As a defining game of the original Xbox era, fans have high expectations for the Destroy All Humans remake. And while fans may be worried that the game won't stay true to its 2005 counterpart, it's much less of a from-the-ground-up remake than it is a visual overhaul with some tweaks to movement and abilities, though that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Players are getting the complete package and then some, with Destroy All Humans' voice cast returning for the remake, and some new features being added to make the game feel modern. The controls have been touched up to make Crypto feel more maneuverable, along with new abilities like a hoverboard that allows Crypto to glide over long stretches, which is by far the best new addition in Destroy All Humans.
Fundamentally, Destroy All Humans provides a wonderful playground for players to cause chaos in. The game is at its best when it lets players loose on the world, allowing them to blow up buildings, vaporize humans, and toss things around with Crypto's Psychokinesis abilities. This is best demonstrated in Destroy All Humans' challenges, which are unlocked after completing missions in one of the game's areas and encourage players to put their abilities to the test.
Challenges range from races to destruction missions, either in the saucer or on the ground as Crypto, with a star system grading how well players do and what rewards they unlock. Players are never forced into starting up a challenge, but ignoring them is a surefire way to walk away from Destroy All Humans disappointed, as running the main story missions like a gauntlet gets tiresome quickly.
That's because the story missions in Destroy All Humans are fairly repetitive, often tasking players with infiltrating an area, defending an object, or causing mayhem without much variation. With the exception of Destroy All Humans' new mission, which is bite-sized, the story is recreated almost exactly like the original, so returning players should know what to expect going in. And while most fans aren't expecting a dramatic overhaul of the campaign, it is an area where Destroy All Humans shows its age, which will inevitably be disappointing to some.
However, missions do have optional objectives that offer some entertaining distractions from the core mission goals. They aren't anything too special, usually directing players to use specific weapons or abilities on enemies, but it does help with the monotony. Plus, completing the optional objectives in a mission will sometimes net new skins for Crypto, though there aren't many of them. There are also pieces of concept art that can be unlocked and viewed on the Mothership.
A big part of Destroy All Humans' appeal is its comedic slant, which few games attempt in 2020. And while most of the jokes do still land, especially environmental humor in areas like Santa Modesta, it's yet another area where the game struggles with repetition. There aren't that many lines when using the Cortex Scan ability, and considering how central it is to gameplay, players are going to hear the same quips a lot — and some have not aged very well.
The game is overloaded with lines directed at Communism and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which lose their appeal pretty rapidly, but persist throughout the entire game. It plays off the Red Scare sensitivities the 1950s aesthetic is known for, and that's fitting but doesn't make them any less dull. Keeping the original voice acting cast and lines was clearly an intentional design decision, but the addition of a few more quips would have gone a long way here.
Oddly enough, Destroy All Humans' worst moments are also its biggest. The final two boss fights of the game are drawn-out and monotonous, putting a damper on the ending. Without spoiling the story for newcomers, the final two fights consist of three stages, but boil down to simply holding down the shoot button and avoiding gunfire, with few other mechanics to shake things up. It wouldn't be a major problem if they didn't drag on, but they both last longer than they should.
Beating the final mission does reward a ton of DNA, though, which is used to unlock upgrades. The upgrade tree has seen a major overhaul, offering far more options than the original game did. Both Crypto and the Saucer have independent skill trees, which upgrade things like ammo capacity for weapons like the Disintegrator Ray and shields. There's no option to reset upgrades, and investing too heavily into one tree can cause difficulty during certain challenges and late-game missions, so balance is important.
Crypto's saucer is fun to fly, but it can feel a bit underpowered at times. The Death Ray takes quite a bit of time to level buildings, and the other two weapons – while more destructive – have relatively low ammo capacities. These can all be upgraded, but even towards the end of ability trees, the saucer felt lackluster. It isn't utilized that often during the story, but when trying to earn three stars during the Saucer-focused challenges it can be a bit frustrating.
Problems aside, Destroy All Humans' raw, chaotic energy is matched by few other games. It's by no stretch of the imagination perfect, but for those looking for a trip down memory lane, it's hard to beat. It's a relic of a time that games were far simpler, and while big-budget, story-driven games have more or less replaced games like Destroy All Humans, being able to sit back and cause destruction is still a pleasant way to end a stressful day. Destroy All Humans serves that need in 2020 as well as it did in 2005, and with any luck, will open the door for a Destroy All Humans 2 remake or true sequel.
Destroy All Humans will release on July 28, 2020, for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Game Rant was provided an Xbox One code for this review.