Wreak havoc on humans

Besides being in vibrant color, Destroy All Humans! is a lot like those campy alien invader movies of the ‘50s. All the elements are here: small-town USA, dimwitted farmers, communist-fearing politicians, eerie-sounding music and, of course, little green men in flying saucers.

The only real difference between this and an Ed Wood movie, besides the lack of visible strings holding the spaceships, is this game isn’t cringingly bad. In fact, it’s perfect for the 8-year-old boy in us all.

As Cryptosporidium 137, you are sent to Earth to harvest human DNA to keep your species propagating. Whether you’re on foot (using your trusty zap-o-matic ray gun or fancy mind-control powers) or in your flying saucer (with a death ray of its own), the simple townsfolk don’t stand a chance.

After gamers complete a mission, such as making a town mayor assure his constituents there is nothing to fear, the fun really begins. Before heading back to the mother ship, Crypto can hop in his saucer and level the entire town or wreak havoc completing mini missions. This is quite a thrill, and far better than “Plan 9 From Outer Space.”

Details: PlayStation2 and Xbox platforms; $49.99; rated teen (language, sexual themes, violence).

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Furry but fatal

Conker Live and Reloaded has a split personality. The “live” portion is a great series of Halo-esque multiplayer levels (like capture the flag and frag-fests) that feature the cutesy squirrel and his compatriots as they battle their arch-nemeses, the Tediz. The “reloaded” section, however, is basically just a graphically improved version of 2001’s Conker’s Bad Fur Day that is a waste of time. Buyer, be warned: As cuddly as these characters look, there is too much gore and adult themes for kids.

Details: Xbox platform; $49.99; rated mature (blood and gore, intense violence, mature humor, sexual themes, strong language, use of drugs and alcohol).

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Rock and unroll

Besides taxes, death and trouble, one can pretty much count on Nintendo to deliver really cool, groundbreaking game enhancements to spice up its titles. Yoshi Topsy-Turvy comes with a built-in tilt sensor that changes the orientation of the storybook world that the little dinosaur explores, causing things to unroll or swing depending on how much you tilt your Game Boy Advance and to which side you rock it. (On one level, Yoshi must get a swinging pirate ship to pull the ever dangerous loop-the-loop.) Tilting the screen to affect the game is as fun as you might imagine, but it does take a while to get the hang of.

Details: Game Boy Advance SP platform; $29.99; rated Everyone.

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Undone at the controls

A refreshingly stark visual style and the opportunity to choose from seven character personalities go wasted in killer 7. Matching the amazingly beautiful cell-shaded graphics (in which shading is done in a limited number of steps) is the amazingly awful control system (which can’t seem to decide if the game will be role-playing-style or action-adventure-style). It’s a shame too, because controlling assassin Harman Smith’s seven distinct alter egos at any time would be a perfect enhancement to an actioner.

Details: PlayStation 2 and Game Cube platforms; $49.99; rated mature (blood and gore, intense violence, sexual themes, strong language).

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It’s pure G-phoria

G4, the cable channel devoted to all things video game, was set to stage its version of the Academy Awards in downtown L.A. after press time Wednesday night, presenting the third annual G-phoria awards. Unlike the video game awards show Spike TV put on in December, G-phoria let fans vote for the winners of each of the show’s 22 categories (like Favorite Character and Best Boss) by visiting its website. The show, with a scheduled performance by Black Eyed Peas, airs Aug. 9 at 5 p.m.

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For previous columns, or to e-mail Pete Metzger, visit latimes.com/gotgame.