THQ Gamers Day - Destroy all Humans: Wrath of the Furon

by: Chuck - posted: 4/4/2008 8:00:00 PM

Crypto is back and he’s finally gone high definition and moved on to the 70’s. Outside of the graphical overhaul the has received a major control overhaul and added a few new gameplay twists. The control scheme for the game has been simplified a bit and allows you to do a lot of new things. The most apparent improvement is that Crypto can now do multiple things at the same time. In previous games you could use the jet back or use one of his powers. Now you can combine the two things which allows for all kinds of fun things as you can pick items up and then jet off with them.

 

Crypto’s UFO now operates in a true three dimensional environment now which means you can now actually move the saucer up and down and are now longer constrained to just flying at the same altitude. This is the one thing that bothered me about the previous games and it’s nice to see them rectify the situation. PS3 owners will also have the option of using the tilt motion in the Sixaxis controller. It’s nice to have the option but I think most people will stick with using the dual sticks.

While these are all fine and dandy it wouldn’t be a Destroy All Humans game without the fun weapons and the folks at Sandbox have delivered two new really fun weapons for Destroy all Humans: Path of the Furon. The first is that Crypto now has the power to freeze time. While on the surface this doesn’t sound like much you need to think about Crypto’s other powers while time is frozen. When he freezes time he can manipulate the objects around him allowing him to throw a bunch of cars in the air and then toss in a grenade into the mix. Another example is that Crypto can pause time and re-aim a tank shell that’s in mid-flight.   It’s a nice effect and this skill also allows for all kinds of other things like stacking cars in air and using them like a staircase to get to hard to reach areas of the map.

The other big weapon on display was the Black Hole gun which as the name implies creates a black hole and sucks every living thing into it. It’s a devastating weapon but at the same time it’s a lot of fun to watch every living thing get sucked into one point on the map. The demo I saw of the weapon had it stopping before a human was completely sucked in and he fell down fairly quickly.

The graphical overhaul doesn’t really show up in the screenshots below because you can’t see how well the effects move on the screen. The new abductor ray effects are just beautiful and the game’s new graphics engine looks phenomenal. 

What works:
 - Massive graphical overhaul looks fantastic
 - Major changes to the control scheme make the game easier to play
 - Fun new weapons and ways to use them

What doesn’t:
 - Seems like a lot of the old gameplay and mission types are still in place
 - Will the game work as well with a 70’s motif as it did in the 50’s?
 - Another open world sandbox game in a year full of them