Reviews// Destroy All Humans!: Path of the Furon (PS3)

Destroy All Humans!: Path of the Furon (DAH!PotF) is the fourth major instalment in the series from THQ or third if you leave out Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed which was a Wii exclusive and a bit of a spin-off.

First, the scene; it is the 1970s and Cryptosporidium 139, clone of the clone of the star of the original game has settled down to run a casino in Las Paradiso called the Space Dust. Here he and Orthopox 13 happily harvest human DNA in order to rebuild the Furon race.

However, trouble is brewing, the mob are moving into Las Paradiso in the form of Molinari Brothers and their legitimate business enterprise, Nero's Palazzo. The game begins as Crypto and Pox discover that one of their employees has been feeding the Molinaris information on the running of the Space Dust.

So begins another crazy adventure with Crypto and Pox, killing, destroying and body snatching their way around the world as they try to unravel the latest plot to prevent them from Destroying All Humans! Or taking over the world. Or harvesting DNA. Or just relaxing and racking up the money. The original aim of their mission seems to have somehow got lost in the twenty odd years since they first arrived on Earth.

As with the previous games, there are two distinct types of game play in DAH!PotF; on-foot and in-saucer and the player can switch between the two by jumping into and out of the saucer at landing zones. As in DAH!2, you'll have to appease the ancient Furon god, Arkvoodle, in order to open up more landing zones.

On foot, Crypto has access to his jet-pack and personal arsenal of deadly weapons. In addition he can use his Psychic powers to bodysnatch humans, read their thoughts or just throw things around with Psychokinesis.

It is on foot that Crypto starts his missions, usually by talking to Pox or some other character to get the outline of the mission. In between missions, Crypto is free to wander around the sandbox environment and amuse himself with side quests, odd jobs or just random killing and DNA collection.

DNA is used as a type of currency in the Pox-mart where Pox provides Crypto with upgrades to his weapons, equipment and saucer. Unfortunately the method of upgrading your Psychic abilities has changed from the fun abduction and gene splicing mechanic in DAH!2. In DAH!PotF you must use your abilities a certain amount and then meditate, following one of the four Paths of the Furon, to enhance your abilities.

The in-saucer sections of the game generally involve causing huge amounts of destruction to the local area. Although you may also be required to abduct a particular person you'll probably flush them out of hiding by blowing up buildings.

As in the other games, Crypto isn't able to carry on his amusing killing and destroying antics unhindered. The alert level will go up depending on how overt you have been, from Normal through Police, SWAT and Military to Nexo level, where the game's ultimate bad guys are activated.

If all of that sounds pretty familiar, it's because very little has changed in the Destroy All Humans! series since the first game touched down in 2005. DAH!2 introduced differing locations and the aforementioned gene splicing, but PotF only seems to have managed to move the game to the Unreal engine and tinker with the weaponry on offer.