Destroy All Humans! is a fun 1:1 remake of the original but offers very little in terms of new content. The game’s updated visual flair and modernized controls are weighed down by technical issues, which often gets in the way of the destructive fun.
Destroy All Humans! (2005) is almost the perfect example of a game from the PS2 era that released to middling critical reception, carving out its niche within the gaming community, and becoming a beloved classic. Jump ahead fifteen years and those same fans are being treated to a 1:1 remake of the original, bringing some much-needed improvements. While Destroy All Humans! (2020) doesn’t go far enough when it comes to quality-of-life improvements, there’s enough in the game for fans to chew on.
The first thing you’ll notice is the wonderfully updated visuals to the entire game. Crypto, from his pulsating gills to his grey oily skin, has been beautifully recreated and updated from his PS2 counterpart. All of the weapons in Crypto’s arsenal have also been given a visual facelift.
The various maps in DAH have been given some much-needed love as well, giving some depth and color to the classic invasion grounds. Which brings me to the only glaring oversight: the only segment of the game that doesn’t look visually updated are the humans themselves. Yes, all of the humans still retain their classic 50s Americana aesthetic, but they are very stiff and don’t appear to be overhauled at all.
Throw in glaring texture (and sometimes full asset) pop-in, and this remake of Destroy All Humans! loses its luster. Often times I found the distinct lack of music during cutscenes, paired with critical texture/asset pop-in, took me out of the experience I had been building during gameplay. It all felt incredibly flat, which is disappointing when the actual gameplay felt full of life and color.
Luckily Destroy All Humans! was never purely known for its visual fidelity, but rather for its arcadey gameplay. DAH (2020) retains the fun gameplay while fixing some of the more frustrating controls of the original. Crypto’s PK abilities are just as fun to use to throw humans and objects around, while all of his weapons still retain their explosive and satisfying devastation.
That’s not to say all of the gameplay has been improved, however. There are still quite a few frustrating aspects of DAH’s gameplay, such as weapon quick selection and the flying saucer gameplay. For quick select for weapons, oftentimes I found the game had noticeable framerate drops when I opened the weapon wheel. It was really frustrating, especially in the late game when players rely on switching between different weapons to defeat bosses.
For the flying saucer gameplay, I’m not entirely able to tell if anything has been improved. Inherently the flying saucer gameplay was always the most frustrating aspect of Destroy All Humans!. The camera angle for the saucer cuts off a lot of the surrounding terrain, which makes it incredibly difficult to line up targets. There aren’t many flying saucer portions throughout DAH’s campaign, but I found the portions that are there to be frustrating.
Destroy All Humans! (2020) is a fine offering by updating a fan favorite PS2 game for the modern era. Technical issues plague this remake from being the perfect 1:1 recreation, but what is there is fun enough to warrant a few hours of destructiveness. Fans of the series will surely find a lot to enjoy with Black Forest Games’ remake, but Destroy All Humans! doesn’t offer enough actual new content to bring new fans in on the invasion.
