Crypto Wreaks Havoc in the Swingin’ 70s
July 30, 2008 – The fourth installment of the Destroy all Humans! series expands on the open world format of its predecessors and will have you roaming large maps with the goal of annihilating as many NPCs as you can. Path of the Furon will feature the largest killing fields we have seen thus far from the franchise, as Crypto returns with no mercy and a whole bunch of new gadgets with which to wreak havoc. The tongue-in-cheek sci-fi series will be brought to a whole new level of chaos, destruction, and freedom when it’s released this September.
The story of Path of the Furon takes place in the 1970’s, located in five new open-world cities based on actual locations. Continuing from where the prequel, Big Willy Unleashed, left off, Crypto continues to run his Vegas-style casino – a façade for his secret human brainstem farm – for a faster and much easier way to destroy humans and gather their DNA, while earning a nice cash flow. However, running the casino has made Crypto lazy, and since the last time we’ve seen him, he drinks too much, watches too much TV, and has lost his passion for destroying humans the old fashioned way. That is, however, until the casino is overrun by cyborgs known as Nexos, and Crypto is forced to leave his life of luxury behind. He learns that the Nexos come from his home planet, and if he doesn’t stop them, they will destroy the Furon race indefinitely. As he relearns his killing capabilities and is faced with a much more challenging gang of enemies, Crypto must seek enlightenment from a higher Furon known as The Master, acting as his Obi-Wan Kenobi of sorts for spiritual guidance and training along the way. The missions will lead you to five different open world maps and have you interacting with more hilarious characters, which have made the series so popular.
The game starts off in Las Paradiso, based on Las Vegas, which is home to Crypto’s DNA-sucking casino. Here you’ll have to battle the American Mafia, and this is also where Crypto is struck in the neck with a dart, sending him into a dreamlike state in which he first meets The Master. The Master instructs him to travel to Shen Long, which is a parody of Hong Kong for the second open-world level. Crypto’s adventure will also lead him to Sunnywood, made to resemble Hollywood, complete with a Sunnywood Sign and movie studios. In Sunnywood, Crypto meets an Alientology cult with a charismatic leader loosely based on an actual mega-famous Hollywood actor known to jump on couches. The leader is a fellow Furon who turns out to be Crypto’s arch nemesis and a worthy opponent. Belleville is the fourth open-world, which is made to resemble Paris and comes complete with an Eiffel Tower. There isn’t much detail given about the fifth and final level, though it will be on Crypto’s home planet of Gorta, where the battle to stop the Nexos and their creator will eventually lead.
As you play through all levels, The Master will be the key element to the game, as he guides Crypto with knowledge and teaches him new powers to give him a lot more functions than in previous Destroy all Humans! titles. Though Crypto has always been handy with gadgets, in Path of the Furon he will learn a bevy of new physical and telepathic capabilities through The Master’s teachings. The temporal fist, for example, will allow Crypto to momentarily freeze time. Once time is at a standstill, Crypto will have the ability to rearrange objects then sit back and watch the outcome as time returns. It will definitely help in some situations where you’re under heavy fire, as you’ll be able to stop bullets and point them back at your enemy or even just toy around with humans while free-roaming any of the five levels. Crypto’s psychokinetic powers will allow you to move people and objects through the air and do with them what you will. When time is stopped, you can line humans up together to take them out in one swift blow. With all the mind powers the little guy learns combined with the amount of new and returning weapons to his arsenal, Crypto is more deadly than ever.
There is an array of new weaponry and cool ways to kill humans in Path of the Furon. The Venus Human Trap is a fun one. When Crypto to plants a seed, a massive man-eating plant will grow from wherever you plant it – the middle of the street, for example. The blood-thirsty vegetation will pick up humans with its giant tentacles and devour anyone who passes by and continue to grow as it feeds. If you strategically plant the Venus Human Trap well and it manages to kill enough humans in a period of time, you’ll unlock new achievements and it will produce extra power-ups to gather. The Black Hole Gun is another new weapon that can do a lot of damage at the hands of Crypto. It’s a small device, but its impact is devastating, as the gun shoots out a black, circular space void that will suck in anything nearby. The Super Baller is another new addition. It’s a gun that shoots out a large bouncing ball that causes damage and kills humans as it bounces about. Of course, old gadgets will return such as the wildly humorous Anal Probes, Disintegrator Ray, Ion Detonators, and Crypto’s trusty flying saucer to zoom around in and cause massive amounts of chaos.
And with all the new weapons introduced to the world of Destroy all Humans!, Crypto will also have new capabilities that will allow him to use his mind and physical powers as well as his gadgets at the same time. He still has his super-fun jetpack to coast around the city, but now he’ll be able to swoop down, pick up a human, and fly around with him or her while firing his weapon. Crypto’s saucer has gone through a makeover as well, and as you switch between any of the five different guns such as The Death Ray or The Quantum Destructor, the vessel will transform and change color so you know which one you’re using. It also features an improved Abduction Ray to beam people up in a larger radius and now allows you to gain health from the abducted humans.
While coasting around the city in your spacecraft, you’ll be able to destroy buildings to a certain extent. You won’t be able to level every structure and bring the entire city to its knees, but as you zap building with your lasers, the outer layer becomes cracked and windows appear to be blown out. Some skyscrapers can be leveled after receiving heavy gunfire or a serious blow from The Quantum Destructor, as you watch the structure get reduced to rubble from your cockpit. Whatever damage you cause will remain that way for the duration of the game, which means you will always be able to appreciate your handy work.
Along with the five invasion levels, Sandblast is promising over 30 story missions, 20 side quests, all the free-roaming you can handle, and some yet to be revealed multiplayer capabilities. Offline, up to four players can work together and online multiplayer details are yet to be seen. Though the release of the game is still about a month and a half away, Sandblast is admittedly still working on some of the game’s functions including its multiplayer capabilities. There will be a demo released for Xbox LIVE members sometime early August for those who want a sample of what the game has to offer a month early. For now, things definitely look promising for fans of the series with a whole new arsenal and a much larger playground to use it in.
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