Destroy All Humans! 2 gets a modern makeover
Destroy All Humans! 2 — Reprobed brings the humour and fantastic game play of the original game to a new generation of players.
The game has you once again taking control of Crypto, that snarky alien from the first game. This game takes place 10 years after the first game in 1969. The time was full of flower power, hippies and the constant threat of Russian invasions. In the game, you’re working with your old boss Pox and a KGB defector named Natalya. The game will take you around five large fairly open maps.
The visuals have been updated from the original game that dropped 2006. The new game has upgraded 4K visuals, showing a nice amount of details when it comes to Crypto or the world itself.
The game also has upgraded lighting effects. While most of the visuals have been upgraded, the animations do show their age. The character movements and animations at times are stiff. With the upgrade, I would have liked more variety when it comes to NPCs. You’ll see the same character models over and over again.
The voice work still sounds good, even though some of the jokes might not land since they were written back in the early 2000s. Some might find the humour brash but I did find most of it landed.
The sound effects from explosions to the weaponry are all solid.
Crypto has to complete various missions for your old boss Pox or Natalya. The player moves around the map with the left thumbstick and aims with the right thumbstick. Players can also use a jetpack and hover skates to get around the map easier.
Since you’re an alien, you have a variety of alien weaponry and gadgets at your disposal. Players can use a zap gun, disintegrator, anal probes, and others. Most guns require ammo, which will make the zapper your go-to weapon for the most part. Only during certain times do you need a specific weapon to battle bosses, etc. The issue with weapons other than the zapper is they require ammo. This ammo can only be obtained by ‘Transmoging’ items around the environment. Transmog takes boxes, cars, and more and transforms that item into ammo. One issue is that ammo is random so you never know if you’ll get what you need.
The game does have a nice variety of enemies that you’ll encounter. Players will have police in different countries, such as armies, mafia, and even aliens to fight against.
Fighting enemies will require you to use both the environments, and all your skills. With a bit of practice you’ll be jetpacking and hoverskating around, zapping enemies along the way.
One cool power is the ability to take over any human form. When the player highlights the human you want to transform into, you can just press a button a few times to take over that human. You have to be careful to make sure no other human sees you doing this as they will attack you. Once you are in control of the human you can talk to and blend in with the other humans. One thing you can’t do is use any of Crypto’s weaponry. The only thing at your disposal is the “free love” visor. This visor sprays out “good love” vibes and has people in the vicinity dancing. Once enough humans in the area are under the love spell they will have a dance party.
This comes in handy when the police or military are after you and you need to make a quick getaway.
It just wouldn’t be a Destroy all Humans game without your spaceship. At certain locations on each map Crypto can jump into his ship. The ship also works as a hub, letting players upgrade weapons, get ‘gene recipes’ and even replay missions if you missed a side objective. The gene recipe requires the player to suck up a certain amount of different humans to complete the recipe. Completing these recipes will upgrade your abilities. The ship controls are fairly easy to get the hang of. Players can raise or lower the ship with the thumbstick and use weapons with the trigger. You can shoot from the front of the ship or do a top-down aiming for destroying ground enemies.
The ship’s main weapon is the death ray, which can incinerate enemies and vehicles. The abduction beam is used to suck up all the humans required for the gene recipes. Sonic Boom is a powerful weapon that is used to level buildings and works great against tanks and larger vehicles.
Destroy all Humans! 2 – Reprobed has a ton of content. Each map has a number of side missions, collectibles, and gene recipes to complete. With the average playtime being around 15 hours or so to complete, I had a blast playing through those 15 hours but there were a few bugs. At times, cars and enemies would be stuck in the ground but for the most part nothing major.
The fact that the game only costs $39 in a sea of $70 games makes this a great package.
If you’re looking to experience a humourfilled destructive adventure from the view of an alien, this is your game.
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed gets a 9/10 a must buy.
Rated M for Mature (PS4,PS5). Available on PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S, X,
Xbox One, Switch