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!
Release Date(s)	NA December 1, 2008 EU February 13, 2009
Genre(s)	Third-person shooter, Sandbox, Science fiction, Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T (Teen)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 (Europe) Xbox 360
Distribution

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon is the third game in the Destroy All Humans! series, that was released December 1, 2008 in North America. The game was developed by THQ's Sandblast Games studio and goes with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, however it was stated that it would only be released in Europe on the latter. Veteran voice actors J. Grant Albrecht and Richard Horvitz will reprise their roles as Cryptosporidium and Orthopox respectively, and the musical score will be performed by veteran composer Garry Schyman.

Path of the Furon takes place in the 1970s, and players retain their role as an alien called Crypto in an effort to harvest as much DNA as possible while discovering a new adversary from Crypto's past. Path of the Furon picks up right after the last game in the series: Big Willy Unleashed. Approximately 10 years after the events of Destroy All Humans! 2, Crypto now runs a casino in Las Paradiso where he harvests patrons' brainstems, as he has grown weary of the constant struggle of harvesting DNA from humans. The story begins as the casino is attacked by a mysterious race of cyborgs known as Nexos. With a conspiracy quickly formed that threatens his way of life, Crypto embarks on a journey to gain enlightenment from an alien Kung Fu master, unlocking new powers that will let him save the Furons again.

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 (thanks to new augmentations to Crypto's new UFO) to obliterate with new weapons and new alien powers.

Gameplay

Missions, side quests, and achievements

Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon has over 30 story missions, 20 side quests, and multiplayer modes to be revealed later. Creative director Jon Knoles also 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 specific statistic tracking in game, and they are unique to the wild and crazy big weapons and abilities found in Path of the Furon, allowing the player to experiment with different possibilities. IGN stated that when the player takes the "Sunny" off of the Sunnywood sign they get a cutscene and one of the more creative achievements. There are also repeatable challenges and mini-games that the player can return to over and over to better their score and collect more rewards. It has also been stated most story missions can be played in non-linear order.

Multiplayer

This game features split screen offline multiplayer. Most of these challenges are player versus player, although one is co-op. The maps are not the ones that appear in single player, but have the same open world feel to them. Two multiplayer games features abduct the most humans and destroy the most buildings within a time limit.

Plot

Using the money earned from the Big Willy fast food franchise that Orthopox started, Pox and his destructive Furon warrior/minion, Crypto have opened a "family friendly" casino called "Space Dust" (A spoof of Stardust Resort & Casino) which they use to maintain a steady flow of cash and human DNA. Crypto has lost his motivation for destroying humans. He drinks too much, watches too much television, and has ultimately become lazy. However, problems begin to arise as the casino begins having attacks from the American Mafia, and later by mysterious cyborgs known as Nexos. The "Nexos" come from the Furon homeworld. Soon Crypto discovers a conspiracy from his own homeworld capable of destroying the Furon race forever. Crypto also begins hearing a voice in his head commanding him to go to the city of Shen Long. While in Sunnywood, Crypto is shot in the neck with a dart and faints. He awakes in a Kung Fu monastery and he is greeted by a Furon martial arts expert known as The Master. The Master beseeches him to submit to his tutelage, and train his mind and firepower to help him defeat these new threats.

Locations

There will be 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.

• Los Paradiso: This is where the game starts. Crypto begins confused and has forgotten what destroying humans is about. It is here that Crypto fights the American Mafia after they destroy his casino and Crypto begins to have a dream telling him to go to Shen Long.

• Sunnywood: In recently released trailers, it has been revealed that there are studios and a Hollywood-ish sign reading Sunnywood. Here Crypto meets the Alientology cult. Also Crypto is supposed to kill a actor in Sunnywood.

• Shen Long: This is where Crypto ends up after he had his visions and meets The Master.

• Belleville: Trailers confirm this invasion site contains the Eiffel Tower and The Arc de Triomphe.

• 4th Ring of Furon: One of four settlements that orbit Furon, the Furons' homeworld. The Furons do consider the rings "cities", but none are the Furon capital, Gorta. The 4th Ring is a Furon vacation/leisure resort. It has been revealed that the plot of this invasion site focuses on Pox.

Characters

See also: List of Destroy All Humans! characters

Main

From Left to right, The Master, Cryptosporidium, Orthopox, and Emperor Meningitis.

• The Master is an old and wise Furon martial arts expert, who is very mentally strong and is well trained in Psychokinesis. He is shown having several monks with him, possibly students of his. He was once a Furon warrior who came to Earth while on the run from powerful political enemies back home. He has immersed himself in Eastern philosophies and developing new Psychokinetic abilities. According to Crypto in a trailer of the game, he enters his dreams and calls him. Apparently, the Master knows who is behind Crypto's recent troubles and trains Crypto to unlock powers and weapons. The Master passes all his knowledge of PK down to Crypto, teaching him powerful abilities, such as Temporal Fist and PK Magnet. The Master is also one of the only purely-bred Furons known to have hair. The Master is voiced by Darryl Kurylo.

• Nexosporidium warriors (Nexos for short) are a mysterious race of cyborgs from the Furon Homeworld. A primary vehicle the Nexos use is the Nexo Saucer. [1]. The Nexos are in no way Furon. They are said to be a completely separate race of Cyborgs. Nexos have been confirmed to be from the Furon homeworld. They may be a special type of Furon task force, sent to hunt down rogue Furon Warriors. They are most likey the replacement for the Blisk from Destroy All Humans! 2.

• Emperor Meningitis is the emperor of the Furon Empire. He wears an imperial robe and he is seen holding a scepter. He has 3 prongs on the back of his head, which look like cone-shaped volcanoes. He can be seen in the Sandblast Games' website and the Destroy All Humans! website in the characters.

Secondary

A Conversation with Sammy and Faire.

• Curt Calvin(Andre Sogliuzzo) - Leader of the Alienology cult. He is thought to be a Furon in disguise.

• Arkvoodle is an ancient Furon God who is buried in effigy all over earth. He was first introduced in Destroy All Humans! 2 and the player can perform tasks for him to unlock landing zones for the saucer. Arkvoodle is voiced by Jim Ward.

• Henri Crousteau is a character voiced by Michael Lonsdale. He will appear in Belleville.

• Saxon is a previous student of the Master, who went power crazy. He wears a yellow "silk" jumpsuit and rides a Nexo Dragon. He is defeated in battle by Crypto, but is killed by the Nexos (who, ironically never knew the Nexos in the first place). Saxon will be voiced by actor James Horan.

  

  Saxon just outside the Shenlong Monastery.

• Sammy and Faire are two singers Crypto will meet in Las Paradiso. They are spoofs of Sonny & Cher.

• Travis Skeever, or "Skeeves", is a redneck that lives in the Nevada Desert. He was featured in a recent trailer. His exact purpose is unknown as of now.

• Veronica Stone(Salli Saffioti) - A News Reporter in Sunnywood, though she also appears in Shen Long.

• Mikey Molinari is a key member of the Molinari Brothers, the mob that Crypto is at war with. He wears a purple suit. His brother, Vinnie Molinari, carries a bat with him, smokes cigars and he is overweight.

• Murry was a spy sent from Mikey and Vinnie Molinari. Pox discovers him going through the Space Dust's files. Crypto roughly interrogates him to discover who he works for.

Voices and dialogue

According to the game's creative director, Jon Knoles, there are approximately 15,000 lines of spoken dialogue in the game. There will be 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. Knoles also stated that "Crypto is as cranky, crass, irreverent, horny and homicidal as ever, maybe more than ever.", indicating that Crypto's personality is unchanged. Not much dialogue has been released for Pox yet, except a few quotes released with Knole's IGN blogs. Knoles also stated that Grant and Richard would still be voicing Crypto and Pox. It has been confirmed that the game will have more interactive conversation games, such as the Mayor’s speech in the first Destroy All Humans! game, as Crypto addresses a group of humans, often while disguised as one, and manipulates them through carefully chosen words.

Release and development

The game's release date has been subject to recent change; however IGN and Amazon.com state the release dates are: December 1, 2008 for the United States, February 6, 2009 for the United Kingdom, and March 30, 2009 for Australia. However, Gamespot shows that the release date for Europe is December 1, 2008 and the same release dates above, except for the United Kingdom date. On April 1, 2008 there was a media surge surrounding THQ's Gamer's Day event that produced eight new screenshots, a short trailer, and a written interview with Jon Knoles (the game's creative director) on IGN. Other websites featured hands-on reports, previews, and one video interview with Jon Knoles on Gamespot. Until the game is released, more videos, screenshots, blogs, etc., will be released to the public on different sites at different times. A demo was supposed to be released in early August 2008 on Xbox Live, however, due to several layoffs at Sandblast, they haven't been able to prepare a demo for release, and the demo that was created months ago is out of date.

Changes from previous installments

Gameplay, graphics, and physics

Due to streamlined controls, Crypto can shoot humans, use the jetpack, and activate Psychokinesis simultaneously. The player can stand on a moving vehicle without falling off or being knocked over. The player can now engage in aerial battles. There are now flying enemies, such as helicopters and enemy saucers that can fight Crypto in his saucer. The player can travel to different locations "without ever leaving the game world" Buildings will collapse and scar differently when attacked with different weapons. The game will feature a modified alert scheme with police, SWAT, and military awareness. Cars will dent, bend, and crumple when hit, and will create sparks when dragged across a stone or concrete surface. The game uses a different physics engine, and as a result objects in the game will not abruptly stop moving when they collide with other objects. Electricity will surge through power lines when damage is caused to them. Pox Mart will be returning. The player can now use Mental Lock as an accurate targeting lock-on system for strafing targets with a weapon. The player will be able to exit and enter certain buildings freely, such as his casino or the Master's monastery.

Story and characters

The game features new locations, based upon major cities around the world. In an IGTV Interview, Jon Knoles states that since the Nexos from the Furon Homeworld are on Earth trying to disrupt his mission and kill him, Pox has upgraded Crypto's weapons and mental abilities. All of his weapons now produce DNA, and he automatically pulls the DNA towards him with Psychokinesis. Pox is still a hologram, but he has a brand new HoloPox Unit with extendable arms, with which he can gesture and interact with things.

Furon technology, weaponry, and saucer

Almost all of the previous weapons have been externally redesigned. Crypto can use the saucer's death ray and other weapons to scar buildings and terrain; these scars remain until a new mission is started, the player travels to a different location, or if the scar is on a building, until the building is destroyed. The saucer can abduct multiple humans, which are processed instantly. When abducted, humans slightly recharge the saucer's shields and also increase DNA. The Ion Detonator can be used as a sticky bomb. It can stick to both people and objects, and has a larger blast radius. The Anal Probe can lock onto more than one human. The Zap-O-Matic's multiple trails will go to vehicles, inanimate objects and people. Enemies and vehicles attacked with the Zap-O-Matic appear blue. The Quantum Deconstructor can be charged. The jet pack has a longer-lasting battery, and controls differently. The saucer has been redesigned, as Crypto crashed the original saucer into the Space Dust casino whilst drunk. Crypto's saucer can now fly horizontally and vertically and aim in all directions. Some of the new weaponry includes the "Tornadotron," the "Black Hole Gun," and the "Venus Human Trap". One new weapon is called the Superballer; this weapon fires out a supercharged ball of hydrohelium-infused polymer that homes in on humans and vehicles and sends them bouncing. With each super bounce, the victim takes damage, and it also causes an impulse with each impact that throws anyone and anything nearby. In a reference to one of the ubiquitous symbols of the 1970s: rainbows, the Superballer's vapor trail even creates a spectral refraction effect akin to a rainbow. Also, one returning fan favorite from Destroy All Humans! 2 is the Dislocator. This weapon fires pink gravity defying energy disks that fling people and objects in many different random directions. The player may now engage in "car surfing" via this weapon, and the disks are now pink, instead of purple as they were in Destroy All Humans! 2.

Psychokinesis

Psychokinesis is now mapped to its own trigger for easy access. Psychokinesis generates a large blue-purple glow around Crypto's hand. The Temporal Fist ability allows Crypto to stop time, manipulate objects, and then resume time. Objects can be given a directional impulse that causes the object to fly with greater force than a normal Psychokinetic push, once time has been resumed. PK magnet allows crypto to magnetize any object in PK, causing several people or other objects to stick and form a ball of humans and debris.

Humans and enemies

A Nexo Warrior

Swat Teams carry riot shields. Humans now run out of buildings when damage is caused to them, making it easier to collect humans for processing. There are now helicopter enemies. There are also saucer enemies.

External links

• Official Destroy All Humans! website
• THQ lists six franchises for its fiscal future
• Destroy All Humans! Crypto Does Vegas from IGN Mobile
• Destroy All Humans Path Of The Furon Videos