A phrase, or rather a unique term, that came to my mind while playing this was the very distinct brainworm: [b]ALIEN MISANTHROPY[/b]. It is so nice to play a game that is so adamantly anti-human, but in a very laid back, humour-filled, comic way. A great stress relief and honestly, a fun perspective to take. Usually, anything extremely critical of human civilization tends to advocate for one belief system over another, but Destroy All Humans is rampant, colonial imperialism without a lot of the troublesome connotations behind it, because the autocratic conqueror is a fully fictional race.
And yet, to say this game is not political would be entirely wrong. In fact, Destroy All Humans is possibly the most political game, and not without biases, that I have ever played besides Disco Elysium. Destroy All Humans is from a different era that many have already grown up afterwards, meaning that us 90s boomers are forever forced to retain this knowledge of a global era long gone, one that revolved around America and NATO's Global War On Terror.
Now, this isn't me reading too deeply into things. The game, like Stubbs the Zombie but far more so, is using retro-futuristic, early Cold War America and McCarthyism as a metaphor for the American Neo-Con wave of the post 9/11 early 2000s. Above all, it strikes hard at rural Americans, the Republican party and obviously, George W Bush Jr. All while mocking over confidence in the American military, down to a soldier quoting and discrediting the Iraq-War era recruitment slogan ("I just don't feel like I am being all that I can be..."), to our right making fun of GWB Jr's military record, ("I knew I should of joined the Texas Air National Guard. Now that'd be some easy duty!")
If that doesn't convince you, Crypto's boss routinely refers to American forces as "the military industrial complex", there is an entire mission where you murder all of the senators, and generally, the American forces are portrayed as jingoistic, enthusiastic murderers and parodies of personality-worshipped MacArthur and Patton types.
Much like Stubbs the Zombie also, a recurring joke is the fact that all technological innovations of the era are done by Nazi Germans, acquired during the post-war braindrain, Operation Paperclip. Their accents are hilarious, albeit their pronunciation of German cities being wrong in their thoughts (ironic, considering the game has a full German dub). Not only are they doing their best to capture and experiment on Crypto, but they are outright involved in various conspiracy-schemes to basically brainwash the American populace with consumerist slop and media-driven mind control, to make basically, "a bunch of stupid, aggressive Republicans".
The game is insanely American-Democrat Liberal in all of its sensibilities, with even a reference to Rage Against The Machine. The American rurality is often written to be fully illiterate, ignorant and insanely stupid, while urbanites are obsessed with movie actors and their own sexuality. So, its Liberal in a South Park way, where really the "idiots" it makes fun of, are just large, louder examples of a bigger problem, the country in general.
Once again, this was made during the Bush Jr Administration and its misanthropic plot is really just a cheeky tool to run adjacently to the wave of disillusionment Americans felt for their country at the time. Other than that, the humorous stances of the current game and its misanthropic, pessimistic view of humans and conservative governments, coincides a lot with the sensibilities of modern central, western and Northern Europeans.
The Red Scare and McCarthyism, combined with yellow, sensationalist journalism, is a huge component of the game's artistic identity. The invader Crypto is constantly and consistently rendered in humorous ways when killed, with blatant cover ups via front-pages of newspaper splash screens for mission failure and death states. All playing on the "UFOs are weather balloons" type of phenomena, regarding the American government's initial refusal to even address such sightings and etc. seriously in any meaningful way.
Major actions you partake in throughout the plot are blamed on Reds, Communist infiltrators, the rise of cultural Marxism and numerous other sensationalist topics to some great humour. So the game is entirely invested in its satirical lampooning of "modern" America at the time, but it also pays huge tribute to the early boomer-centric jingoism of the 50s.
One of the best and funniest parts of the game has you impersonating a mayor, where you can win the approval of a bunch of rednecks by simply blaming everything on communists and how anyone who critiques you isn't "a real American".
That being said, the game isn't really "woke" or "progressive", it even has a disclaimer in the beginning mentioning its content is a product of its time. Destroy All Humans! is very mean spirited and puts you in the space suit of an alien misanthrope named Crypto, who refers to humans as monkeys and takes great joy in their plight and murder. Crypto is a bit freaky and at times, comes off as intentionally sleazy and weird.
It is odd that the game was made for a younger demographic. I think the game not being adult oriented like Stubbs, actually sort of holds it back a tiny bit. Also, really, what teenagers were going to get what this game was saying and referencing politically?
The voice direction of Crypto, which reminds me of Rorschach's in the Watchmen film adaption at times despite embodying the opposite of such a character, is absolutely fantastic. The remake adds some cut content which seemingly includes newly recorded lines, where Crypto's voice actor sounds noticeably two decades older and its still very charming, despite this.
Richard Horvitz, most well known for his role as the titular Invader Zim, plays Crypto's handler, Pox. He completely hams it up with his Zim voice in the best way possible, honestly fantastic stuff, albeit definitely dated to the era. His new lines in the restored content definitely sounds more like his Helluva Boss' Moxxie voice, however.
The game... is pretty damn good. Gameplay wise, you really should do your best to learn the mechanics well, because the final two bosses will definitely test your knowledge. These fights, as well as a few key points in the game, are definitely PS2 era difficult. And I mean that in the most aggravated way possible. Thankfully, playing aggressively actually is rewarded greatly in these instances, as well as grinding some side quests to really build up your gear. Just make sure you actually know how to restore your ammunition and shields, both on foot and in the saucer. Don't become overly dependent on one weapon. What works for a few missions, might be completely useless later.
Worth the hype and better than the nostalgia, Destroy All Humans is a fantastic remake and is one of the few Unreal games to not run like complete ♥♥♥♥. However, I did have occasional instances of random frame drops, but a simple restart fixed all my issues. Honestly, these games and the Spongebob ones are proof that Unreal can do stylized stuff with high fidelity extremely well. Its a shame it is almost exclusively used for hyper-real, asset flip slop.
