In 2020, developer Black Forest Games tried its hand at a remake of the first Destroy All Humans!, and succeeded for the most part. Now, the same team has resurrected the second game in the series as Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed, a remake rebuilt from the ground up in Unreal Engine 4.
While the story remains mostly unchanged and follows Crypto’s shenanigans as he blows up and ridicules everything in his path, the remake attempts to give the 2006 title a modern look and feel.
Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed Review: Extraterrestrial Mischief
It is instantly clear that Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed has improved on the original in many aspects, with the most obvious being the graphics. The remake boasts vibrant colors and details that give its characters and open world a contemporary look.
While this remake certainly can’t compete with the latest big-budget titles in terms of graphic fidelity, it looks pretty good for a game that was released nearly 16 years ago. When comparing the visuals here with those of the 2006 original, the difference is night and day. Each of the five playable locations has a unique look and landscape that makes it similar in feel to its real-life counterpart.
As expected, most of the game is about wreaking havoc on humans. Crypto is equipped with a large arsenal of weapons that helps him terrorize the citizens of Earth in any way you see fit. Whether you opt for the devastating Disintegrator Ray or the hilarious Anal Probe, every weapon is satisfying in its own way, making the moment-to-moment gameplay a blast. It’s further elevated by the open worlds that act as playgrounds of destruction filled with plenty of opportunities to stir up chaos.
Most combat encounters are easy enough, letting you use any weapon without worrying about running out of ammo. However, the developers do a good job of encouraging you to switch things up as the story progresses. Some boss fights, especially towards the end of the campaign, can give you a hard time if you don’t use the most effective weapons.
The difficulty also increases quickly as you move from one location to another. This makes upgrading your weapons from the Pox Mart essential when preparing for combat-heavy missions. Luckily, DAH!2 is generous with upgrade points for completing missions, which really speeds up the process of making Crypto a force to be reckoned with.
All that said, the main gameplay loop can get repetitive since missions often have the same structure and outdated level design. Although the content itself isn’t necessarily boring, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed’s story missions tend to follow an archaic, formulaic approach. Aside from the odd mission here and there, most of Crypto’s assignments involve going to heavily guarded areas, blowing things up, and reporting back to an NPC. Combined with the turn-your-brain-off goofy nature of the game, the whole experience is a bit mind-numbing after a couple of hours.
Even when DAH!2 attempts to make things more challenging, it ends up falling flat. In one particular story mission, you will be tasked to find a secret base that ends up being outside of the indicated mission area. Here, giving no hint would be better than giving misleading information that leaves you searching in the wrong area for longer than necessary — at least you would think to look somewhere else. Still, it is worth pushing past the frustrating portions since things really pick up speed past the halfway point.
Thankfully, certain combat sections do well to break the receptiveness of the core gameplay loop. These action sequences involve using your flying saucer to rain destruction from above or transport vehicles using an abduction ray. While the saucer controls take some getting used to, the developers have worked to alleviate some of the issues from the first game remake and previous builds of this remake. Funny enough, the saucer sequences have gone from being my main complaint in our preview of Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed to one of the most enjoyable parts of the game.
Destroy All Humans! 2’s humor is centered around crude jokes and racial stereotypes that are borderline offensive. Whether it’s the San Francisco hippies from the 60s or the ninjas from Takoshima, the game does not hesitate to poke fun at the inhabitants of its open worlds.
As a result, its faithfulness to the source material and use of the original dialogue is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it is a perfect reflection of how such an alien might view humans. However, the humor often comes off as cheesy, dated, and distasteful. Ironically, the funniest moments are when Crypto breaks the fourth wall and pokes fun at the silliness of the game itself.
Telling a compelling story has never been the primary focus of these types of games, and Destroy All Humans! 2 is no exception. Characters come and go without leaving much of an impact, and the story is all over the place. However, its absurdity and sheer silliness make the narrative a memorable one. It clearly doesn’t take its story seriously, and you shouldn’t either.
Destroy All Humans! 2 seems to be in a pretty good state in terms of performance in our review build. There are occasional frame dips and stuttering, but nothing game-breaking. Throughout the eight-hour main story, the game never crashed or forced me to reload from a previous checkpoint. There was one occasion when a boss started walking through the geometry, but that simply added to the ridiculousness of the game.
Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed Review — The Bottom Line
Pros
- Fun moment-to-moment combat.
- Wide variety of weapons.
- Diverse locations and unique open worlds.
Cons
- Humor is mostly a miss.
- Repetitive mission design.
- Unengaging story.
The team at Black Forest Games has unquestionably done an excellent job giving the original game a modern look while also improving its gameplay. However, its shortcomings in terms of storytelling and mission design have carried over in an attempt to remain faithful to the original. Your enjoyment of Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is largely dependent on your sense of humor.
Those not particularly looking for a strong narrative experience can certainly have a blast playing Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed purely thanks to its great combat and destructive gameplay. If you were a fan of the 2006 version of the game, odds are you will find plenty to enjoy from Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed.
[Note: THQ Nordic provided the copy of Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed used for this review.]
