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* NoFairCheating: The first game has a lot of cheats, [[SubvertedTrope and there is no punishment for using them whatsoever]] (although in the developer commentary, the developers [[TakeThatAudience have no respect for anyone who cheats]]). Played straight in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 port, however, where using the DNA cheat will disable one trophy for collecting 500,000 DNA without cheats.

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* NoFairCheating: The first game has a lot of cheats, [[SubvertedTrope and there is no punishment for using them whatsoever]] (although in the developer commentary, the developers [[TakeThatAudience have no respect for anyone who cheats]]). Played straight in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 Platform/PlayStation4 port, however, where using the DNA cheat will disable one trophy for collecting 500,000 DNA without cheats.
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* OneThingLedToAnother: Pox uses this to explain what happened when an ancient ship of Furons stopped by earth. Particularly, why every human [[BoldlyComing now has a strand of Furon DNA]].
-->'''Pox''': [...] a Furon ship happened upon Earth on its way back from destroying the Martians. Human society was young and...nubile. Sailors on a foreign planet, letting off steam...one thing led to another...
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''Destroy All Humans!'' is a 2005 WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Creator/{{THQ}} for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, and is the first game in the ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' franchise.

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''Destroy All Humans!'' is a 2005 WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Creator/{{THQ}} for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 Platform/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, Platform/{{Xbox}}, and is the first game in the ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' franchise.
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* HistoricalInJoke: reading the minds of some of the soldiers, one of them will say: "[[Creator/AudieMurphy Audie Murphy's]] a pussy. Now, [[Creator/JohnWayne John Wayne]], that's a man's man." The joke being is that the soldier's admiration is [[{{Irony}} ironic]] or misinformed, as Murphy became the most decorated soldier of [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII W.W.2]] (as told in [[TheFilmOfTheBook his memoir turned movie]], ''To Hell and Back''), while Wayne, who despite starring in films like ''Film/TheFightingSeabees'' and ''Film/SandsOfIwoJima'', never served in the armed forces.

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* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: General Armquist reacts with incredulousness to Silhouette declaring there are ''five'' branches of the U.S. armed services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the fifth one being Majestic. The game seems to forget that the Coast Guard is also a branch of the military.



* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: General Armquist reacts with incredulousness to Silhouette declaring there are ''five'' branches of the U.S. armed services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the fifth one being Majestic. The game seems to forget that the Coast Guard is also a branch of the military.
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* ArtisticLicenseLaw: PlayedForLaughs in one mission where Crypto is tasked with assassinating U.S. Senators electing a new President after he killed the last one.

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* ArtisticLicenseLaw: ArtisticLicensePolitics: PlayedForLaughs in one mission where Crypto is tasked with assassinating U.S. Senators electing a new President after he killed the last one.
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---> '''Majestic Agent''': I know we're gonna kick your little green ass all the way back to Mars.\\

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---> --> '''Majestic Agent''': I know we're gonna kick your little green ass all the way back to Mars.\\
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* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: General Armquist reacts with incredulousness to Silhouette declaring there are ''five'' branches of the U.S. armed services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the fifth one being Majestic. The game seems to forget that the Coast Guard also a branch of the military.

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* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: General Armquist reacts with incredulousness to Silhouette declaring there are ''five'' branches of the U.S. armed services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the fifth one being Majestic. The game seems to forget that the Coast Guard is also a branch of the military.
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* AluminumChristmasTrees: While Majestic seems made up by the programmers based on TheMenInBlack, there actually ''was'' (allegedly) such an organization. Majestic-12 was the subject of many UFO-related conspiracy theories, the belief being that it was founded by U.S. President Harry S. Truman in the late-40's and was the government agency that investigated the Roswell UFO incident.

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** Landing zones are unlocked through

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** Landing zones are unlocked throughthrough doing missions instead of having to do quests for Arkvoodle idols.



** Crypto is a MisanthropeSupreme in this game, especially after discovering Crypto-136's corpse being experimented on]], and is shocked upon discovering that Silhouette is a woman. From ''2'' onwards, he ends up going partially native towards human culture and he's far more sexually active as a result of gaining genitalia.

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** Crypto is a MisanthropeSupreme in this game, MisanthropeSupreme, especially after discovering Crypto-136's corpse being experimented on]], on, and is shocked upon discovering that Silhouette is a woman. From ''2'' onwards, he ends up going partially native towards human culture and he's far more sexually active as a result of gaining genitalia.genitalia.
** Pox is far more serious here and never cracks a joke intentionally. The later games, including the remake, make him far more humorous.
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* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
** Free-roaming areas is only available after finishing missions before the player returns to the Mothership, or after finishing every storyline mission in the area. From ''2'' onwards, the player stays in the last-visited area.
** Landing zones are unlocked through
** There are very few side missions, with most of them being fairly simple races or rampage quests.
** Missions require DNA to be unlocked.
** Crypto is a MisanthropeSupreme in this game, especially after discovering Crypto-136's corpse being experimented on]], and is shocked upon discovering that Silhouette is a woman. From ''2'' onwards, he ends up going partially native towards human culture and he's far more sexually active as a result of gaining genitalia.
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Up To Eleven is a defunct trope


* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Take all the problems America of the 1950s had, turn UpToEleven and you essentially have this game.

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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Take all the problems America of the 1950s had, turn UpToEleven up to eleven and you essentially have this game.
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''Destroy All Humans!'' is a 2005 WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Creator/{{THQ}} for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}.

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''Destroy All Humans!'' is a 2005 WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Creator/{{THQ}} for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}.
UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}, and is the first game in the ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans'' franchise.

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This is in the Franchise page


!!Sequels and spin-offs:
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans2'' (2006, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} Xbox]]): Set in TheSixties and [[SequelGoesForeign all over the world]].
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumansBigWillyUnleashed'' (2008, only on Wii): A SpinOff set in TheSeventies.
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumansPathOfTheFuron'' (2008, UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and ([[NoExportForYou in PAL regions]]) [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 PS3]]): Also set in TheSeventies.

After THQ shut down in 2012, the rights to the series were bought by Nordic Games, who rebranded as Creator/THQNordic. Alongside Black Forest Games, they seem to be committed [[VideoGameRemake to remaking]] the entire series:
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans2020'' (2020, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 PS4]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne Xbox One]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows PC]]): Remake of the first game with upgraded visuals and a revitalised control scheme.
* ''[[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans2Reprobed Destroy All Humans 2!: Reprobed]]'' (2022, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 PS5]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series X/S]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows PC]]): Remake of the second game in the series.
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* AluminumChristmasTrees: While Majestic seems made up by the programmers based on TheMenInBlack, there actually ''was'' (allegedly) such an organization. Majestic-12 was the subject of many UFO-related conspiracy theories, the belief being that it was founded by U.S. President Harry S. Truman in the late-40's and was the government agency that investigated the Roswell UFO incident.
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cut trope


* DarthVaderClone: Silhouette is covered head to toe in feature-obscuring black with a mask that vocalizes [[spoiler:her]] breathing and alters [[spoiler:her]] voice, is TheDragon to the president and intends on taking control from him, and tends to alter deals [[spoiler:she]] makes with her peers.
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* CollectorOfForms: Crypto can disguise himself as a human being via the Holobob, but for this to work, he actually has to copy the form of a human NPC; what makes this a little chancy is the fact that you need to be close enough to see said NPC before making the copy, meaning that they can see you as well - endangering your disguise unless you can eliminate them quickly. Plus, unless you continuously buff your power meter through thought-reading, you will lose your disguise and you'll have to copy another one.
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disambig page, not a trope


* EverythingsBetterWithCows: Radioactive exploding zombie cows.
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Disambiguating per this.

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''Destroy All Humans!'' is a 2005 WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Creator/{{THQ}} for UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 and UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}.

Set in a satirical version of [[TheFifties 1950s America]], the story follows Cryptosporidium-137, an [[VillainProtagonist evil]] [[TheGreys grey alien invader]] sent by the Furon Empire to collect human brains, harvesting their DNA to propagate his dying race. After his predecessor Cryptosporidium-136 went missing in his reconnaissance mission, Crypto has to deal with Majestic, an organization of [[TheMenInBlack Agents in Darkish-Brown]] hoping to use Furon tech to control America (and by extension, the world). Now it's up to Crypto, with the help of Orthopox-13 (voiced by Creator/RichardStevenHorvitz of ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fame), to [[EvilVersusEvil stop Majestic's plot]] before he can ''Destroy. All. Humans!''
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!!Sequels and spin-offs:
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans2'' (2006, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation2 PS2]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} Xbox]]): Set in TheSixties and [[SequelGoesForeign all over the world]].
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumansBigWillyUnleashed'' (2008, only on Wii): A SpinOff set in TheSeventies.
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumansPathOfTheFuron'' (2008, UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and ([[NoExportForYou in PAL regions]]) [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 PS3]]): Also set in TheSeventies.

After THQ shut down in 2012, the rights to the series were bought by Nordic Games, who rebranded as Creator/THQNordic. Alongside Black Forest Games, they seem to be committed [[VideoGameRemake to remaking]] the entire series:
* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans2020'' (2020, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 PS4]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne Xbox One]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows PC]]): Remake of the first game with upgraded visuals and a revitalised control scheme.
* ''[[VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans2Reprobed Destroy All Humans 2!: Reprobed]]'' (2022, [[UsefulNotes/PlayStation5 PS5]], [[UsefulNotes/XboxSeriesXAndS Xbox Series X/S]], [[UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows PC]]): Remake of the second game in the series.
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!!''Destroy All Tropes!'':

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:#-L]]
* TheFifties: A satirical version acts as the setting.
* AchillesHeel: Crypto will immediately die if he touches water.
* AlienAbduction: Crypto is occasionally instructed by Pox to mind control then bring specific humans into his UFO for interrogation, the first being Miss Rockwell from "Earth Girls Are Easy".
* AlienAmongUs: The Holobob ability allows Crypto to disguise himself as a human being, allowing him to roam about undetected.
* AliensStealCable: One of the missions in the first game basically has Pox trying to brainwash people by broadcasting a mind-control signal on TV. [[MySkullRunnethOver It doesn't]] [[YourHeadASplode go as planned]]. He then decides to switch to radio, which works much better.
* AliensStealCattle: Well, interrogate, then mutilate cattle. The first game's cover shows a UFO abducting a cow, but [[CoversAlwaysLie that's just for promotional purposes]].
* AmbiguouslyGay: You'll occasionally get a reference to a pedestrian's sexuality by reading their thoughts. For example, a farmer trying to deny the fact he admires Creator/RockHudson by thinking about baseball.
* AnalProbing: The Anal Probe is a ChargedAttack weapon that causes a humans head to explode. It makes an idea mess of harvesting brains as well.
* ArtisticLicenseLaw: PlayedForLaughs in one mission where Crypto is tasked with assassinating U.S. Senators electing a new President after he killed the last one.
-->'''Crypto:''' [[LampshadeHanging Doesn't the Vice President become President?]]
-->'''Pox:''' JUST SHUT UP AND KILL THOSE SENATORS BEFORE THEY GET INSIDE THE CAPITAL!
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: General Armquist reacts with incredulousness to Silhouette declaring there are ''five'' branches of the U.S. armed services: Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the fifth one being Majestic. The game seems to forget that the Coast Guard also a branch of the military.
* AstonishinglyAppropriateInterruption: The cutscene of Mayor!Crypto takes stage in Santa Modesta has a whole string of CurseCutShort moments at the start between the citizens:
--> ''Farmer:'' "Every one o' the dang cows, and then look like it stuck some sort of device up the poor things'-"
--> ''Cowboy:'' "-Claptrap, and after all that, I didn't even get to see Miss Rockwell; she just walked right on by, with her-"
--> ''Female Citizen:'' "-Crops laid out flat in circles, like a fourth-a-July pinwheel!"
* AttackOfThe50FootWhatever:The final mission is a two-tiered boss fight named Attack of the 50 Foot President, in which the first boss is a 50 foot tall robot with the President's brain inside.
* BestialityIsDepraved: Reading the minds of farmers you sometimes come across highly suggestive thoughts about how much they love their cows and sheep.
* BizarreAlienBiology: From Crypto's point of view, cows are disgusting. They're covered in ''nipples''.
--> '''Crypto''': They eat with their mouths? Ugh, I think I'm going to be violently ill!
* BlackAndGrayMorality:You've got the Furons versus the U.S. government and Majestic. The Furons have come to Earth to harvest humanity and flat out kill us [[ForTheEvulz for fun]]. Majestic is trying to brainwash America into becoming a bunch of right-wing nut-jobs out to kill the commies, but are legitimately trying to prevent the human race from being turned into the Furons' all-you-can-eat buffet.
* BondOneLiner:
** Crypto gets one after killing Armquist, right after pretending to sue for peace:
---> '''Armquist:''' I guess... at the end of the day... we really are all just... human beings.\\
''(Crypto disintegrates him)''\\
'''Crypto:''' Psych.
** And another after defeating Silhouette:
---> '''Silhouette:''' Majestic will never give up the struggle to resist you alien freaks... (dies)\\
'''Crypto:''' Resist ''this''. *squish*
* BrainlessBeauty: Miss Rockwell, whose lack of intelligence makes her the first probing target.
* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: Pox requires Crypto to extract information about Majestic or top secrets that the U.S. Government is hiding from several humans or in one mission Holobob and impersonate the Mayor of Rockwell. Each time you kill these people before they outlive their usefulness, Pox will angrily scream that [[YouHaveFailedMe you failed the mission]] and you'll be beamed back to the Mothership.
* CassandraTruth: General Armquist rallies the leaders of the other military branches to try and unite them against the Furons. Crypto has to disguise himself as one and discredit him in front of the rest. If you fail to do so, either by picking the wrong dialogue options or just flat out revealing yourself, Armquist can actually call in support from the other military branches during his boss battle.
* ChargedAttack: The Anal probe in the first game can be charged to [[YourHeadASplode make the victim's head explode]] instead of simply [[BringMyBrownPants forcing a change of clothes]]. The Ion Detonator can also be charged to lob projectiles farther.
* ChromeDomePsi: The PSI Mutants are among the few bald humans in the game, and have PsychicPowers due to experimentation involving Furon DNA.
* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: All the weapons, handheld and vehicle alike, are associated with a color and a symbol. Zap-O-Matic is blue, Anal Probe is green, Death Ray is red, etc.
* CrapsackWorld: America in 1959, where people are self-righteous, vapid, and paranoid about communism? Check. And then the Furons decide to invade.
* CutAndPasteSuburb: Being a parody of 1950s suburbs, Santa Modesta has an array of small bungalow houses that seem to look the exact same to each other, the only differences being their colour and exterior features. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by scanning a male pedestrian encountered in the area.
-->'''Suburban Male''': Now wait a minute: These houses all look alike. Which one do I live in again?
* DarthVaderClone: Silhouette is covered head to toe in feature-obscuring black with a mask that vocalizes [[spoiler:her]] breathing and alters [[spoiler:her]] voice, is TheDragon to the president and intends on taking control from him, and tends to alter deals [[spoiler:she]] makes with her peers.
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: After Armquist is slain by Crypto, there is a need to, without revealing the truth, explain the chaos in Union Town, and the zealous attempts of both Armquist and the Furons to eliminate the other. The obedient and hyper-patriotic Armquist is accused of a coup attempt in the newspapers.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Take all the problems America of the 1950s had, turn UpToEleven and you essentially have this game.
* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: The newspaper at the start of "Duck and Cover" has a headline that reads "Gray voted most popular color by colorblinds".
* DirtyCommunists: While Crypto doesn't actually encounter any communists in the game, the government and [[GovernmentConspiracy Majestic]] cover up Crypto's attacks by blaming it on a communist invasion. The citizens eventually buy into the paranoia quickly enough and will outright call him one when he is encountered without a disguise. Crypto in the ending of the game even uses this trope -- [[spoiler:Whilst disguised as President Huffman, he informs through television that communists have polluted the water supply. This is followed by setting up testing zones in America, which in reality are Crypto's way to discreetly extract Furon DNA from the humans]].
* DisintegratorRay: A series-wide weapon in Crypto's arsenal, with the game's cover art even providing the page image for the trope. Although, [[CoversAlwaysLie unlike what the cover art suggests]], it's not an actual ray so much as a fully-automatic PlasmaCannon (roughly analogous to an assault rifle). Effective against virtually anything that's not a building, but because it reduces victims to charred skeletons, you understandably won't be able to extract brain stems from them.
* TheElevatorFromIpanema: Going down to the [[spoiler: Furon->human experiments lab]] in Area 42 has the elevator play a rendition of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGNwXq6vPoI Summer Samba (So nice)]]. Crypto, understandably, gets frustrated with the music, and destroys the lifts' speaker system when they return to the surface.
* EmptyQuiver: One mission has Crypto stealing a nuke from a testing site and using it to level the nearby Area 42 airfield in an attempt to kill Armquist.
* TheEndOrIsIt: How the first game ends, after the credits are shown.
* EscortMission: "Duck And Cover" requires Crypto to escort a nuclear bomb to an airstrip to destroy Armquist's prototype [=UFO=] fighter jet.
* EverythingsBetterWithCows: Radioactive exploding zombie cows.
* EvilGloating: Discussed in the final mission, where Pox tells Crypto to try not to gloat too much when accepting the United States' surrender. He gets in a sentence or two before Silhouette presses his BerserkButton. Later, when Roboprez is defeated, Silhouette gets into Pox and Crypto's communications channel and notes that they're probably gloating at that moment.
--> '''Crypto:''' Pretty much, yeah.\\
'''Pox:''' It seems only fair.
* EvilVersusEvil: You play a VillainProtagonist who desires either to probe and vaporize every human he sees who was sent to harvest human brains, out to fight for dominance against Majestic, a rogue branch of the US military out to take control of the US (and by extension, the world) with brainwashing and genetic engineering.
* EvilVersusOblivion: Doubly-so.
** While Crypto and Pox's ultimate goal is to conquer Earth and harvest human brains, this has a practical purpose. The whole reason why they need human brains is, due to their ancestors being exposed to radiation in their war with Mars, the Furon species was rendered incapable of reproduction and can only survive through cloning. However, they are suffering from CloneDegeneration and need fresh Furon DNA, something humanity has in fresh supply.
** The reason why Crypto and Pox intend on infiltrating the US government is because it's TheFifties and if they don't try to take control of things, [[ApocalypseHow/Class5 humanity with blow itself to extinction via nuclear annihilation]].
* FourStarBadass: Armquist, who is essentially a [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed parody of]] UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur. It's also worth noting that he actually views the Furons as a real threat to America in comparison to the entirety of the Majestic.
* FingerPokeOfDoom: Using Psychokinesis on a human and then pushing them outwards, even gently, can cause an instant death. And even if it doesn't, it's possible for a human you nudged over to ''[[EpicFail kill themselves]] [[MadeOfPlasticine trying to get up]]''.
* GasMaskLongcoat: Silhouette's outfit consists of a black gas mask and black trenchoat, the former of which comes with a voice filter.
* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: Though named after the alleged real-life Majestic 12 agency that became defunct in the 1960s, Majestic is essentially an affectionate parody of TheMenInBlack.
* GovernmentConspiracy: Played straight when the government tries to cover up the Furon invasion.
* GuiltBasedGaming: Combined with a variant of IdleAnimation. If you linger around the Mothership's menu while doing nothing at all, Orthopox will make snarky comments to the player about leaving him waiting. None of it is harsh, however, as Orthopox is just guilting you over leaving it running whilst not actually playing the system, and Orthopox's responses are actually pretty funny.
-->"Oh, don't mind me. I'm only a fictional character in a simulated universe, after all. I haven't anything better to do, really. I'm just a bunch of electrons floating around inside your console, and a few hundred kilobytes of data stored on your DAS disk. [[LargeHam DON'T PAY ANY ATTENTION TO MEEEE]]!
-->"You know, this isn't much fun for me. But I don't suppose you ever stopped to consider that, did you?! Oh, no! You just wandered away from the TV to do whatever it is you're doing, leaving me here talking to myself like some kind of pathetic loser, while you eat your chips and dip!"
* GullibleLemmings: The human civilians, who gullibly buy whatever outlandish propaganda lies on TV, radio or press and are fed burgers that contain mind-trapping chemicals. Since the US Government already did Crypto's homework for him on how to achieve this, all Crypto has to do is overthrow the first oppressors.
* HatePlague: One mission deals with [[TheMenInBlack Majestic]] trying to spread one by TamperingWithFoodAndDrink at diners and ice cream parlors, and Crypto having to shut them down.
* HerrDoktor: The scientists in the first game mostly have German accents.
* HighHeelHurt: Invoked when reading the minds of certain women.
-->'''Woman''': I'd like to meet the man who invented heels... And kill 'em.
* {{Housewife}}: The main female pedestrian encountered around Santa Modesta, though several appear outside of the area in the remake. A majority of them appear to hate each other, despise their work, have deeply-repressed lesbian/bisexual urges, and are mostly Valium addicts. They wear outfits such as dressing gowns, hair curlers, and aprons tied around their waist, and in the original game, all have a permanent grin.
* HumansAreWhite: All human characters in the game are white, which is somewhat inaccurate since only approximately 90% of Americans in 1959 were white. The following games, as well as the remake, avert this.
* HypocriticalHumor: [[spoiler: Silhouette disguises herself as a man simply so that they would take her seriously. Yet ironically, her thoughts show blatant misandry]].
* ItsAWonderfulFailure: Failing a mission/dying in the first game can result in the newspaper at the end of the level reporting the consequences of the failed mission, such as reporting on a dead Crypto (said to be a circus performer killed by stampeding elephants in one instance), or reporting on Bert Wither's funeral if the player accidentally killed him.
* InGameTV: On the Mothership. Used to watch unlocked behind the scenes featurettes.
* InsaneTrollLogic: The player can use this during "Citizen Crypto" during the mayor's speech to explain why Santa Modesta hasn't experienced any problems.
--> Look, cows fart methane, and methane is flammable. We have more cows than Santa Modesta; you do the math.
* InvisibleWall: Subverted where leaving the mission area returned you to the game's hub.
* ItWillNeverCatchOn:
** {{Inverted|Trope}}. One of the thoughts Crypto picks up on is someone who thinks the Edsel is going to be the next big thing.
** Played straight with the thoughts of a scientist who is working on a thing called the "internet", but doesn't think it'll ever catch on.
* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: When Crypto gets his gun back in "Furon Down", he tries to shoot a hapless dock worker with it, only to find that the humans had the foresight to strip it of ammo. Naturally, this means that you're still stuck without a functioning weapon until you find some ammo or recover the power cell for the Zap-O-Matic and Anal Probe.
* IveHeardOfThatWhatIsIt: How the conversation goes between the first two Majestic agents seen talking at the end of the first mission in Turnipseed Farm.
* KillItWithFire:
** The Disintegrator Ray and Ion Detonator, both of which can burn down humans to a mere charred skeleton, and then into ashes. The Death Ray that comes with the saucer also counts.
** Blowing up a car or oil barrel when civilians are nearby causes the same effect.
* LemmingCops: And soldiers, and TheMenInBlack. None of them have any survival instinct, no matter how many of their fellows you vaporize. Police and Majestic agents are also prone to plowing through pedestrians and fellow officers/agents with their cars and leaving a massive pile-up, which can then be used as {{Improvised Weapon}}s with psychokinesis or by simply sending them up in flames with an Ion Detonator. There are also the laser-bazooka-toting Majestic agents, which often try to shoot at you ''[[TooDumbToLive while standing behind a group of their buddies]]''.
* LightningGun: Crypto's starting weapon, the trusty Zap-O-Matic. It fires a continuous beam of lightning that's very effective against humans (a zap from a full charge is enough to kill even [[EliteMooks Majestic agents]] as long as you keep the beam trained on them the whole time), and can be upgraded to [[ChainLightning chain to enemies near the target]]. It does also damage vehicles, but does it so slowly you're better off with most of his other weapons for destroying them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:M-Z]]
* {{Malaproper}}: A cop will randomly say, in thought, "To serve and protect, to serve and protect, to serve and protect, to swerve and defect, to curve and perfect -- dammit, I lost it!"
* {{Martians}}: A RunningGag in the first game has people derisively refer to Crypto as a Martian (when they don't call him green, that is), [[BerserkButton something that frustrates Crypto]].
---> '''Majestic Agent''': I know we're gonna kick your little green ass all the way back to Mars.\\
'''Crypto''': I'M NOT-- These weapons: where are you making them? How many agents does Majestic have? How many other towns are you in?!? Son of a-- ''[To himself]'' Don't get mad -- get sadistic.
* TheMenInBlack: The Majestic agents are a thinly-veiled parody.
* MidBattleTeaBreak: Crypto stops for [[TheSnackIsMoreInteresting a snack]] at the end of "Televisions of Doom!" when the mission to mind control Americans through televisions goes horribly wrong and only made [[YourHeadASplode their heads explode]]. Pox cries out for him, but Crypto remains unresponsive for a while.
* MindRape: The Hypno and Mind Control psychokinesis abilities invoke this.
* MilitariesAreUseless: Even taking into account the technology gap Crypto possesses, they're quite incompetent in every way you would measure an army. The military also does not seem to know about Majestic's evil schemes to brainwash the whole population of America.
* MoralMyopia: PlayedForLaughs. Crypto considers the humans killing and dissecting his "brother" Cryptosporidium-136 to be an unforgivable atrocity and [[BerserkButton sees red whenever it comes up]] -- and never mind that he's been gleefully killing humans for their brainstems all game long.
* TheMothership: The hub of the first game, where Pox can be found.
* MoveAlongNothingToSeeHere:
** Crypto tries this on the crowd in "Citizen Crypto". It obviously doesn't work, leading to a brief Q&A session.
** Parodied in a thought you can read off a cop:
--->"Move along! Nothing to see here! Boy, I sure like saying that."
* NeverBringAKnifeToAGunfight: Subverted and {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, in which a cop will randomly say, in thought, "What would [[Film/TheUntouchables Eliot Ness]] do? Never carry a knife to a gunfight? No, that's not it..."
* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
** Armquist is based on UsefulNotes/DouglasMacArthur.
** President Huffman's voice and mannerisms in his final speech are clearly based on Ronald Reagan; the remake pushes this connection even further, changing his appearance from a rather sinister-looking old doughy guy to [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/destroy-all-humans/images/7/77/DAH_RE-Pres_Huffman.png something much closer to the Gipper]], just with grey hair. His administration also stands in for both Eisenhower's and JFK's, having defeated Richard Nixon (referred to in-game as a "governor", not a senator) for the election at one point, and seems to universally share Nixon's crooked reputation among the population.
* NoCommunitiesWereHarmed: Less so than in the sequels, though Area 42 is transparently based on Area51, and Capitol City is likewise supposed to be UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC.
* NoFairCheating: The first game has a lot of cheats, [[SubvertedTrope and there is no punishment for using them whatsoever]] (although in the developer commentary, the developers [[TakeThatAudience have no respect for anyone who cheats]]). Played straight in the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 port, however, where using the DNA cheat will disable one trophy for collecting 500,000 DNA without cheats.
* NoGearLevel: The mission "Furon Down" has Crypto being shot down by humans and deprived of his gear. The level revolves around him breaking out of imprisonment and getting it all back.
* NoobCave: Turnipseed Farm. It's very sparsely populated, so raising the alert level takes quite a while even in the saucer, and most of the inhabitants are harmless Town Crazies [[PinataEnemy that yield tons of DNA]].
* NotSoDifferentRemark: After taking down Armquist's MiniMecha, Crypto makes a speech asserting this to the defeated general, apparently offering peace. [[spoiler:[[MoodWhiplash And then disintegrates him]] [[ISurrenderSuckers when he accepts.]]]]
* OfficerOHara: All cops (save exactly ''two'' who respond to the disturbance at the Turnipseed farm) in the first game -- it doesn't matter if they're in [=SoCal=], the Midwest, the Deep South, or Capitol City; they all have accents as thick and heavy as the Blarney stone. This gets especially amusing in the remake, which adds black models for police officers.
* PoliceAreUseless: The police aren't very focused on doing their jobs and daydream about their own egos and self-aspirations and walk around mindlessly just waiting for their shift to be over judging by Crypto's telepathic tapes. Their default response to spotting Crypto is to shoot at him with pistols/handguns which are no match for Crypto's detonators, flame gun and electric ray gun and also the arsenal Crypto has in the UFO.
* RaisingTheSteaks: Radioactive exploding zombie cows.
* RagdollPhysics: Used heavily with Crypto's PK powers.
* RealEventFictionalCause: The opening scene shows the Roswell incident being caused by an experimental nuke hitting Crypto-136's saucer.
* RealMenEatMeat: Reading the mind of a farmer is likely to result in getting thoughts about how much he loves steak. And equally likely to result in getting thoughts about how he'd like to get a salad or tofu once in a while.
* RedScare: Heavily invoked in the satirical 50s American setting of the first game. Crypto decides to exploit the anti-Communist paranoia to manipulate the media and public.
* RhetoricalQuestionBlunder: In the opening cutscene of "Televisions of Doom," a couple of Majestic agents talk about their organization's plans in a secluded place (within earshot of Crypto, of course), capped off by this exchange:
--> '''Agent 1:''' Subliminal TV messages... what'll Majestic think of next?\\
'''Agent 2:''' Search me.\\
'''Agent 1:''' You know what a rhetorical question is?\\
'''Agent 2:''' Not a clue.
* RoswellThatEndsWell: Apparently, the Roswell incident resulted from a combination of US Army weapon testing and Crypto-136's saucer showing up at a ''very'' bad time. One of the areas in the game, Rockwell, is a thinly veiled parody of Roswell, but only by name, as Rockwell is a midwestern farm town. In the "Salad Days" commentary, Pox claims the town after the invasion began to respect alien culture, parodying Roswell's alien culture.
* SafelySecludedScienceCenter: Area 42, a thinly-disguised parody of Area 51 run by Majestic: as with the inspiration, it's a military research base hidden deep in the desert, commonly studying crashed Furon spaceships and reverse-engineering their technology. However, there's also a testing zone for nuclear weapons nearby, which comes in handy when Crypto needs to blow up part of the facility.
* SamusIsAGirl:
-->'''Crypto:''' You're a chick?!\\
'''Silhouette:''' I'm a patriot! If you had to put up with politicians playing grab-ass all day, you'd wear a mask too!
* SequelHook: Most notably with the first game's "THE END?" Though each game has had one.
* SpinningPaper: Every mission completed ([[HaveANiceDeath or failed]]) in the first game has a humorous headline pop up after.
* StepfordSmiler: Given that it's set in the late 1950s, many civilians fall under this heading, particularly the residents of Santa Modesta. Quite naturally, the suburbanites like to present themselves as flawless and content, but a quick peek at their thoughts reveals that the men only manage to suppress their psychotic rage with their collective obsession with lawnmowers and automobiles, and the Valium-addicted women are engaged in fierce and unending competition over the best home and garden, broken only by Tupperware parties and neglected children. Exactly one citizen manages to realize how miserable she really is, and in the end, she decides to drown her sorrows in cheap meaningless sex. And of course, being Crypto himself, you have the opportunity to put every last depressive one of them out of their misery in the most painful way possible.
* StepfordSuburbia: As mentioned above, Santa Modesta is a sunny 1950s Californian suburb filled with a wide array of local businesses, a strip mall, beaches and colorful identical houses with mowed lawns. Then there's the [[StepfordSmiler residents]]...
* StuffBlowingUp: ''"Brains man, when do I get to blow stuff up?!"'', as said by Crypto in the intro.
* TakeThat: The original game came out during the UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush administration, and features a few jabs at his presidency.
** A scientist responsible for TamperingWithFoodAndDrink in Santa Modesta remarks that 78% of those affected with the HatePlague are registering Republican.
** One of the things that you can get from reading the mind of a soldier is the wish that they'd chosen to join the Texas Air National Guard, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W._Bush_military_service_controversy because it sounds like an easy assignment]].
* TankGoodness: Borders on TanksForNothing. Tanks are among the few enemies able to pose a threat to Crypto's saucer, but can be destroyed very quickly by the saucer's weapons. However, they're much more threatening on foot, as Crypto takes heavy damage from their main guns and can't fight back well against them until he gets the Ion Detonator.
* {{Theremin}}: Garry Schyman went all out with this in the first game's soundtrack, especially the opening theme.
* ThrowABarrelAtIt: During Crypto's battle with General Armquist, Armquist will use his mecha suit to attack Crypto by throwing barrels of gasoline at him. Crypto can do this himself using psychokinesis, and it's a surprisingly effective OneHitKill against virtually all humans and even most vehicles.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon: Capitol City (very clearly representing Washington, D.C.). In addition to being the biggest city you get to invade and being, you know, the capital of the United States, the area is also absolutely littered with military personnel and Majestic agents, and just getting spotted once can instantly shoot the alert level through the roof, at which point you'll be fighting an endless stream of the toughest enemies in the game.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: We never see President Huffman again (understandable given that he was assassinated and impersonated by Crypto). Downplayed, as Huffman is mentioned to still be president by the time the second game rolls around. Pox also mentions cloning Huffman after Crypto lost interest in controlling the government.
* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Union Town is portrayed as a Northeastern city given the industrial atmosphere, the thick East Coast accents, the frequent references to labor agitation, and the [[GreaserDelinquents tough guy attitudes]] of the locals, yet the map depicts it as being ''south'' of Capitol City. Some fans have speculated that it's supposed to be Norfolk, Virginia, as that city has a long history as a major seaport and naval base (in line with the large military presence seen in the game).
* YourHeadASplode: When Pox tries to brainwash humans en masse [[AliensStealCable by broadcasting a signal from the mothership on TV]], which turned out to be [[MySkullRunnethOver too strong for human brains to process]] and caused an epidemic of exploding craniums instead. The next mission basically has Crypto cleaning up the mess.
[[/folder]]
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