Why Destroy All Humans! Remains a 6th Gen Classic 20 Years…

20 years ago, on June 21, 2005, THQ and Pandemic Studios allowed gamers to finally be the ones to invade Earth as little green men in the semi-open-world title Destroy All Humans! Inspired by 1950s science fiction films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still as well as the chaotic open-world gameplay of Grand Theft Auto 3, Destroy All Humans! Was created to allow players to freely and comedically wreak havoc. With this setup, Pandemic went on to create one of the most beloved games of the sixth console generation. Thanks to the fun gameplay and hilarious alien narrative of Destroy All Humans!, the game would spawn a franchise that still attracts players new and old today, 20 years later.

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By Chris Chalmers

The Satirical Story of Destroy All Humans!

Alien invasion stories had been a common sight in pop culture for about 100 years by 2005, but Pandemic sought to flip the concept on its head with Destroy All Humans! Instead of playing as a heroic human or space marine bravely defending humanity from extraterrestrials, gamers would instead play as the cocky, devious, and deadly Furon known as Cryptosporidium-137. Here, Crypto is tasked by Orthopox-13, played by Invader Zim’s Richard Steven Horvitz, to travel to 1950s Earth to acquire Furon DNA from human brain stems to rejuvenate their cloning operations. Meanwhile, Crypto strives to find information about the whereabouts of Cryptosporidium-136 after his UFO was shot down by the United States Army.

After mistakenly identifying cows as Earth’s dominant species, Crypto quickly begins wreaking havoc on rural America by destroying farms, kidnapping civilians, and extracting people's brains. This eventually catches the attention of local authorities, causing Crypto to disguise himself as a mayor to thwart suspicion and to hijack television antennas to blow up people’s heads. These events additionally caught the eye of a secret government organization known as Majestic, who quickly began influencing the military to better counter Crypto’s devious actions against humanity. Some of these countermeasures include the deployment of tanks and Power Suit Soldiers equipped with massive robot mechs.

Crypto’s Conquering of the U.S. Government

Following the probing of a Majestic agent, Crypto learns about the secret Area 42 and later discovers Cryptosporidium-136’s destroyed UFO and his dissected body at the base. For vengeance, Crypto blows up Area 42 with a nuclear bomb and eliminates General Richard “Dick” Armquist in his Freedom Bringer Power Suit. Crypto’s invasion of Earth finally culminates in the assassination of President Huffman and a battle against Majestic’s leader, a woman called Silhouette. However, Silhouette had one last ace up her sleeve: the deployment of the gigantic Roboprez, controlled by the disembodied brain of President Hoffman, who declares to destroy all Furons. After eliminating Roboprez and Silhouette, Destroy All Humans! Ends with Crypto, disguised as President Huffman, taking control of the U.S. And issuing a secretive plan to extract all citizens’ brains.

John Grant Albrecht’s portrayal of Cryptosporidium-137 is based on the mannerisms and tropes of Jack Nicholson and Charlton Heston, both of whom became famous for starring roles in many famous 20th century films.

The Enthralling Gameplay of Destroy All Humans!

THQ and Pandemic Studios sought to make Destroy All Humans! Feature a darker story and more freedom for players to fool around in the game’s sandbox, akin to elements seen in Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto 3. This ultimately resulted in the fun, chaotic gameplay that the Destroy All Humans! Series is known for, allowing players to destroy humanity in a variety of comical ways. Destroy All Humans! Gameplay mechanics can be essentially summarized into two different parts: Crypto’s boots-on-the-ground stealth, or direct combat and airbound destruction from Crypto’s flying saucer.

When playing as Crypto on the ground, gamers have access to a wide variety of weapons, equipment, and abilities to use, including:

Anal Probe
Brain Extract
Cortex Scan
Disintegrator Ray
Holobob
Hypnotize
Ion Detonator
Jetpack
Psycho-Kinesis
Zap-O-Matic

While most of this arsenal will dispatch humans in comically violent ways, such as the Disintegrator Ray turning a human into a burning skeleton similar to Martian attacks in 1996’s Mars Attacks!, several abilities and weapons highlight Destroy All Humans! Excellent comedic writing. For example, Cortex Scans will often reveal people's depraved thoughts, such as a woman thinking her brassiere could torpedo a U-boat or an agent calling themselves a "smoldering hotbed of sexuality.” Many military personnel and government press releases will additionally satirically blame Crypto's actions on communism.

Crypto’s Destructive Flying Saucer Explained

Most missions in Destroy All Humans! Will often have Crypto retreat to his flying saucer to destroy incoming armies or wipe out a nearby settlement to keep his presence on Earth a secret. Within the saucer, players can use the Death Ray to burn structures, vehicles, and people to a crisp or use Sonic Boom globules to quickly incapacitate vehicles and infantry. Players can additionally use the Abducto Beam to lift and throw heavy objects such as tanks, or to abduct certain important humans. Later, in Destroy All Humans! Players will unlock the Quantum Deconstructor, which can destroy multiple buildings in a single blast and can supposedly rip a hole in the space-time continuum if tampered with.

All of Cryptosporidium-137 weapons, abilities, and saucer defenses can be upgraded in Orthopox-13’s mothership with Furon DNA harvested from humans.

Destroy All Humans! Has a Strong Legacy and an Uncertain Future

With its enthralling sandbox gameplay and satirical 1950’s alien invasion story, Destroy All Humans! Immediately became a staple among original Xbox and PlayStation 2 game libraries in 2005. Many news outlets praised Destroy All Humans! For its visuals, writing, and numerous ways to cause chaos within a stereotypical depiction of 1950s white-bread suburban America. Destroy All Humans! Would go on to sell over one million copies by early 2006 and its sequel, Destroy All Humans! 2, was already greenlit during the first game’s production due to THQ’s warranted confidence in the game’s popularity. THQ even published a mobile version of Destroy All Humans! 1 in 2005, developed by Big Blue Bubble Inc., as a top-down variation of the console game.

The critical and financial success of Destroy All Humans! Helped usher THQ and Pandemic onto a path of continued success through the latter half of the 2000s and the beginning of the seventh console generation. Like its predecessor, Destroy All Humans! 2 became a widespread success, leading THQ to produce several more Destroy All Humans! Sequels and spinoffs up until 2008’s Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon. THQ even briefly collaborated with Fox Broadcasting in 2005 to produce an animated Destroy All Humans! Show, but the project never came into fruition and is presumed to have been canceled early on in development.

What Could Be Next for Destroy All Humans!

Admiration for the Destroy All Humans! Franchise among gamers persisted long after the series' initial death following Path of the Furon’s poor reception. This ultimately resulted in THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games developing remakes of Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2 in 2020 and 2022, as well as a brand-new 2022 multiplayer spin-off, Destroy All Humans! Clone Carnage.

Despite these games selling well, there have been little to no discussions about remaking the rest of the series. However, THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games could improve upon these games just as they did with the Destroy All Humans! 1 and 2 remakes or develop a new Destroy All Humans! 3 similar to THQ Nordic’s SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake to keep Destroy All Humans! Sixth gen spirit alive.

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