Destroy All Humans 2! Reprobed Review: The Return of Crypto-138

In June 2005 it was released on the market Destroy All Humans, third person action shooter developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. The title was born from an idea of ​​Matt Harding, an employee of the studio and a great lover of aliens and sci-fi films, who wanted to make a video game where essentially the main task of the player was to impersonate an extraterrestrial and kill everyone. From this simple concept was born Destroy All Humans – Matt, for his part, never participated in the development as he was “not interested in wasting two years of his life writing codes in front of a PC” – which he followed, a year later. , Destroy All Humans 2.

The saga became a real cult, so much so that fifteen years after the first release, THQ Nordic has placed on the market Destroy All Humans Remake (here the review of Destroy All Humans Remake), an improved and modernized version of the game launched in 2005. The publisher’s major nostalgia operation continues today with Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed, who following in the footsteps of his predecessor tried to refine and modernize the second, very funny episode. After more than twelve hours spent frying and blowing the brains of every inhabitant of the planet Earth, we are ready to tell you our impressions.

The eternal struggle between aliens and the KGB

The Story of Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed comes to life ten years after the facts told in the first chapter: the Furons have conquered the Earth thanks to the heroic deeds of the deceased Crypto-137, therefore in this new adventure we will play the role of Crypto-138, who in the meantime he took office in the White House and even disguised himself as the President of the United States.

However, the alien quiet is not destined to last long, as the Russian Intelligence, the KGB, has discovered the sensational deception and is willing to do anything to stop the extraterrestrial domination. Thus begins a long game of chess, a real Cold War – we are still talking about 1969 – in which we will soon discover that the real evil plan to be foiled will be the one set up by the Motherland.

We prefer not to reveal further details on the narrative system, in order to leave those who have not had the opportunity to play Destroy All Humans 2 the opportunity to discover and enjoy to the full a simple story, but perpetually over the top, as well as capable of making smile the player thanks to a real science fiction b-movie script which also makes fun, in no uncertain terms, the typical customs of the various nations in which the story is set.

In Albion, for example, there will be no shortage of jokes about the limited English cuisine, consisting of the banal Fish n Chips, or the daily midday tea which, for most of the local population, replaces lunch. In Japan, fried fish is instead replaced by sake, which will become the protagonist of an eternal struggle with Russian Vodka for domination of the alcoholic world. Several lines of dialogue are really well written, and it is impossible not to mention the countless and imaginative attempts by Crypto-138 to approach the charming Russian spy Natalya Ivanova – one of the characters introduced with the second chapter – and the calm and controlled responses, despite the constant provocations of our ally. The good work done by THQ Nordic on the facial expressions of the various protagonists, which we found in this tour, makes the narrative even more immersive. much more realistic and compelling than they were sixteen years ago. That of Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is therefore a crazy narrative, which constantly jokes with users and which uses a crazy tale to constantly provide them with an excuse to destroy everything that moves on the screen.

It’s time to fry human brains

As mentioned at the beginning, Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is an open world third-person shooter and is set in five different locations: San Francisco, Albion, Takoshima (Japanese island inspired by Tokyo), the cold Tunguska in Siberia and finally the Soviet lunar base Solaris. While we wander freely through the aforementioned maps, we can choose whether to put the city streets to fire without a particular purpose, follow the main storyline that develops through twenty-eight missions in totalas happened in the original work, or to devote ourselves to various secondary activities that are mainly divided into assassinations and spreading the cult of Arkvoodle.

Regardless of which path you choose to follow, Destroy All Humans’ only real imperative! 2 Reprobed is to make a big mess, perhaps in the company of a friend: the split-screen in fact allows you to face the entire campaign in local multiplayer, maximizing the fun.

When facing the KGB, Crypto-138 can rely on a remarkable arsenal of guns, to be easily altered in-game thanks to the more classic weapon wheel. Obviously, each of the nine alien rifles has unique characteristics that make them more or less functional depending on the battle engaged. For example, if it is Zap – O – Matic it is able to electrify one or more enemies, has infinite charge and is the weapon we have used most frequently, the Displacer it is instead the perfect choice for those who want to detonate vehicles on the first shot, while theMeteorite Attack, as the name suggests, it will rain a lot of racing cars in a large area, and given its small number of ammunition it is particularly suitable in the most chaotic situations. In general, all weapons have their strengths and as many weaknesses, and it is therefore up to us to use the most effective ones according to the circumstances and the tasks to be completed.

In this regard, the simplicity of the shooting phases allowed us to immediately become familiar with the aiming system, so much so that during our test we realized that it is possible to deactivate the automatic aiming.

Since the default option makes shootings a lot easier, we would like to recommend turning it off for those looking for a slightly higher challenge rate than normal. The difficulty is, moreover, set downwards, also thanks to it an enemy artificial intelligence that is not always reactive, and only in some specific missions and boss fights – mostly set in the last world – we had a hard time. Suffice it to say that in the course of our tests we happened several times to unleash explosions in a KGB base, but some soldiers a few meters away from the chaos we unleashed seemed completely unaware of what was happening. The missions of the last world, on the other hand, are rather demanding, also and above all due to the vitality of the opponents: the bosses are sponges for bullets, a factor that can also be found in the previous remake and which in our opinion makes those who should be too long-lived and repetitive. be the highlights placed at the end of each chapter.

In addition to guns, Crypto-138 has psychic powers thanks to which it can explode the brains of humans, lift and throw people and blunt objects at mobs and vehicles, or perhaps take possession of a person’s body to move freely in the maps, avoiding the alarm being given. The presence of the cortical scan is particularly relevant, necessary to read the thoughts of passers-by and thus obtain valuable information necessary to complete specific mission objectives. Both the weapons and the powers can be enhanced near the flying saucer, which will act as the main HUB and will allow inside it to change the appearance of the protagonist with truly spectacular costumes. It should also be noted that the spacecraft can also be used to move between cities and to destroy tanks, giant monsters and all the arsenal with which the KGB will try to hinder us.

The good old open world

Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is a title that inevitably inherits the structure and quest design of the original product, that is the typical one of an open world of the early 2000s. Most of the main tasks, as well as the secondary ones, involve an investigation phase, through the aforementioned cortical scan, which is followed by a frenetic and adrenaline-filled shooting: a real alien party consisting of explosions and carbonizations, to which everyone is invited, however, without the certainty of arriving safely at the end of the evening. There will also be assaults on enemy outposts or missions in which we will have to escort some NPCs, both on the ground and with the spaceship. Although the developers have not been able to implement a perfect “driving model”, especially in the moments when soldiers, tanks and anti-aircraft try to blow us up, the phases aboard our means of transport are capable of give delusions of omnipotence to those who have always dreamed of driving a flying saucer and wreaking havoc among the earth’s population.

The enjoyment of Reprobed is further enhanced by the excellent graphics sector, a very high quality English dubbing and the inevitable Italian subtitles. Just as the narrative jokes about the stereotypes of each country, the graphics of this remake also play a lot with the atmosphere and colors, evoking and transmitting the peculiarities of each city explored.

Being an English citizen, Albion is dull and gray, unable to convey happiness, which is the exact opposite of San Francisco, which is in fact bursting with hippie colors and lightheartedness.

However, the real gem of the production is Tukushima, a real feast for the eyes, as well as well-kept from an artistic point of view: when illuminated by the sun, the cherry trees and the sea become a wonderful postcard photo, while the temples exude Japanese culture and charm from every single tile. Although not too large, the cities are alive, so much so that it will happen several times to witness the factions of the yakuza that wage war with each other, while our alien participates in a mission completely disconnected from what is happening at that moment. Finally, we cannot fail to mention the realistic effects of the buildings that collapse with laser beams from our flying saucer and the blanket of smoke that arises from our uncivilized and vandalic act. The only real technical defect of the production is to be found in the delay in loading some textures, which even on Xbox Series X it partially penalizes the performance of the cutscenes. A not particularly relevant imperfection, which we hope can be resolved as soon as possible through a special patch.