Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed

1. Official Site
2. Platform: Wii
3. Publisher: THQ
4. Developer: Locomotive Games
5. Release Date: 02/25/08
6. Genre: Action/Adventure

by Mitch Youngblood

It goes without saying that certain expectations are set with a video game series the further along it progresses. Most of us who fall in love with a series have the misfortune of helplessly watching it degrade over time as repeated attempts to clone previous successes diminishes it. A copy of a copy of a copy if you will. We are ultimately left with only our original versions to remind us of a better time when the actions we put our favorite characters through were both new and exciting. It also goes without saying that any game featuring a horny alien with a twitchy trigger finger and called Big Willy Unleashed might have more than a few double entendres regarding anatomy hidden up its pants leg.

Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed continues the series by throwing Crypto and Pox in the 1970s where they continue living up to the title. It seems Pox has discovered the notion of fast food and crafted a rather lucrative side business with a Chips Big Boy knock-off as the mascot. Then the first in a long line of spoofs rears its ugly head and once again Crypto has to wipe the floor with the puny humans while enduring Pox’s many, many, many comments on how his Big Willy will cover the world with its glory.

Yeah, it goes there. Unfortunately, it’s already gone there twice and the third time ain’t exactly what one would call "the charm."

I was surprised to find the graphics lacked a certain punch. The city, farm, islands, and Vietnam were disparate in appearances to be sure, and I’ll confess to being a particular fan of the island map. But the previous games took their respective decades and created specific environments which reflected the personality of the era. That isn’t the case here. Sure, it may be harder to nail down a specific 1970s city (my money is on Las Vegas) than it was to spoof San Francisco as a harbor for the 1960s free love/hippie movement, but it's clear an attempt wasn’t even made.

The city at the beginning is about as generic as you can get. That’s followed by what struck me as a town square version of the first level of the first game. Then Crypto goes to an island atoll which spoofs Fantasy Island, and is capped off by a tour of Vietnam. These last two show some spark of imagination in how they use both color and layouts, but they only scratch the surface of what could have been a hilarious commentary on the times. Instead we get personality-free zones that are smaller than in the previous games, and that aren’t as much fun to move around in.

The game looks alright, I suppose. It is clear what is occurring in the world from start to finish. It just lacks personality to it and feels like a cookie-cutter adventure starring two iconic characters. This may strike some as overly harsh criticism, but when held against the first two games it is obvious the people behind this one either didn't "get it" or didn’t want to. The first games were as much about skewering the eras they were set in as they were about turning gamers lose as a maniacal alien. As such, the graphics of each were tailored like a hand-stitched custom-made suit.

This one feels like I bought it off the rack.

The one area where the game truly nails it is in the voice acting. The script may not be up to the level of the previous installments, but the leading duo tear back into their roles with panache. Crypto is randier than ever and Pox is craftier, some might even say nastier, than ever. Their banter is certainly the reason to play this. Regrettably, it’s about the only reason to play it. The other voice actors also nail their roles, whether it’s Colonel Cluckin’, the roller girls, or the Ricardo Montalban spoof on "Fantasy Atoll."

The remaining sound effects are solid if barely memorable. The weapon sounds are all regurgitated from prior entries in the series so if you’ve played one then you’ve heard how the saucer and the weapons all sound. The fun comes from controlling the mech and listening to it as it belches acidic fluids onto victims, or pops the heads off people before it devours their brains, or before it lets its laser eye beams rip. This is very fun sound work, as are the noises made by the zombie gun. Both the weapon itself and the results are hilarious.

The controls make terrible use of the Wii-mote which is funny considering the game is exclusive to both the Wii and the PSP. In order to turn either the saucer or the Big Willy mech, you have to hold the Wii-mote up then turn it in an arc. This is opposed to turning the camera as Crypto where you turn to either the left or the right and the camera pans around. This too is problematic because it will frequently go up or down when you absolutely do not want it to do either. Also, when you walk into a corner, just turn around with the nunchuk and walk backwards. When you try to pan the camera with the Wii-mote in those circumstances, it results in the camera being confused and either turning the opposite direction from the one you pointed at, or just going up or down and not turning at all.

By the way, all tests were performed by Yours Truly from a healthy distance while standing up and pointing directly at the sensor bar.

The nunchuk controls Crypto’s movements, and hitting the Z button once causes Crypto to jump. Twice and he activates his jetpack. The B button naturally fires his weapons which you point using the Wii-mote. The A button works in conjunction with the B button when Crypto uses his PK ability to mentally lift objects and people. To throw said objects and people, rear back with the Wii-mote then move forward as if to throw and release the two buttons. The A button is also used for the mini-game that occurs when Crypto hypnotizes, body snatches, or transmogrifies people and objects. Basically, you point and click at floating objects and if you hit all of them then you succeed at whatever it was you were doing.

The basic controls are easy enough to pick up, but that blasted camera just keeps herking and jerking. The C button lets you lock the camera for more precision, but when you need to jump you have to move that finger to the Z button just below it and then the problem begins all over again. Only you’re airborne.

I hate to be the one to say it but Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed is, um, small. That is to say it doesn’t measure up. It’s a wee short, is all. You know what I’m saying. The length isn’t up to its previous incarnations. I burned through the entire game on a Saturday which is in stark contrast to the weeks it took to finish off the previous games.

Big Willy Unleashed isn’t as packed to the gills as other Destroy All Humans! titles are and that includes collecting items. Everything feels more compressed up to and including the storyline which repeats itself on every level – go after the guy/gal messing with Crypto, blow up everything in your path, fend off a counter-attack, then go on a final offensive before moving on to the next level to repeat the exact same thing. There is no mystery to solve, no deep digging of clues or wondering who may or may not be on Crypto’s side.

I take that back. There is one mystery running through the game, but anyone who played the last game will peg it right off. For those of you who haven’t played the last game, shame on you. But even you will be able too figure it out by thinking roughly 10 seconds on it. Otherwise, the fun has run out of the series. While it remains a great deal of fun leveling buildings in your saucer, the most I could muster for it was a half-hearted "Whee." But then I jumped in the Big Willy mech and my opinion changed entirely... for one level. Eating people and throwing cars every where as an angry Big Boy is hilarious but the amusement from such wanton carnage lasted for Yours Truly exactly one half hour. Then I asked, "What’s next?"

The thing is there is no next. There is only Crypto body snatching and doing his level best to rip-off his previous adventures. The second game was a brilliant exercise in creativity, comedy, and action. Big Willy Unleashed suffers from "me too syndrome" and offers not one whit of originality while simultaneously acting like a Cliffs Notes version of the second game. Blame it on the fact the original team did not work on this. Blame it on a host of other issues. The simple fact remains that if you have the chance to play one of the Destroy All Humans! games then my advice is to go for the second installment and skip this one all together.

The novelty has worn off from this series so fans are left to wonder about the further adventures of Crypto and Pox. They should continue to wonder and ignore this half-hearted attempt to capture lightening in a bottle a third time because it fails to do so. The original voice actors are fantastic as usual, but the lines they rattle off sound like they’d be right at home on Saturday Night Live during the Joe Piscopo years. The action and Big Willy mech action are fun for a bit, but the game is so short and compressed that it almost feels like you’re rushing through it without trying. It might be the perfect weekend rental, but in so far as a genuine sequel equaling the genius of the second game we will have to wait.

Unfortunately.

Bad controls, weak gameplay, and a small world compounded further by the shortened nature of missions. Hmm. Doesn’t sound like the recipe for success THQ probably hoped for, does it? Destroy All Humans!: Big Willy Unleashed has its moments but they are primarily found in the first city, and while the Vietnam and Fantasy Island spoofs find their marks, there is far more material from the 1970s worth mining. Even the running gags about disco fall flat, which surprised me. What better target to continually eviscerate than disco? It’s practically the gift that keeps on giving.

This games feels like more of a wanna-be than the real deal. The idea of bringing the Wii-mote to bear in a game like this sounds great on paper, but the execution is terrible. Combine bad controls with a rushed game, shortened missions, a lackluster script, and a dearth of originality, and this Big Willy should have been kept in his cage.

Gaming Trend Score

77

1. Graphics: 80
2. Audio: 85
3. Controls: 70
4. Gameplay: 77
5. Value/Replay: 70
6. OVERALL:77