Destroy All Humans 2! Reprobed
Developer: Black Forest Games
Publisher: THQ Nordic
Platforms: Xbox Series X (Reviewed), PlayStation 5, PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here $59.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
If someone had mentioned that the Destroy All Humans franchise would be seeing something of a revival over a decade past the last game’s release, many would have doubted them. However, now we have not only a remake of the first game in the series released two years ago but THQ Nordic and Black Forest Games have continued their efforts in the game’s sequel, Destroy All Humans 2! Reprobed. So now that Crypto’s journey continues, should those looking for some over-the-top sci-fi violence check it out?
Story
The year is 1969 and a decade has passed since the events of Destroy All Humans! and Cryptosporidium-137 is dead. That doesn’t matter however as how and what happened aren’t even mentioned but, Cryptosporidium-138, a direct clone, has been just as eager as his predecessor to continue his work on Earth. In fact, this latest Crypto happens to have one certain advantage over his previous version and that is the fact that he has “The Package.” Thanks perhaps to the pure Furon DNA obtained on Earth, Crypto now has been revived with fully working genitalia, something of a first for his alien species in quite some time.
With “The Package” toting alien now roaming the streets of Bay City and keeping the American public under control, the Soviet KGB are prepared to take action against both Crypto and the mothership housing his partner Orthopox 13. With a nuclear strike destroying the mothership and the KGB attacking him directly on the streets of Bay City, Crypto alongside a now digitized Pox is ready to take the fight back against Russia and get some revenge, make plenty of lewd jokes, and numerous pop culture references along the way.
Now with Destroy All Humans 2! Reprobed the developers have placed a warning at the beginning of the game that while the game has seen significant visual upgrades, that the story has been left untouched. Whether this is simply to assure players that the story hasn’t changed or as a warning that some things said back in 2006 might be a bit more offensive now but if it was the latter, it likely won’t serve as too much of an issue. This is mostly due to the fact that, outside of some overdone accents, the majority of the humor comes in the form of Crypto’s biting words at the humans he is talking with as a whole or plenty of lewd innuendo. Oddly enough considering the game features anal probes as weaponry, the humor is fairly tame but almost always surprising for those unfamiliar with the games as players never really know what will happen the next time Crypto opens his mouth.
It is also nice to note that although the story is on the shorter side, there are more characters worked into the storyline this time around and play off Crypto just as well as in the first game. This includes a rogue KGB agent that Crypto is not-so-subtly into, a James Bond style character, and more. This does come with the trade-off that Pox is unfortunately not as vocal this time around but for the most part the dialogue remains one of the key elements as to what makes Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed worth playing, especially since the sci-fi and crazy elements don’t quite reach the same levels found in the first game but still feels right at home as a sci-fi B-movie homage.
Gameplay
In many ways Destroy All Humans 2! Reprobed still feels like a game from 2006, all jank included. This includes everything from how it plays to the design of the small open world stages players will explore. Thankfully combat is one area that is as smooth and enjoyable as ever as players make use of Crypto’s wide array of alien weaponry to defeat anything standing in his way, be it a Zap-O-Matic that sends electric arcs into groups of enemies, Dislocator that bounces enemies and vehicles into a broken mess, or of course the anal probes. This doesn’t even touch upon his ability to simply use telekinesis to grab items and enemies and throw them across the map or use them as a battering ram or flying around in the saucer to lay waste to blocks of the city with giant lasers and abduction beam. These wide range of abilities and weaponry make for a great time when it comes to combat, at least most of the time as some boss battles end up as rather bland encounters.
When not blasting away at KGB agents or other enemies, Crypto must occasionally sneak around highly secure locations or to interact with certain characters. To do this, he now has access to the Body Snatch ability that temporarily allows the player to possess an NPC and interact with various objects in the world that Crypto otherwise cannot. This can also be used to help avoid the authorities during higher wanted levels or call the police off of an area though it is worth noting that, outside of the fun “Free Love Ray,” players cannot use a weapon while in disguise and should they come under attack will either need to run away or ditch the body and enter the fight.
As players progress through the game and complete various story missions they will obtain various currencies that can be used to upgrade Corvo’s personal arsenal as well as his ship, with even more obtained should they complete optional objectives during said missions. This allows players to build their character a little bit to make the most out of their favorite weaponry. It is worth noting that there are various side missions that players can also undertake outside of the storyline but many of these are a bit on the strange side even for a Destroy All Humans! game.
Unfortunately outside of the various missions that players will take on, the relatively small open world locations that players travel between through the game are incredibly empty when it comes to content. Oddly enough, a lot of attention to detail has been placed into designing many areas that players will only see if they go hunting for the various collectibles that scatter each zone or take on a challenge that will unlock an extra UFO landing spot. In fact, most areas have a sparse amount of NPCs traveling around despite the game releasing only on next-gen platforms with only a large number of NPCs appearing in certain locations or during fights.
Visuals & Audio
Although the various levels of jank remain the same from the 2006 release, the same cannot be said about how solid Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed looks now that it has been given a complete workover. The designs of the environment and locations players travel through are nicely detailed while the character models are both nicely upgraded and great caricatures of B-movie level sci-fi, especially in the case of Crypto and a few major boss designs.
Thankfully Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed has been released with the same intact voice work from the original game only improved upon to sound far better than it ever did in the original. This means that the voice acting of Grant Albrecht as Crypto and Richard Horvitz as Pox remains as strong as ever with Crypto doing his best Jack Nicholson impression and Pox sounding basically like Invader Zim in the best ways possible. As for the soundtrack, the game features an impressive collection of licensed music as well as some original tracks with more songs available for unlocking hidden throughout various levels.
Overall
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed may still have some of the jank that comes from a game originally released on the PlayStation 2 and original Xbox but has been improved in numerous areas to make for a mostly fun time. The combat can be great at times thanks to Crypto’s varied arsenal and the dialogue is as outstanding as ever inside of an unfortunately short storyline that has its moments but fails to be as impressive as its predecessor. As such, Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed comes across as far more polished and fun but still lacking in various regards, mostly due to its origins.
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