Crypto returns to Earth, once again determined to destroy all humans, this time in the funky 70’s.
The game picks up the series with a strange story. Pox owns a fast-food restaurant and has a secret recipe for his famous hot-dogs that uses human meat – you know, from all those corpses Crypto kept leaving behind for the last couple of decades. But someone has found this secret recipe and she has to be stopped before the whole scheme is exposed.
The gameplay is mission-based as the previous titles, but somewhat linear, taking you through five different areas: Harbor City, the rural town of Fairfield, a Fantasy Island mock-up, Vietmahl and Antarctica. All sorts of 70’s stereotyped characters appear, giving place to lots of humor throughout.
Big Willy Unleashed – regardless of what kinds of dirty jokes you may associate the title with – is actually our non-friendly neighbourhood alien’s new vehicle and weapon of mass destruction. Pox’s giant fast-food restaurant mascot is actually a very powerful Furon mech prototype that you can use to stomp on things, explode buildings or brains, pick up and throw stuff around.
Willy’s weapons include shooting fire beams from his eyes, the hilarious fart shock wave and some acid vomit, but he can also squeeze human brains out for a little extra power boost.
The UFO is not forgotten though, and is still a viable option for chaos with the usual arsenal of weapons: abduction beam, death ray, sonic boom, drain energy, electro-cone, quantum deconstructor and the handy cloaking device. The main difference is that the weapons don’t use ammo, but instead have recharging times.
Crypto himself again comes with a series of weapons. Electrocute or disintegrate your victims, shrink people and objects that would otherwise pose a threat, shoot out lightning balls, detonate ionic bombs, and of course, anal probe to your heart’s content. The innovation in Crypto’s tricks is the brand new Zombie Gun. By using it on humans, you can zombify them, turning them into handy decoys since they become a threat to other humans.
Keep in mind that you begin with a limited arsenal though, the rest of the weapons will be unlocked as you play and complete missions.
The controls are obviously tailored to suit the Wii, but unfortunately, they aren’t as responsive as they should have been. Crypto’s movements are controlled with the Nunchuk, while the Wii-mote controls the aiming of his weapons. Pressing B fires the weapon of choice, A and B are used for using Telekinesis, Z makes him jump. Several of Crypto’s abilities also initiate a simple point and click mini-game. As Big Willy, you physically have to do throwing motions, releasing the buttons to throw whatever he is carrying. To physically move either Big Willy or the UFO, you turn the Wii-mote as if you were turning a doorknob and use the analog on the Nunchuk to move sideways (and up and down with the UFO).
The camera controls needed some work (especially when you walk into a corner), as did the responsiveness of the Wii-mote and Nunchuck for Big Willy and the UFO. Somehow the “doorknob” motion seems unecessary, when you could very well have been just pointing and aiming to turn.
There is a multiplayer feature in the game as well, competitive or co-op gameplay that last only a couple of missions, but unfortunately, there is no co-op option to go through the story with a friend.
To sum it up, Big Willy Unleashed is a fairly short adventure in comparison with previous games of the franchise, it has some wonky controls, and the multiplayer really doesn’t impress. But it’s still fun throughout, and the clever dark humor is what will get the attention of fans of the series. Those who enjoyed past Destroy All Humans! titles will certainly appreciate Crypto’s return.
Special thanks to THQ for providing a copy of this title.