Destroy All Humans! 2 is a game that I have fond memories of growing up and playing with my younger brother. It’s one of the first open-world games from my youth that I remember experiencing, and as such, it informed much of how I viewed the genre as it began evolving. Now, with open-world games being a dime a dozen, THQ Nordic has opted to return to Destroy All Humans! 2 with its “Reprobed” remake on current-gen platforms. The result is a remake that does little to change the original, although that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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In a general sense, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is identical in structure to the initial title that launched all the way back in 2006. The game centers around the franchise’s often-crude alien invader, Crypto, as he travels the globe to do battle with the KGB, kaiju, and hippies. The missions, combat mechanics, and story of Destroy All Humans! 2 all haven’t been altered in any major ways, which makes this still intrinsically feel like a game that has been plucked from the PS2/Xbox era and merely placed on new platforms.
At its core, I think this is likely the most divisive thing about Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed. While it’s great that Reprobed still feels like its original self, open-world games have also come pretty far in the past 15 years to the point where this remake feels dated, especially when it comes to varied in-game activities to take part in. Destroy All Humans! 2 very much lives and dies on the missions that it gives you to take part in, and sadly, a lot of the mainline and side missions can feel tedious. As such, I don’t know how accommodating Destroy All Humans! 2 might be to new audiences in 2022. Even though I have enjoyed my own time playing through this game once again, I also knew what I was signing up for in advance.
Despite being pretty straightforward, I do have to say that the combat from Destroy All Humans! 2 has aged very well. Some of the weapons that Crytpto has in his repertoire are among the most unique that I have ever seen in a shooter. Being able to call down meteors out of the sky and destroy an entire city block still is as fun now as it was when I played this game as a 13-year-old.
The best thing about Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed likely comes with its new visuals. Although the cities themselves look relatively simplistic in design, character models in Reprobed are much more detailed than before while still boasting their cartoon-like looks. The lighting and vibrancy of colors used in Reprobed also makes the game pop to a great degree. If anything, the new visuals in Reprobed might be a bit too good as they shine a light on some of the older aspects of Destroy All Humans! 2, namely in regard to the scale and structure of the game’s cities.
Performance wise, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed did give me some pretty noticeable problems. While the game ran at a stable 60fps for most of my time playing on PS5, I was met with frequent screen tearing, especially during sections where you’re flying about in a UFO. The game also suffered from some pretty obvious texture pop-in to the point that it started to bother me. Given that Reprobed was exclusive to current-gen platforms, I was hoping that some of these problems wouldn’t be as prevalent, but this was not the case.
I also ran into some errors when it comes to audio in Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed. During conversations with other characters, some dialogue lines would repeat themselves if I ever tried to use the skip button. This wasn’t a major problem, but it became annoying the more I played. Audio as a whole also seemed to be the one area of Reprobed that felt incredibly dated. Some voice lines seemed like they hadn’t been remastered at all (specifically those heard during cutscenes) while others were far too quiet, especially during in-game activities.
Although there’s not a lot to talk about when it comes to new features, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed does have some new aspects. Crypto can now equip a number of different outfits, many of which are among varying degrees of ridiculousness. Reprobed is also playable from start to finish in splitscreen co-op with a friend, which is a cool inclusion for those who are still proponents of couch co-op. Sadly, I wasn’t able to give this feature a go during my own time with the game, but I might have to reconvene with my brother in the future and give it a shot.
Despite a handful of nitpicks, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed has been a fun trip down memory lane. This updated remake of the classic alien shooter doesn’t bring a whole lot new to the table, and by modern open-world standards, it definitely feels dated in some areas. Still, if you’re someone who grew up playing the original Destroy All Humans! 2 like I did, I’m hard-pressed to think that you won’t have a good time coming back to this extraterrestrial adventure in 2022.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is set to release next week on August 30, 2022, and will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC. A review code was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review. The game itself was also reviewed on a PS5 console.
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Images courtesy of Sony Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios
