Destroy All Humans! 2 is both a stunning looking remake that feels and sounds like a 2022 game but one that also shows its age.

And that’s not even starting with the name Crypto being used for your main protagonist. 2006 really does feel like a lifetime ago, doesn’t it?

It’s a pretty similar case to the remaster for the original, then. It’s still a fun game to play for a few hours. You can pick up characters and launch them into space. Incinerate them with lasers, even fly around in your saucer. Not too many games offer that.

But it’s also a byproduct of the times with its mission structure, its dated humour, and technical limitations. Basically, our stance hasn’t changed, we’d love to see a new Destroy All Humans that really takes advantage of modern-day gaming.

For now, though, we have Reprobed, and it is a good blast. If you played the Destroy All Humans remaster a few years back, this is almost identical in every sense of the word, but with some new weapons, abilities and environments thrown in for good measure.

As such, many of the same issues that plagued the first remaster are still prevalent. The movement can be a bit clunky, you’re often left to find your way around a bit aimlessly without effective signposting and the combat feels quite stunted with recharging weapons, repetitive AI and an obsession of horde warfare trying to bury you under bodies.

Likewise, the humour is also a byproduct of the times, though the game at least points this out before you dive right into the action.

This time around, Crypto is swinging into the 60s to take on the KGB who blew up his mothership. With a manner of guns and equipment to his name, Crypto completes a series of missions to really bring down the Russian forces and ensure Earth is left with a lasting memory of an alien invasion.

Well, kind of. You can disguise yourself as random passers-by to ensure the police and every day citizens aren’t seeing a flying jetpack riding Crypto buzzing around. The disguise isn’t fool-proof of course, Crypto only has a limited amount of time within body-snatching and his mannerisms aren’t exactly natural so will draw some attention.

You can use the disguises to your advantage, though, by radioing in to tell units to calm down a threat or radio in for some backup to a specific location. You can even play some prank calls, which can be a fun little diversion.

The other marked difference is Destroy All Humans 2 feels more open and sandboxy than the first game which broke story down into sectioned missions. This means you can free roam a bit more, exploring, picking up secret items, finding alternative objectives and even attempting alternate methods of approach. It makes the game feel more interesting and ultimately, engaging, despite it not benefitting from the open world design of modern sandbox titles.

There is a general feeling of satisfaction permeating throughout, too. Mechanically, the game does feel clunky, but it plays well for the most part despite these frustrations. You bounce from objective to objective fairly well and you can certainly feel comfortable in handling yourself against fierce resistance. There’s also good variety to attack and defense with the ability to move effortlessly between weapons and abilities.

There are also a few performance issues with some slowdown and sluggishness, but it’s never too prolonged or pronounced enough that it affects the way you play too much.

With the second of these out in the wild now, there’s huge reboot potential and I’d love to see a franchise that follows a similar route to Saints Row (not this year’s remake, the less said about that, the better) – You can have a really fun sandbox environment using these characters, focusing on these abilities, building on these premises.

Verdict

Destroy All Humans 2! – Reprobed is a good gaming distraction. It handles its mechanics relatively well, has a decent flow, and this remake looks really great on modern formats with some stunning 4K shine. Much like its predecessor, however, it is beginning to show its age, struggling with performance and crashes as well as dated humour, and so the hope remains for an all-new entry that really shows off the potential of the franchise on current-gen hardware.