It’s getting to the point where I think I should just abandon the oldest portion of my backlog and wait for the inevitable remakes. One bonus outside of the positives of improved graphics and usually better interfaces is that I won’t have the seemingly exhaustive burden of comparing it to the original. I can just enjoy the game as it is. That’s what I did with Destroy All Humans, and I was happy to continue with the similar-but-better sequel, Destroy All Humans 2 – Reprobed.

Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/8ISnle_nyvc

I was a bit thrown off when the intro to the game retroactively killed off the original protagonist (Crypto-137) and replaced him with a clone featuring the singular distinct feature of an always-hidden set of male reproductive organs. I suppose that sort of highlights how indifferent Furons are to their cloned nature – which probably reinforces the fact that every aspect of the previous character shifted to the new one. You still get the same Jack Nicholson caricature voice and the same juvenile comedy that regularly shifts between cringy and hilarious while always being extremely dated. Not just for the fact that this game is 16 years old because some references date back to television shows from the late 60s – which I guess is appropriate for the setting, though I don’t know how it relates to the player base 40 years later.

Much of the general gameplay experience makes its way over from Destroy All Humans as well. The core set of weapons are the same and you still have the telekinetic power to launch people and objects (and later much large objects like vehicles) into or over anything in your vicinity. However, they are some new weapons that, while useful, really only seem to augment what you have and provide more entertainment value than they enhance your destroying of all humans. Though you do you have one major new psychic ability that allows you to blast out a cone of funky music that convinces people caught in its path to start dancing. I used this primarily to keep my disguised form up since you’re no longer able to (or required to) constantly read minds to maintain your camouflage like the previous game.

The biggest change from Destroy All Humans is that you’re no longer relegated to exploring the world only within the context of a mission. Missions are still there, but when you’re not on one, you’re free to explore the entirety of the map without any limitations. Of course, being derivative of a game from 2006, there’s not much map to explore, and what is there is pretty static and non-interactive. You can, of course, blow up buildings, and cars, and whip people into orbit at your leisure, but it really doesn’t change anything and only fires up a minimal-effort version of GTA’s star rating. While this change is certainly a welcome one and provides the avenue necessary to explore the five maps for collectibles, it’s hardly the rich open-world experience we’ve come to expect in modern games.

The missions use the set pieces of each map pretty well though, so it doesn’t feel like they were jerry-rigged onto the existing map. It’s all very seamless and you won’t notice you’ve wandered into a place where a cutscene takes place until you’re in it. Part of this is because the amount of detail is extremely high for parts of the map that otherwise have no purpose. It seems a bit odd at times though to have areas with so many physics objects you can throw around and meticulously crafted environments when the only thing you can do outside of missions is pick up pieces of the soundtrack and artwork. There’s a clear visual improvement over the previous remake, which is nice to see, even though the characters still look like their faces were all carved with a butterknife and a socket wrench.

Destroy All Humans was a decent game. It didn’t blow me away, but I was compelled to finish it (except for that annoying final boss fight). My expectations weren’t high for this sequel, but I was pleasantly surprised by what was presented. The mission structure feels more cohesive even with the typically disjointed nature of open-world games. It has a story with quite a few surprises and new character introductions, so you’re not just stuck being annoyed by Orthopox or randomly monologuing. While it does unravel a bit toward the end, I was still more invested than I ever was with whatever was happening in the first game.

The gameplay held its own for the notably longer game as well. Despite easily being twice as long even without completing the majority of the side quests, I blasted my way through the first four maps having a pretty good time. Yet, toward the end of the campaign, the design of the encounters started to feel clunky and claustrophobic – and that kept going. Enemies become more numerous and quite a bit larger and combat often gets crammed into locations that can’t accommodate them comfortably. This appears to be the method they chose to increase difficulty, which it achieves, but it also increases my annoyance as the screen is filled with flashes, enemy characters, and a camera that doesn’t want to navigate it.

Overall, though, Destroy All Humans 2 – Reprobed is a clear improvement over the previous remake, but probably won't change the minds of those who didn’t enjoy that predecessor. You’re still going to get the crude humor, the janky saucer controls, and the straightforward gameplay. The stealth portions are less annoying and better integrated, and the saucer portions are far less important (I only upgraded one saucer weapon), which were two common issues. However, this version had a few notable bugs for me, and I also grew very frustrated with a dialogue skip option that seemed to arbitrarily move forward sometimes erasing whole lines before I could read them. The final verdict is easy to float into ‘recommended’ with this binary system, but it still feels like a game that could be better and could be funny without every joke being a ♥♥♥♥ joke.

If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: Endyo’s Indies, Abbreviated Reviews

It’s getting to the point where I think I should just abandon the oldest portion of my backlog and wait for the inevitable remakes. One bonus outside of the positives of improved graphics and usually better interfaces is that I won’t have the seemingly exhaustive burden of comparing it to the original. I can just enjoy the game as it is. That’s what I did with Destroy All Humans, and I was happy to continue with the similar-but-better sequel, Destroy All Humans 2 – Reprobed. Abbreviated Review: https://youtu.be/8ISnle_nyvc [h1]Probe, Probe Again[/h1] I was a bit thrown off when the intro to the game retroactively killed off the original protagonist (Crypto-137) and replaced him with a clone featuring the singular distinct feature of an always-hidden set of male reproductive organs. I suppose that sort of highlights how indifferent Furons are to their cloned nature – which probably reinforces the fact that every aspect of the previous character shifted to the new one. You still get the same Jack Nicholson caricature voice and the same juvenile comedy that regularly shifts between cringy and hilarious while always being extremely dated. Not just for the fact that this game is 16 years old because some references date back to television shows from the late 60s – which I guess is appropriate for the setting, though I don’t know how it relates to the player base 40 years later. Much of the general gameplay experience makes its way over from Destroy All Humans as well. The core set of weapons are the same and you still have the telekinetic power to launch people and objects (and later much large objects like vehicles) into or over anything in your vicinity. However, they are some new weapons that, while useful, really only seem to augment what you have and provide more entertainment value than they enhance your destroying of all humans. Though you do you have one major new psychic ability that allows you to blast out a cone of funky music that convinces people caught in its path to start dancing. I used this primarily to keep my disguised form up since you’re no longer able to (or required to) constantly read minds to maintain your camouflage like the previous game. [h1]Opening Up… to the World[/h1] The biggest change from Destroy All Humans is that you’re no longer relegated to exploring the world only within the context of a mission. Missions are still there, but when you’re not on one, you’re free to explore the entirety of the map without any limitations. Of course, being derivative of a game from 2006, there’s not much map to explore, and what is there is pretty static and non-interactive. You can, of course, blow up buildings, and cars, and whip people into orbit at your leisure, but it really doesn’t change anything and only fires up a minimal-effort version of GTA’s star rating. While this change is certainly a welcome one and provides the avenue necessary to explore the five maps for collectibles, it’s hardly the rich open-world experience we’ve come to expect in modern games. The missions use the set pieces of each map pretty well though, so it doesn’t feel like they were jerry-rigged onto the existing map. It’s all very seamless and you won’t notice you’ve wandered into a place where a cutscene takes place until you’re in it. Part of this is because the amount of detail is extremely high for parts of the map that otherwise have no purpose. It seems a bit odd at times though to have areas with so many physics objects you can throw around and meticulously crafted environments when the only thing you can do outside of missions is pick up pieces of the soundtrack and artwork. There’s a clear visual improvement over the previous remake, which is nice to see, even though the characters still look like their faces were all carved with a butterknife and a socket wrench. [h1]Improving Mediocrity[/h1] Destroy All Humans was a decent game. It didn’t blow me away, but I was compelled to finish it (except for that annoying final boss fight). My expectations weren’t high for this sequel, but I was pleasantly surprised by what was presented. The mission structure feels more cohesive even with the typically disjointed nature of open-world games. It has a story with quite a few surprises and new character introductions, so you’re not just stuck being annoyed by Orthopox or randomly monologuing. While it does unravel a bit toward the end, I was still more invested than I ever was with whatever was happening in the first game. The gameplay held its own for the notably longer game as well. Despite easily being twice as long even without completing the majority of the side quests, I blasted my way through the first four maps having a pretty good time. Yet, toward the end of the campaign, the design of the encounters started to feel clunky and claustrophobic – and that kept going. Enemies become more numerous and quite a bit larger and combat often gets crammed into locations that can’t accommodate them comfortably. This appears to be the method they chose to increase difficulty, which it achieves, but it also increases my annoyance as the screen is filled with flashes, enemy characters, and a camera that doesn’t want to navigate it. Overall, though, Destroy All Humans 2 – Reprobed is a clear improvement over the previous remake, but probably won't change the minds of those who didn’t enjoy that predecessor. You’re still going to get the crude humor, the janky saucer controls, and the straightforward gameplay. The stealth portions are less annoying and better integrated, and the saucer portions are far less important (I only upgraded one saucer weapon), which were two common issues. However, this version had a few notable bugs for me, and I also grew very frustrated with a dialogue skip option that seemed to arbitrarily move forward sometimes erasing whole lines before I could read them. The final verdict is easy to float into ‘recommended’ with this binary system, but it still feels like a game that could be better and could be funny without every joke being a dick joke. [quote] If you'd like to see more of my reviews, check out my curator page here: [url= http://store.steampowered.com/curator/28346672-Endyo-Gaming/]Endyo’s Indies[/url], [url= http://store.steampowered.com/curator/38271367/]Abbreviated Reviews[/url][/quote]