It’s been a little over two weeks since the invasion began. Our cows are being abducted and our planet being destroyed… and yet it’s a different experience this time around. The remastered version of Destroy All Humans! is a faithful rendition of the hit classic and, in many ways, can be seen better than the original. The new invasion brings a slew of new features, graphical quality, and abilities to take advantage of.  The player is thrown into the skin of Cryptosporidium-137, a clone with a desire to probe and destroy, and whose on a search and rescue mission for his predecessor, Cryptosporidium-136. The Cryptosporidium race is unable to procreate and have turned to cloning; luckily for them, humans contain a small bit of Crypto DNA in their brains.   

The Furon Legacy!

THQ Nordic stayed utterly faithful to the original material of this cult classic as the story remains untouched. Destroy All Humans! sees Crypto’s exploration around different parts of the United States as the ever intelligent Orthopox guides him through 1950’s America, steeped in a culture fearing communism and speaking in hushed tones about little green men. While the depiction of alien invasions is not original to Destroy All Humans! THQ Nordic does a beautiful job of keeping the lore interesting. Each level is crafted very well and parodies many of the tropes we have about extraterrestrials, even to the point of vehemently denying their existence at the end of every mission. Most excitingly, the remake allows players to go through the lost level that took place in Area 42 and was cut from the original release. 

When do I get to blow things up?!

There have been a significant number of improvements to the fluidity and variety of gameplay. Crypto-137 is equipped with a vast arsenal of equipment and abilities that allow him to be the dominant force on Planet Earth. Since the original, THQ Nordic has included 48 new upgrades and the ability to perform actions simultaneously—such as extracting brain stems while lifting cows in the air with Telekinesis—a feature that was missing the first time around. This works particularly well as the combat can get quite crazy when surrounded by large groups of Majestic Agents and Police Officers.  While the game itself is not that difficult, some missions reach astronomical levels of frustration, sometimes leading to the throwing of controllers or pauses to recuperate. Players may find themselves in situations where sightlines aren’t clearly defined, or in a constant loop of failure as the stealth missions reset immediately upon discovery. If walking doesn’t fit your playstyle, you can invest in the Skate ability to cruise around the map or take to the air with your built-in jetpack. Mastering all of these methods can help curb the difficulty of some missions. 

A Lesson in Laughter!

One of the main draws of Destroy All Humans! was its humour, which along with the story, remained unchanged. While this is good to keep loyal fans on board, the jokes don’t hit the same in 2020, and some did not age very gracefully. While it could ALIEN-ate the newer audience (I had to, I’m sorry), changing something so integral to the original could have proved disastrous.

I’M NOT GREEN!

The visuals in Destroy All Humans! have also been given quite a lot of love. The game can easily fit into modern-day standards and has gone through a fitting re-imagining. The characters look a little more on the cartoonish side; however, they emote quite well, and their motion is exceptionally fluid.  The open-world aspects have been improved with much more fleshed out locations and details, including background assets and sounds that help with general immersion. However, the game can get a tad jittery when entering the flying saucer from the ground.

There Are No Little Green Men!

Destroy All Humans! has been a faithful recreation of the cult classic with much-needed quality of life improvements. Although dated, the humour is a good reminder of the state of the world when the original was released and can still bring smiles to new and old fans of the series. Our new Furon overlords have outdone themselves this second time around.    Destroy All Humans! was tested on Xbox One, at the behest of the Furon Empire. THQ Nordic provided a copy of this iteration of the simulation.   *Check out our latest review for Ultracore