furons were unable to reproduce sexually and became forced to turn to cloning as means of reproduction, as well as a process by which to achieve immortality. However, after generations of clones, the Furon DNA is degrading, and each clone is becoming less and less stable.
Fortunately for the Furons, a Furon scout ship came across Earth many millennia ago while returning from destroying the Martians. The Furon spacefarers eventually bred with the ancestors of the human race at some point in time, inserting a strand of Furon DNA into the human gene pool.
Because of this, it is revealed, each human contains a small amount of Furon DNA in their genetic code. Crypto is sent to Earth to harvest this DNA from human brain stems, locate and rescue his previous clone, Cryptosporidium-136 (referred to as his brother in the instruction manual), and spearhead a Furon invasion of Earth. The game is set up in a "sandbox" fashion, much like Pandemic's January 2005 game, Mercenaries. The player has a selection of weapons and mental abilities at their disposal, as well as access to Crypto's flying saucer. Destroy All Humans! implements the Havok physics engine, allowing for ragdoll effects on bodies and highly destructible environments.
The 1959 B-movie Teenagers from Outer Space becomes available to view once the main story campaign has been completed.
Characters
Template:Spoiler Cryptosporidium-137 — Wise-cracking, Jack Nicholson-esque protagonist of the game. He has an unlimited amount of clones that will take his place if he dies during a mission, all of which have the same personality, but an increasing number appended to their name (Crypto-138, Crypto-139, and so on). His name comes from the cryptosporidium protist, as THQ said. Voiced by J. Grant Albrecht.
Cryptosporidium-136 — Our hero's "brother" that he is sent to Earth to find. Unfortunately, he meets an untimely end after trying to land on a human missle, he was presummed MIA until his body was found in Area 42 being dissected. Crypto 137 is enraged when he discovers this, and declares a proper war on humanity. He presumably had the same personality as 137, and Crypto refers to him as 'me' sometimes since they are clones.
Orthopox-13 — A Furon scientist who sends Crypto on his missions, and supplies Crypto with saucer and weapon upgrades. Called "Pox" by Crypto, he is the fatherly figure to Crypto. Contrary to what appearances may suggest, Orthopox is not the Emperor of the Furons. The emperor himself is never named or shown during the game, though he is mentioned in one level at Capitol City. His name comes from the genus Orthopoxvirus. He is voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz, who, coincidentally, provided the voice for the titular alien character in the cartoon Invader Zim.
Bert Whither — Respected radio newscaster, used by the Furons because of the influence he has over people. With Orthopox tracking his broadcasts throughout the game, he also serves as an informant of sorts. He is known to be very unintelligent, and his script is written by "Cally Guxsti", of the Furons. Voiced by Jim Ward.
General Armquist — Leader of the American Army, out to destroy all Furons (which he believes are stunted Communists). After his death in Union Town, he was reported to have been working for the Red all along and lost all of his reputation as a military hero. He walks with a slight limp on his right side. Voiced by John Cygan.
Silhouette — Shadowy masked figure who seems to be leading Majestic against the Furons. Not much is known about this person, only that Silhouette is a female and she wants to dominate the world. Scans reveal that she is a sexist and only wears the mask to conceal her gender because she sees all men as "grab asses" Voiced by Nika Futterman.
President Huffman — The President of the United States, Huffman is known to suck up to Majestic which is the real power in the country, he is later killed by crypto, whom uses Huffman's identity to control the American populace. Voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo.
Sleepy Ernst — A scientist in the employ of Majestic and a popular TV personality, Ernst suffers from narcolepsy. He is voiced by Bob Joles.
Mayor — The Mayor is seen twice in the game, as the Mayor of Rockwell and the Mayor of Santa Modesta. He is a popular politician who is instrumental in Crypto's plans. Scans reveal that he is a somewhat corrupt leader. Voiced by Jim Ward
Setting
Destroy All Humans! is set in 1950s-period United States and consists of six settings. These include:
- Turnipseed Farm, a Midwest farm community.
- Rockwell, a small farm town, also located in the Midwest. The name is a pun on sentimental artist Norman Rockwell, and possibly the Roswell UFO incident. This is indicated by Orthopox when you return to the mother ship for your second mission.
- Santa Modesta, a happy little Southern California suburb.
- Area 42, an Area 51-style military base in the desert.
- Union Town, an Eastern seaboard industrial city (Possibly Baltimore).
- Capitol City, which looks very much like Washington, D.C.
Most buildings and structures in these environments can be destroyed, although humans can become alarmed by Crypto's presence at these locations, and while some run or hide, others are armed and will fight back. An alert system much like Grand Theft Auto's "wanted level", denotes how much attention Crypto has attracted, which can lead to police, military, and eventually a group called the Majestic joining the chase.
The hub of the game is the Furon mothership, in orbit around Earth. From there you can receive missions, upgrade weapons, and view unlocked content. This is also the portal to each of the game's Earth settings.
Furons
Coming from the planet Gorta in the Proxima Centauri system, the Furons are led by their emperor. They have a similar appearance to Greys and are a highly advanced race, who use their technology not only for science, but also for war. And since they are a warlike race, their weaponry is extremely deadly. Orthopox was sent with Crypto-137 to Earth to harvest the brain stems of the ruling race there, because it contains Furon DNA needed to save the Furons, and also to find out what happened to Crypto-136, Crypto-137's (your) clone "brother".
Furon weaponry
The Furons have a wide range of weaponry. The clones sent down to Earth, called Cryptosporidium, carry four weapons with them. All weapons are upgradable by obtaining and spending "DNA", the game's currency. At the start of the game, the Zap-O-Matic is the only weapon available, but the other weapons are unlocked during the course of the story:
- Zap-O-Matic: This emits a blue electricity bolt at the enemy for a period of time, yet it wears down the battery. Upgrades allow for 'Chain Lightning' in which a single bolt can jump from one target to the other.
- Anal Probe: Shoots a green jelly-like ball with a green trail into the anus of the victim. A single shot will cause certain people to run into the hills grabbing their bottoms (this does not happen all the time; for this to happen, you may have to shoot the target several times). Shooting a fully charged anal probe will cause the target to run clutching their anus for a short time and expulsing brown clumps of feces, but the sheer impact of such a strong probe will cause the target's head to explode, giving you the maximum amount of DNA possible from the target. No upgrades are available for this weapon.
- Disintegrator Ray: Fires a ball of searing plasma at the enemy, disintegrating them instantly. Once this has been fired, and the target has been disintegrated, a brain stem (or DNA) can not be extracted as the brain has been destroyed. The Disintegrator Ray can also be used to blow up vehicles. Upgrades include double and triple shots, therefore increasing the firepower. Most likely inspired by the weapon in Mars Attacks!.
- Ion Detonator: The most destructive hand-held weapon. (Quantum Deconstructor is most destructive.) This weapon launches a grenade into the air; the range of the weapon is determined by the length of time the "fire" button is depressed. On the second pull of the trigger, the grenade detonates, "ionising" anything in its blast radius (including Crypto, if he's too close). Upgrades include increased blast radius and damage.
Saucer weaponry
The Furons method of travelling is a flying saucer, heavily equipped with weapons. The weapons are as follows:
- Death Ray: This shoots a red beam at the target, incinerating it. This is somewhat similar to the Heat-Ray used by the Martian tripods from The War of the Worlds.
- Abducto Beam: When activated, the saucer picks up anything from humans to tanks with a yellow beam of light. (Target must be in light for a short time so moving humans are harder to catch) The player then has the opportunity to move or throw the object around the environment, but you can cause them to slam into various obstacles for a hilarious effect.
- Sonic Boom: Fires a blue concentrated ball of sound at the target, damaging everything in the blast radius. Failing that, this weapon blasts anything not nailed down in different directions.
- Quantum Deconstructor: The most lethal of all Furon weaponry. This launches a bomb at the target, triggering a green radioactive explosion, obliterating everything in its radius. Equivalent to a very small nuclear bomb.
Crypto begins the game with the Death Ray and the Abducto Beam, while the other weapons are automatically unlocked as the game progresses.
Mental powers
The Furons have many mental abilities. Using these requires "Concentration", which regenerates. Crypto apparently does not have the higher psychic functions possessed by a Furon such as Orthopox, but in 1950s America, his limited abilities are still impressive.
- Psychokinesis: allows Crypto to move any target through the air, and throw them as he wishes. The player has to purchase upgrades if they want the ability to pick up cars, tanks and robots. Lifting the object eats up concentration, and the heavier the object the faster it runs out (so picking up a person will slowly use it up, but lifting a car or a tank will use it up a lot faster). Throwing an object uses a set amount of concentration, and if Crypto only has half, for example, of the required amount, then the object will only travel half the possible distance. Later in the game an upgrade allows Crypto to have another bar of concentration.
- Cortex Scan: Reading the minds of a human, or even an animal, can provide comical insight into 1950s life, and also quickly replenishes Crypto's concentration. A lot of thoughts often include sexual, and occasionally homosexual, thoughts.
- Hypno Beam: Grants Crypto the ability to implant commands into a human or animal, similar to hypnosis. The basic commands are:
- Distraction: Causes the target to sing and dance, distracting nearby humans and quickly reducing the alert meter.
- Sleep: Forces the target to sleep. Necessary in one mission only.
- Follow Me: The ability to command targets to drive vehicles or walk to Crypto's saucer. (Only available if necessary for mission success.)
- Deliver food: Used only once, makes a cook take you to Bert Wither's cave.
- Drive the truck: Another one-use command. This is used during The "Duck And Cover" mission.
- Overload the tesla coil: This command is used during one mission to get scientists controlling tesla coils to destroy them.
- Brain Extract: This does exactly as it says. Like the Anal Probe, this mental ability extracts DNA from the target. The stronger the target (for instance, Majestic Agents) the longer it takes, and so the more concentration it uses. This refers to whether or not the target is alive or not. If the target has been killed (by Zap-o-matic, PK, or fire from a tank) then his DNA amount will be approximately half of what you could have got if the target was alive.
HoloBob
The Furons can imitate the appearance of any nearby human. This allows a Furon to travel amongst humans unnoticed, or in two cases, take the appearance of a public figure to send out a message to humans. The HoloBob requires psy energy, or Concentration in the game, which can be continually replenished by reading the thoughts of unknowing humans nearby (or 'scanning' the humans, or animals (cows, chickens etc.)). This disguise is not without flaw, as the Majestic have the uncanny ability to see through and destroy the disguise. Crypto will flash red when nearing a Majestic.
Reception
Upon release, Destroy All Humans! received mostly positive reviews,[1] although some reviewers complained of repetitiveness in mission design and gameplay. Graphics were described in a generally good light, except for the large amount of pop-up in the game. Most praised was the game's satirical tone and comedic gameplay, highly derived from 1950s era science fiction movies. With Crypto's mind-reading abilities an important feature of gameplay, much humor comes from the repressed thoughts these inhabitants of this supposedly-innocent period of American history hold— including their fantasies about taking Bettie Page and Rock Hudson over Doris Day, reactions to the findings of one "Dr. Kinsey", current and possible-future presidents, and of course, the Red Menace.
Of course, just standing idly by a group of people talking while HoloBobbed often yields some funny comments. The phrase "My mind says ___, but my heart/body/stomach/nightstick says ___" appears a lot as well. The game's early conceptual team included Brad Welch, Dan Teasdale, Matt Harding. Tom Abernathy was the main and credited writer.
- [2] - GT Video Review
Sequel
At the end of the game, and after the player defeats the final boss, Silhouette mentions that America is not the only area on Earth with humans, and the Majestic will be everywhere that people are. Following the outro movie, the words "THE END" are printed across the Earth. The globe then rotates, bringing into view Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia, before finally appending a question mark.
Set in 1969, it includes four new open-world environments: Bay City (San Francisco), Albion (London), Takoshima Island (Japan), Tunguska (USSR), and allows travel to the moon. Also included are new weapons and mental abilities, while the old ones are slightly revamped. Co-operative multiplayer is also included.
The interview for the game had one of the creators also mention there will be more Destroy All Humans! Video games. They will most likely be scheduled like the first two, about a year and a half apart. More info will be posted when it comes.
Marketing
Those who pre-ordered Destroy All Humans! received either a soundtrack CD or a copy of the 1959 Ed Wood, Jr. sci-fi movie Plan 9 from Outer Space. The game contains many references to the movie, including actual scenes from the movie shown at a drive-in theater, and on the Mothership.
TV show
On October 26, 2006, THQ announced that Fox Broadcasting has purchased the rights to the game and is planning a computer-animated comedy, based on the game, to air in primetime.[3] Jim Dauterive [4], previously of King of the Hill, will be a writer and executive producer of the TV version of Destroy All Humans!
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. |
- "Area 42" is a spoof of Area 51, and also a reference to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- "The Octagon", where Crypto fights Silhouette, is a spoof of The Pentagon.
- "Majestic" is a spoof of the Men in Black, made obvious when Orthopox refers to them as the "Dudes in Dark." It is also related to the conspiracy idea, MJ12.
- There are several subtle references throughout the game to the Church of the SubGenius, including repeated instances of the name "Bob" (the name even being applied to a major alien power in the game, "holobobbing") and the "J.R. Dobbs Building" and (referred to as) "the other J.R. dobbs building" in Rockwell.
- Whenever Cryto enters or exits his shuttle, the beam under him is a series of circles in a circular fashion. A crop circle with a similar desgin once appeared.
- Leaving the game sit inactive in the mothership for extended periods of time will cause Orthopox to say various things, often meta-references. For example, "Didn't anyone tell you? The name of the game is "Destroy All Humans!", not "Screw Around on the Mothership!""
- In reference to Flowers for Algernon, if the player scans a Majestic Psi-Mutant, a possible thought is "Good Mouse Algernon... smarter... than.. Charlie..."
- General Armquist bears more than a passing resemblance to General Douglas MacArthur, down to his trademark aviators and pipe. He also bears a small resemblence to The General, an enemy in the video game Everything or Nothing.
- When scanning a human scientist, you may receive the thought "I must not be late, they are waiting for me in the test chamber...Oh wait, wrong game," a reference to the video game Half-Life.
- On one instance of scanning General Armquist's mind, he will remark about protecting his bodily fluids, and then repeat "Purity of Essence", which is a reference to the movie Dr. Strangelove.
- When scanning a human scientist, he refers to his "brain the size of a planet", a reference to the robot Marvin the Paranoid Android from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- In the circus area of Rockwell, a close examination of a newspaper reveals the title "Meteorstrike," a possible reference to your UFO or the sequels most deadly weapon.
See also
External links
- Destroy All Humans! official website
- Destroy All Humans! at MobyGames