The appeal of Destroy All Humans owes a lot to this image we have of aliens and flying saucers, and it positively revels in the idea of an invasion from space, this time from the perspective of the aliens rather than humans. Set in a the 1950s when the classic alien movies had their heyday, the game recalls a simpler age where women stayed in the kitchen, men went to work and put on a brave face, and the US government spread a phobia against communism. The allegorical nature of many of the alien movies of the time has not been lost on the developers, and use of communism to explain the various alien attacks throughout the game goes some way to portray the mood of that time, although in a quite blatant tongue-in-cheek manner.

Destroy All Humans stars Crypto, an alien clone sent to Earth to find what happened to another alien lost on a previous mission. With no clue where his fellow alien might be, Crypto must take the slightly less aggressive path and try to collect information about Earth and where his comrade could be. This leads him to several locations throughout the United States, initially to look for a missing comrade and later to take over the world.

Rather than the more open style of a game like Pandemic-developed Mercenaries, Destroy All Humans breaks the map up into several pieces, each quite large and distinctive, with only the first few areas suffering from too much open space with not enough going on. Beginning with a small farm, Crypto soon moves to larger cities and areas as he gathers more information about both humans and the whereabouts of his alien associate. It's a style that works well, and allows for a gradual increase in difficulty so that by the time the final areas are reached, Crypto faces quite a challenge, even with the extra weapons and powers that he has in his possession.

The weapons at his disposal begin with a Zap-O-Matic, which shocks humans, slowly sapping the life from them. As the game progresses Crypto is able to obtain upgrades and more powerful weapons that can disintegrate larger objects and areas, providing an arsenal that can be quite devastating if used well. His flying saucer can be used as a weapon as well, and can also be upgraded for some large-scale destruction.

As for powers, Crypto has some fun abilities, including telekinesis, mind control, hypnotism and the ever-popular anal probe. These abilities can also be upgraded so the Crypto becomes more and more powerful and the range of attacks the player has at his disposal becomes greater. Even so, the fire power available seems to be rather limited, with only a small number of weapons and abilities in total. Towards the end of the game it seemd that the same strategies and weapons are relied upon as earlier on.

Crypto himself is a great character, full of contempt for the "filthy humans", and he is certainly the star of the game whilst providing an adequate Jack Nicholson mimicry. The overall feel of Destroy All Humans is rather well done, from the ambient soundtrack through to the comments of the humans inhabiting this world, from the bored housewives and staid businessmen to the hippies and scientists that just want to believe in aliens. The Australian developers Pandemic have certainly captured the spirit and appeal of early science fiction, infusing it with humour.

As well as the overall feel, Destroy All Humans is also fairly accomplished in its gameplay. Crypto moves well, and is quite responsive. The controls in this third-person game work well, and switching between weapons and abilities while moving around is smooth and quite easily achieved. Only the controls for the flying saucer seem to have been dumbed down a little with players only having the ability to move around at the same height, reducing those sections to 2D shoot-em-up activity. A saucer that could move fully could have made these sections a little more fulfilling.

The range of missions for Crypto to complete displays a good amount of variety. Missions can involve protecting something, destroying certain facilities or people, or just collecting information. Many of these require Crypto to remain unnoticed, and sneaking around or temporarily taking the form of a human adds to the challenge nicely. There is also a fair degree of difficulty in the game once the initial stages have been cleared. The Army and other armed forces display a good deal of aggression, with the amount of weaponary available to them escalating as fast as Crypto's own arsenal. In addition each area boasts a number of collectables and side-missions, which help to flesh out the gameplay while providing some interesting challenges.