Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon
Developer(s)	Sandblast Games
Publisher(s)	THQ
Series	Destroy All Humans!
Engine	Unreal Engine 3[1]
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360[2]
Release date(s)	NA: December 1, 2008 (X360 only)[3] AUS: February 12, 2009[4] EU: February 13, 2009[4]
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon is an action-adventure game developed by Sandblast Games and published by THQ. The game is set in the 1970s and is the fourth game in the Destroy All Humans! series, released December 1, 2008 in North America for the Xbox 360.^[3][5] The game was developed by THQ's Sandblast Games studio for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.^[6] Path of the Furon expands on the open world format of the previous Destroy All Humans! games, with five new open worlds on the ground and in the air to obliterate with new weapons and new alien powers.

On November 26, 2008, the North American PlayStation 3 version was canceled citing "development issues".^[7] However, the PlayStation 3 version was still released in Australia on February 12, 2009 and Europe on February 13, 2009 alongside the Xbox 360 release.^[8]

Gameplay

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon has over 30-story missions, 20 side quests, and multiplayer modes. As with previous games, most story missions can be played in non-linear order. Creative director Jon Knoles stated that the side quests would be related to the story, would also be creative, and "epic". Knoles added that the achievements are tied to statistic tracking in the game, and they are unique to the weapons and abilities found, allowing the player to experiment with different possibilities. For example, IGN noted that when the player takes the "Sunny" off of the Sunnywood sign they get a cutscene and one of the more creative achievements.^[9][10] There are also challenges and mini-games that the player can return to repeatedly to better their score and collect more rewards. There are five new open-world locations based on Las Vegas ("Las Paradiso"), Hollywood ("Sunnywood"), Hong Kong ("Shen Long"), Paris ("Belleville"), and The 4th Ring of Furon.^[11]

Multiplayer

This game features split screen offline multiplayer. Most challenges are player versus player, although one is co-op. The maps are scaled down versions of their single player counterparts. The games are Ion Soccer, where players use their ion detonators to shoot a ball into each other's goals, Brain-O-Matic, where players PK humans into a machine that will extract their brains for processing, and Abductorama, basically a competitive game of "keep away", in which the goal of the game is to abduct the ball, and keep it out of the reach of the other player until the player color fills up the bar, or get the bar filled up more than the other player and keep it like that until time runs out. There are no co-op single player missions, nor can you play through the story with co-op.

Plot

Taking place after the events of Big Willy Unleashed, Cryptosporidium 138 (Crypto) (J. Grant Albrecht) has recently crashed his old saucer into the Space Dust casino while drunk, perishing in the crash. His cohort Orthopox 13 (Pox) (Richard Horvitz) clones Crypto 139, and they take ownership of the casino, which they use to maintain a steady flow of cash and human DNA. They discover that the local mob seeks to gather information on them. Crypto destroys the mob's, causing the mob to go to war with him. He defeats the mob, destroying their profits and taking control of the city of Las Paradiso.

Soon he begins hearing an etheric voice beckoning him to the paths of enlightenment. As Crypto begins to discover the potential of his powers, strange creatures arrive and attack. Pox identifies them as Nexosporidium warriors (Nexos), who are supposedly extinct. In an act of desperation, Pox orders Crypto to destroy all of Paradiso to erase any evidence of their being there. Crypto reluctantly does so, and the pair flee to Sunnywood. In Sunnywood, the duo assume Curt Calvin (Andre Sogliuzzo), leader of the Lunarian Church of Alientology, to be another DNA harvesting Furon on Earth.^[12] They stage an alien landing to draw Calvin out. Crypto confronts the cult leader and demands he show his true Furon form. A Nexosporidium walker appears and steps on Calvin, revealing he is actually human. After defeating the walker, Crypto is shot in the neck with a dart and faints.

Crypto converses with The Master.

Crypto awakens days later in a monastery ran by a Furon known as The Master (Darryl Kurylo). He reveals that one hundred years ago imperial traitors marked Emperor Meningitis, ruler of the Furon Empire, for death. He stopped the assassination, but was in turn marked for death. Fleeing to Earth, he crash-landed off the coast of China. He soon realized eastern philosophies could help him improve his mental abilities, and so immersed himself in their culture. He built an academy and passed on knowledge to followers. His apprentice, Saxon (James Horan), became power hungry, forming a triad to oppose him. When Crypto next returns to the monastery he witnesses Saxon kill the Master. He interrogates the villain at gunpoint amidst the sudden appearance of Nexos, and Saxon dies in the confusion. Pox Deduces that the Nexos have been cloned on Earth, and only one organization could accomplish such. They then set off for Bellevile, France, home of the Francodyne corporation.

Crypto infiltrates Francodyne's CEO Henri Crousteau's mansion, but Crousteau escapes. Pox and Crypto learn Crousteau intends to create a virus to destroy the Furon DNA within the human genome. Crypto sets out to destroy his Nexo manufacturing operation. He causes a riot between the workers and destroys the Nexo laboratory. However, Crousteau still manages to create the virus and sends four Nexo walkers to distribute it into the river. Crypto destroys the walkers and defeats Crousteau in a final battle at the Belleville tower. He learns that Crousteau only wanted to destroy his own race to stop the planet from being polluted, that he was feeding the Nexos synthetic DNA, and that he wasn't responsible for the attack on the casino. The Nexos that attacked were rogues responding to a signal from the Furon homeworld. Crypto realizes that Emperor Meningitis (Nolan North) is responsible. He and Pox set off for the Fourth Ring of Furon to confront the emperor.

Upon arriving, Crypto immediately attacks the palace. The emperor expels them from the city and erects a large shield. Pox and Crypto manage to deactivate it and re-enter the city. Pox reveals that since he once worked for the emperor his biometrics are still in the system, allowing them to open the palace door. Crypto and Pox download Pox's clone data from the imperial repository and clone Pox a new body, Orthopox 14. However the wrong mold is used, and Pox exits the machine with a simian appearance. Pox informs Crypto they'll need a distraction, and to start a human riot in the artificial human habitat. As the riot ensues, Crypto confronts Meningitis, defeating him, but the emperor disintegrates from old age before he can be interrogated.

The Master then reappears from the Jade Talisman Crypto inherited from him, revealing that he was the conspirator who set everything in motion. It was he who had been controlling the Nexos. The Jade Talisman was actually a cloning device used so that after Meningitis was defeated he could be smuggled in and become the new emperor. Crypto becomes infuriated and makes a motion to Pox. Pox then uses his strength to slam The Master against a wall, killing him. Crypto picks up a canister of synthetic DNA and tries it, but vomits at the horrible taste. Pox tells Crypto that as long as he cannot stomach synthetic DNA their mission wasn't a sham, and there would always be a reason to destroy all humans. Crypto realizes that Pox is right, and decides to return to Earth. Pox then tells Crypto he isn't returning with him, and takes the throne. As Crypto walks out of the palace, the other Furons begin running in, to greet their new emperor.

Development

The musical score is performed by veteran composer Garry Schyman. According to the game's creative director, Jon Knoles, there are approximately 15,000 lines of spoken dialogue in the game.^[10] There is more back and forth banter between Crypto and Pox, interactive conversations, and more human minds to read. There are between 30 and 50 thoughts for each human in the game and about 2000 in total.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (X360) 38.41%[13] (PS3) 26.50%[14] Metacritic (X360) 34/100[15] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com D[16] Destructoid 3/10[17] Edge 3/10[18] Eurogamer 2/10[19] Game Informer 4.5/10[20] GamePro [21] GameSpot 4/10[22] GameZone 5/10[23] IGN 3/10[24] OPM (UK) 1/10[25] OXM 4.5/10[26]

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon received negative reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 38.41% and 34/100^[13][15] and the PlayStation 3 version 26.50%.^[14]

Reviews of the in-game soundtrack fared generally better. GameZone said, "The score still has that sci-fi B-movie feel with a heavy dose of '70s-styled funk and disco tossed in for good measure."^[23]

References