When you think of game remakes, what comes to mind? Many would pick World of Warcraft, Halo Master Chief Collection, Resident Evil 2, or Final Fantasy VII Remake when naming some of the most recent video game remakes. A few, who are fans of the old THQ would say Destroy All Humans. What if we told you that THQ Nordic had a second remastered title that was released in 2022? You would probably say wait, what?! Honestly, it caught us slightly off guard as well. At the end of August, Black Forest Games and THQ Nordic released Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed.
Due to PAX West 2022 and other obligations, we have been slightly delayed with reviewing Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed. However, we can finally share with you our thoughts on the remastered game. We will start off with one of our biggest gripes about the remastered title. Rather than owning up to the game being a remaster, Black Forest Games takes the safe and arguably cowardly approach by stating that certain aspects of the game are from a previous time and do not represent the current beliefs of the company.
Yes, we understand more risqué things were allowed in the 2000s and even encouraged for shock value, but, to try and disclaim that it’s not part of the beliefs while remastering the game seems like a double-sided sword. If you do not agree with certain aspects of a game, change it in a remaster. Hell, even claim it as a visual representation of the beliefs during the time period. We can tell that the company was hesitant about the game’s publication due to its lack of appearances at game shows and lack of marketing.
Story
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed takes place after the events of the first game. Krypto is still the President of the United States and is visiting San Francisco for a Woodstock-esq event. During the celebration, Krypto is ambushed by Russian nationalists and his mothership is destroyed. KRYPTO must then rescue Orthopox from an escape pod. This leads Krypto to uncover a more sinister plot spanning the world and even the galaxy.
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is the story of Krypto discovering the identity of his attackers while looking to spoil a secret Soviet plot. As the game progresses, players learn that there is more than meets the eye while dealing when interacting with a secret British organization (M16). The interactions with M16 lets the player know that there are more aliens inhabiting earth than just the Furons.
As a mystery action-adventure story, DAH! 2: Reprobed keeps players on their toes. Between its five locations ranging from the arctic tundra to an overcast Britain, players have a variety of landscapes to explore and experience. Each area features a variety of stereotypical characters based on its region. If you view the game as a satirical narrative, the jokes although cringy can be comedic. If taken at face value, then yes, they can be offensive, but based on the previous games, we took it as satire.
As a story, it can be rather comedic, with the game’s alternate dialog options being sometimes comical, dated, or even raunchy. The raunchier dialog can give a few laughs, but Krypto’s advances can result in getting kicked out of the mission’s dialog. The dialog is easily why the developers/publishers were afraid of marketing the game but they have done a great job remastering the actual gameplay.
Gameplay
With Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed, Krypto seems weaker than his previous counterpart. The beginning weapons feel like they are P-shooters against a fully armed military. The early San Francisco missions feel as if the player can take on the enemies fairly, but when it comes to the final mission of the area, we felt drastically outmatched and underpowered.
When it comes time to leave San Francisco, the game does not clearly indicate what the player needs to do. In fact, it is easier to upgrade the ship and the player’s weapons or replay a mission than to transition to the next area. Even finding the co-op menu is easier than the first map change. Co-op in the game is also a mess, at least when it comes to the local split-screen; the local split-screen divides the screen in half but places a weird black block on part of the player’s screen while the map takes up another part. Each mission in the game can be played cooperatively either on the first run or when replayed.
When replaying missions, players can put either positive, negative, or elemental change modifiers on to change the overall experience. With the positive modifiers, players can have infinite health, ammo, shields, and even a Ninja bodyguard. To be honest, we typically avoided the negative modifications and occasionally used the elemental modifiers; the two elemental modifiers we typically used were the big head and lower gravity mods; these modifiers made perfecting missions a lot easier and sometimes comedic overall.
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed Bugs
While we were playing, we noticed quite a few bugs that detracted from the overall experience. On numerous occasions, we got stuck in different environmental objects and were only able to escape by taking over a human body or reloading the game. Outside of getting stuck in objects, we experience other annoying bugs. Targeted enemies occasionally wouldn’t die despite drowning them in large bodies of water or throwing them into outer space; some enemies would have their health depleted but still continue to stand and be a target.
During two different boss fights, the boss glitched out and was unable to move; on top of them not being able to move, their critical hitbox was blocked or mostly covered. This made their fights take a lot longer than necessary and were even more difficult when dealing with other enemies in the area. In fact, on one occasion we force to close the game to experience the natural fight rather than its more difficult bugged-out version; during that fight, enemies would continuously spawn due to being unable to kill the enemy.
On a few occasions, we had issues with the shrines of Arkvoodle not working properly. On one occasion, we had transformed one of the nearby crates into ammo before activating the shrine. Once the shrine was activated, we were one crate short from completing the shrine’s objective. After the crates respawned, they were unable to be destroyed. Despite revisiting the area after other missions or restarting the game, the crates would not break.
GUNS AND a Spaceship
Weapons in the game have their own unique feel but arguably, we found the Buttprober the most effective. The heavy reliance on converting objects into ammo became annoying when enemies were nearby due to brain probing. On numerous occasions, we would be stuck without ammo due to enemies being in the way; this actually led to a few of our deaths.
The game does feature eight different guns, but the last one is locked behind sidequests. Each gun must be upgraded to be of any use, but with the way upgrading points are earned, you will not be able to upgrade them all easily if you have any desire to upgrade the ship.
Spaceship fights were easily the least enjoyable aspect of the game. Yes, it is cool to fly around and shoot stuff, but doing so before upgrading your ship feels like a paper plane vs remote control mechanical planes. In fact, we failed missions that involved the spaceship the most; this was a consistent issue even later into the game after upgrading the ship a bit.
Controls
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed’s controls are easy for players who enjoy shooters. For casual gamers, the controls are a bit much. The game requires the player to use every button, joystick, and even the directional pad to use Krypto’s abilities properly. For those who may be impaired, this controller scheme is overwhelming.
The button layout is fine with how commands are placed, but there is still a lot to remember. The directional pad is used to control Krypto’s psionic abilities. Meanwhile, the triggers are used to aim and shoot. The only two buttons that are annoying are the X and LB buttons. LB controls the player’s weapon selection; when trying to change weapons quickly, it is very easy to select the wrong weapon or not change it at all. As for the X button, this button has multiple uses; as previously discussed, it is used to transform objects into ammo and to harvest the brain stems from humans. On top of that, it is also used to enter the spaceship or interact with objects.
Graphics
Earlier we noted that the game features a variety of bugs that can make the game less enjoyable. Each environment looks like what it is attempting to represent on a reduced scale. On numerous occasions, the game would break, living enemies would spawn or be stuck underneath the map, and occasionally, objects would just disappear. The characters look good in their normal designs but some are awful when using the big head mod.
The game’s overall graphics are fine, but the multiple bugs do detract from the over experience. The environment interacts how it should most of the time when the player is moving through it but it is very easy to have a collision bug. The game does feature a variety of strobing effects that can be overwhelming at times. Thankfully, each weapon does have a specific design and symbol indicating what it does. The game does feature a rotating time schedule showcasing how light can make the environments look change.
The game does feature a Photo Mode that lets the player alter the camera’s angle, the field of view, and if the player is in it at all.
Audio/SFX
The game’s music is relaxing in most instances but there were a few auditory bugs between mission queues, character dialog, and sound effects. The voice acting in the game sells the characters’ emotions while still making some feel extraterrestrial. At the end of the campaign, there are very few character voice lines that we remember.
Unlike the first Destroy All Humans, the game’s soundtrack feels rather limited. When transitioning to other areas, the soundtrack’s music stays the same; it is not until interacting with the world around that music will shift. Overall, the game’s soundtrack is very lackluster.
Replay value
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed gives players the ability to replay levels and modify them in a variety of ways. The ability to do co-op for each level can make the mission feel like a different experience overall. When it comes to the overall story, there are only a few things that can be altered to create a different experience; these changes are predominately dialog options between Krypto and other NPCs.
The game does feature a variety of sidequests and collectibles to find. If you want to perfect the game and earn all the achievements/trophies, you will have to perfect the game. Most of the achievements are tied to acts rather than the story. Players can change their character’s skin and spaceship design. Additional skins can be unlocked by perfecting a mission’s level requirements. The game does feature skins that are only unlockable through DLC.
When it comes to DAH!2:Re replay value, it is what you make of it. The game does not feature many dialog changes if you replay a mission, the only aspect is how you approach the mission overall.
Verdict
Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed does a great job remastering Destroy All Humans 2 but clearly shows its age. The game looks great but the large variety of bugs really detracts from the overall experience. The game’s story is comedic despite not aging with the times unless you look at it satirically.
The core gameplay is sufficient overall but the controls leave a bit to be desired. Players who are disabled or have trouble remembering a lot of controls will have difficulty. The voice lines and dialog can be comedic during that moment but aren’t memorable overall. Finally, when it comes to replay value and multiplayer, this is where the game succeeds. Players can play through missions together or modify previously completed missions. The game also features a variety of side quests and collectibles for the player to enjoy.
At the end of the day, the game can be fun but unless you are going to play with someone else or perfect it, it is a one-and-done experience. The game has improved a lot of features while not fixing a variety of others. Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is available on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
A copy of the game was provided for review.
