Video game review: 'Destroy All Humans!' is lots of fun

GAME TITLE: "Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed"

PLATFORM: Nintendo Wii

STUDIO: THQ

RATING: T for Teen

SCORE: 6/10

THE REVIEW

As Crypto the alien, you're bent on world domination or destruction (whichever comes first) in 1970s America. You're helping fellow alien Pox realize his dreams of enslaving humanity through the Big Willy fast-food chain (think "Soylent Green"), while at the same time doing battle against the meddlesome heiress-turned-rebel leader Patty Wurst, a vicious team of roller-derby girls and the rival restaurant, Colonel Kluckin'. With lots of puns ("It's a double Patty!"), eye-rolling double-entendres and crude humor, "Destroy All Humans!" is fun, in the theme of those alien-invasion films.

GAME PLAY: The game is fun to play, as you run around town body-snatching, disintegrating or probing people on your way to victory. The game's camera angles rotate with the Wii-mote, making it a little tricky at times to shoot or flee in confrontations. It can also be hard to remember some of the button combinations to hypnotize or body-snatch a human. The Wii-mote is best used to pilot your flying saucer or control "Big Willy" himself on a rampage through the city.

Side missions advance the plot as you accumulate weapons and upgrades, but it can get old. Sometimes, it's more fun to just go on a death-ray zapping spree.

GRAPHICS: The graphics are good, with gray-faced, bug-eyed Crypto racing through the city, destroying everything in sight with his myriad weapons and creating more than a few visual gags. The camera angles are probably the most irritating thing with the Wii.

AUDIO: The characters' dialogue will make you laugh and is pretty clever at first, but it, too, gets old and is a little crude for some people's ears. A few disco hits are included (think "Disco Inferno" as you literally use a death ray on a disco).

THE WRAP-UP

PARENT'S TAKE: Rated T for Teen. It's probably OK for your teenager, but with the cartoon-style of the whole thing, it is the kind of game the younger ones will want to play.

FINAL WORD: "Destroy All Humans!" is a fun game to play, with enough death-ray to make world domination enjoyable.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com