Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed Review – First Line to be Probed

Crypto and Pox are back in this remake by Black Forest Games in Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed. In this title, you play as Crypto, ten years after the events of the first game, as he enters the swinging sixties. Still, his joy in partying and chatting up with Human Women is cut short by the arrival of the KGB, who are intending to use parts of Furon technology for their own gain, forcing Crypto on the run as he tries to take them, as well as higher forces of power down.

However, the alien is not alone in his quest to take over the Human Race, as he’s helped by a rebellious KGB operative named Natalya Ivanova, whom Crypto becomes increasingly obsessed over, much to her disgust.

Destroy All Humans 2 has two types of gameplay as you cross the semi-open world areas. Firstly, you play as Crypto on the ground to take on missions, but you’ll have to avoid being spotted by humans. Luckily, you can utilize a jetpack to reach mission locations. When a human spots Crypto, it raises awareness, which has four different levels that cause groups such as the Police and eventually the Military to arrive.

Another option to navigate the world unnoticed is to use the ability to body snatch a nearby human. However, you cannot scan human minds to recharge your disguise limit, unlike in the first game, so you have to be quick when using a disguise. Regardless, you can still read human minds to hear funny dialogue and gather information about the mission.

The abilities continue as Crypto can make humans forget what they’ve seen. Still, suppose multiple humans see you acting suspiciously. In that case, you must use the new free love ability that will cause the humans around you to begin a spontaneous dance number. You can also call the police to bring in more of them from a nearby phone booth or tell them that the area is safe to lower the awareness meter. You can also prank call them.

Crypto also has a wide range of abilities when he is on the ground, and many of Crypto’s laser weapons, such as Zap-o-Matic or disintegrator ray, make a return in this installment which you can use to electrocute or burn the humans around you. Crypto’s PK abilities have also been improved since the last installment, where you can now fling suspecting humans at a great distance thanks to improved physics, and you’re able to carry objects and people around with you and slam them into other people or vehicles. Crypto’s raygun has new abilities for the player to unlock, such as conjuring up meteors or dislocating cars to fling them miles away and crush anyone nearby.

As you complete missions, you’ll be given Furotech cell points used to upgrade your abilities in the landing deck’s menu. You can also find cells across the map; upgrading your abilities allows you new benefits, such as making weapons rapid-fire or increased shooting time.

The dash ability has also returned from the previous remake that you can now use from the start instead of unlocking it, allowing you to skate across the map and make quick getaways from humans trying to shoot you up. Crypto’s transmogrify ability also returns, allowing him to collect ammo for his ray gun. His health will regenerate if he stands still long enough and away from enemies.

Missions in the game are similar to the first remake, where you must sneak into private Government Facilities to find more information about the KGB’s plot or find someone important to Crypto’s mission. You can do this in multiple ways, such as sneaking your way into places by disguising yourself, or you can go in guns blazing and cause chaos; however, some missions require you to disguise yourself as a human to reach and talk to someone important, such as disguising yourself as a hippie to speak to another hippie.

Talking to someone gives you dialogue choices; some will lead you closer to finishing the mission, and some of them can cause Crypto to say a hilarious line to anger the person he’s currently talking to. Crypto gets mission briefings from his boss, Pox, but later in the game, he will have a few run-ins with Natayla, who will help him in certain missions.

Crypto needs to help her in return by escorting her to certain places and later on help her fight alien warriors known as the Blisk, who are harder to take down than a standard human, requiring a significant amount of effort when dealing with them.

Crypto’s saucer allows you to blow up buildings differently and deal with government and military vehicles sent to kill you. If you’re worried about your saucer running out of health, you can absorb energy all around you to raise your saucer’s health.

Crypto’s saucer can pick up various people, animals, or vehicles on the ground to throw them at enemies or abduct them to help upgrade your ship by harvesting their brains through the gene blender. You’re given the option to upgrade your saucer before boarding it or give it a customizable skin. Similarly, Crypto has a wide range of skins you can put on him.

The Saucer also has a cloaking ability that can turn it invisible for a short period, allowing the awareness meter to decrease and less military to deal with. Unlike the previous game, which has you traveling across America, Crypto can now go around certain parts of the world like in the original, besides America. Such places like the United Kingdom, Japan, and Russia make a return, and each area is given a beautiful graphics overhaul to fit with the style of the last remake. The humans are less realistic, more cartoony, and even ugly sometimes.

However, depending on how high you put the graphics up in the settings menu in the PC version, your game will occasionally take time to render certain areas, which mostly happens during a cutscene, and the game can stutter a few times as well. You will also be met with a couple of glitches, like humans sinking into the map, but that’s nothing a simple PK pull and throwing the human at a great distance can fix, which won’t risk you jeopardizing your current mission.

For those that loved the music to the original 2006 classic and are worried about it being replaced, like what happened to the music of the first Destroy All Humans Remake, then you will be happy to know that the soundtrack has returned without that many changes. You can collect each song around each map and other fun behind-the-scenes collectibles such as concept art. You can also use the game’s new photo mode to take hilarious photos during your playthrough.

Besides exploring and finding collectibles, you can also partake in side quests or odd jobs that Pox wants you to do, such as helping you make an alien signal to his and Crypto’s home planet, or you can spread the word of Arkvoodle and increase support to the Furon God.

The Remake also includes three new multiplayer modes, such as Co-Up with another player locally and through split-screen, PK tennis, where you use Crypto’s PK abilities to play a fun tennis-like game, and finally, a dueling mode against another player. In addition, those who pre-ordered Reprobed will get another multiplayer experience in the stand-alone Clone Carnage game, where you play as one of four clones of Crypto as you cause chaos in your wake.

Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is a stellar remake of a beloved classic. As you deal with the KGB, hippies, and strange humans alike, there’s nothing quite as entertaining as watching Crypto continue his crusade to destroy all humans and become ruler of Planet Earth. This will definitely hold you off while we wait for a true sequel to the series.