Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is a fine remake of a largely unnoteworthy game. Amounting to what is ostensibly more of the same, fans of the original or even 2020’s remake will probably be able to extract some fun for a few hours. Everyone else should probably just check out or replay through the original Destroy All Humans! And its 2020 remake, as it’s by far the better experience.
A long time ago in the year 2020, I reviewed a little remake of a classic PS2-era game entitled Destroy All Humans!. And now as a wisened old man, I am taking a look at its sequel: Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed. What a grand reminder that as things continue to evolve and change, some things will always remain the same. And in this case, DAH2: Reprobed is about as close to “same-y” as you can get.
Much like its predecessor, DAH2: Reprobed is as faithful a remaster (remake?) to its original release as there ever could be. Dialogue remains untouched, as out-of-touch as it may be to modern audiences; and the gameplay feels as floaty and chaotic as it ever did. And much like the original, DAH2: Reprobed offers very little in terms of new gameplay elements that justify its sequel status. After all, DLC wasn’t a thing in 2006! What players are given is just more of the same of what made the original Destroy All Humans! A joy to play, but lacking a lot of the original’s charm.
Destroy All Humans! 2 follows Crypto as he looks to combat the Soviet Union in 1969 as they look to destroy America with the assistance of a rival alien race. Unlike DAH! 1, the sequel attempts to make many satirical jokes about the period it takes place in, but often lacks the cleverness the original had in spades. Gone are the fun callbacks to classic alien abduction movies from the 1950s, and in its place are odd and oftentimes cringy “communism bad, but capitalism also bad” jokes.
Skippable and forgettable story beats aside, Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed offers more of the fun chaos of the original, even if it all starts to feel a bit same-y by the time you reach the third location. Almost all of the missions consist of the same three gameplay loops: impersonate a human, read other humans’ minds to find your objective, and then blast your way through the objective. Rinse and repeat. Throw in some flying saucer gameplay from DAH1, and you have yourself a sequel. It’s all still fun, but Reprobed further highlights how dated these sorts of gameplay loops are.
That can’t be held against Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed; after all, it is faithfully remaking a game that came out 16 years ago. What has been updated is fantastic: character models look fun and cartoony, exploding everything around Crypto is awesome and the game does feel smooth to play through. Some audio bugs were consistently found throughout the entire game; including some dialogue and audio effects failing to play at all, causing Crypto to react completely silently on screen. While these were the most jarring of issues, I was still able to complete my playthrough with minimal bugs and zero crashes.
Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is a fine remake of a largely unnoteworthy game. Amounting to what is ostensibly more of the same, fans of the original or even 2020’s remake will probably be able to extract some fun for a few hours. Everyone else should probably just check out or replay through the original Destroy All Humans! And its 2020 remake, as it’s by far the better experience.
