Destroy All Humans! is a video game series that started back during the PlayStation 2 era and attracted countless fans. The games star an alien named Crypto from the planet Furon who is tasked with taking over Earth. Of course, a slew of other issues arise during his world domination like dealing with secret government agencies and rival aliens. The series is a ton of fun, as it’s filled with dark humor, unique story, and riveting combat. Unfortunately, though, the series died out (years before eventually being remade) with no real finale to it.
The story and quality of gameplay were both fantastic in the first two installments in the franchise. If the series kept growing in this direction, it could have become something as popular as Ratchet and Clank or Sly Cooper, but things gradually went downhill from there.
The third game in the series, Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed, only released on the Nintendo Wii and used motion controls. The graphics and gameplay both took a dip in quality, but were still fine. The story of this third installment involved Crypto and his commander, Pox, opening a fast food establishment and turning the bodies of all their victims into meat for food to serve there as a coverup of their destruction. While humorous, it didn’t progress the story forward. It all felt like more of a side game than a true sequel. On top of that, the previous two games were on different platforms than the Wii. This means that fans of the series may not have had a Wii and were unable to play the latest installment.
The last game in the series (before the remakes were made), Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon, returned to form and played similarly to the original two and recaptured similar gameplay but was only released on the XBox 360. A PS3 version was in development but was canceled due to budget cuts. The series releasing multiple games that were exclusive to different consoles hurt sales. It made it difficult for fans to keep up with it. People wanted to keep up with their favorite murderous and party-loving alien as they blasted foes with anal probes and fireballs but weren’t able to.
The company that made and owned the Destroy All Humans! video games went bankrupt a few years after the release of Path of the Furon and its various IPs were sold off. Later on, Nordic Games (which is now THQ Nordic) purchased the rights to Destroy All Humans! and released remakes of the original two games on modern consoles.
It’s fantastic to see the series return, but it’s hard not to think about where the games could have gone if they kept continuing the story and upgrading the gameplay with more installments. Crypto’s adventures are always entertaining and intriguing, so it would have been fun to see where they would have gone. It’s a huge bummer that they were cut short in the first place.
The remakes of the first two games have been well-received enough. A lot of fans have enjoyed returning to the sci fi comedy adventure games, and new players have jumped on the intergalactic bandwagon. Because of this, it would be nice to see the Big Willy Unleashed and Path of the Furon get the same treatment. If they do, it would be truly exciting to see if THQ Nordic decides to continue the series so that we may finally see where Crypto and Pox end up. Hopefully the series doesn’t end up falling off again like it did originally.
Nonstop Nerd 