Critic & User Reviews
IGN Review of Destroy All Humans 2
Pandemic Studios clearly took to heart all of the criticisms that were leveled at Destroy All Humans! when it sat down to make the sequel. The first in the series was a fun and light hearted game that suffered from some unappealing stealth sequences and generally middle of the road filler. With a clear emphasis on action and a developed set of side quests, Destroy All Humans! 2 succeeds in many of the places where its predecessor fell short. By making these changes, while maintaining a tongue-in-cheek attitude, Pandemic has created an enjoyable open world game that is well worth the price of admission should you be in the market for an Xbox or PS2 title.
Crypto, the main character, returns as the foul-mouthed, crude, oversexed alien bent on blowing everything up, fornicating, and taking the piss out of everyone he meets. He's an anti-hero for sure, but his charm is undeniable as his tender side comes out as you work through the game. Perhaps it's his faux Jack Nicholson voice or the way he tries to have sex with every big bosomed female in the game, but Crypto is our kind of guy. With plenty of spectacular weapons, the ability to peak into the thoughts of humans, or take on their appearance to go incognito, and a sweet jetpack, Crypto has all of the tools and attitude necessary to keep you interested.
Not to give away too much of a plot spoiler, but Destroy All Humans! 2 is surprisingly light on the destruction of humans. Sure, you'll get your fill of running around killing innocent people on the side of the road or wiping out KGB agents, but much of the game actually focuses on more alien objectives than the simple conquest of earth. Although each little plot delivery is interesting and filled with jokes, the overall story isn't the most compelling we've ever seen. The plot twist that comes in the latter half of the game didn't really help to renew interest in the middling story the way you'd hope it would.
While the original Destroy All Humans had some stealth elements, they've been nearly entirely wiped out for the sequel. You can still take control of humans and use them as disguises, though the process is simple and you're much less likely to be unmasked. Rather than forcing you to take control of humans and sneak your way around, most of the missions only require you to disguise yourself momentarily either to trick other humans or gain little bits of information. Outside of that, the main focus is on killing enemies and blowing stuff up. To help you, the weapons from the original are back with some new and powerful additions. The first new weapon you get is the Dislocator, a gun that shoots purple discs that grab anything from a person to a tank and begin whipping them about in random directions. There's also a gun that can call down meteor strikes which, when fully upgraded, is quite the site. Our favorite is Gastro. This little hologram on a hover-ship zips around blasting anything that dares threaten Crypto with extreme prejudice.
One of the nicest parts of Destroy All Humans! 2 is the side quests. They feel just as fleshed out as the main story and are a far cry from simple mini games. In this case, they're known as odd jobs and you can find anywhere from one to seven of them in each of the five regions of the game. Additionally, there are the Arkvoodle cult missions, where it is your job to convince humans to begin worshipping an alien god. Some of these missions are a bit tedious, such as the one where we were required to pick up ten vans and put them on particular rooftops to convince hippies of Arkvoodle's power. Most, however, are quite fun. The odd jobs where you're required to ruin people's lives are always a good laugh and the conversations that Crypto has while trying to convince humans of Arkvoodle's power are hilarious.
Aside from the forty Furotech cells scattered throughout each region, you can also find ten alien artifacts. These hidden collectibles are your incentive to do some exploring as they'll help you upgrade your arsenal and unlock bonus movies and artwork. You'll also unlock some bonus features and powers by abducting and doing genetic experiments on humans. All told, there is a ton to do and see in the game. Trying to find and unlock everything requires an extensive time commitment.
There are some issues with difficulty in Destroy All Humans! 2. Some of the missions are as easy as talking to one character while others require you to escort and protect an NPC through an extended gauntlet. At times, these missions get downright frustrating, except that dying seems to have almost no consequences. You'll be loaded back into the game at almost the exact spot you died in most missions, except you'll find that most of your ammunition has been restored giving you a huge advantage. Many of the more difficult missions end up being a piece of cake since you can just die and appear back in the game with a huge arsenal of weapons. Use them up, die again, and you'll be set with a new set of ammo. This doesn't happen in every quest, making the ones where death means starting completely from the beginning of the mission seem out of place and annoying. It's inconsistent and causes the difficulty in the game to vary too drastically.
The sound in Destroy All Humans! 2 is stellar. The sound effects are straight out of an old cheesy sci-fi movie and really help to add to the overall atmosphere. They're mostly clich?d, but in a game that is tongue-in-cheek from start to the finish and never stops poking fun at itself and the sci-fi movie genre, they'll most definitely have you chuckling.
The interesting conversation is really where Destroy All Humans! 2 sets itself apart from the competition. Every quest, main or side, that we tried gave a short introduction through Crypto talking to whoever was giving the mission. These little conversations make even the more mundane side quests interesting and fun. You know that starting a mission is going to give you a bit of sick humor to get you ready to kick some serious ass.
The visuals in Destroy All Humans! 2 aren't going to win any awards, though they won't make you want to gouge your eyes out either. There's a heavy fog that never lifts obscuring everything that isn't in your immediate vicinity. This creates some nasty object pop-in as you make your way through the streets. Enemies, various humans and their vehicles, and the occasional tree or building sometimes wait until you're almost on top of them before appearing. This happens most often when you begin jetpack-jumping your way from one rooftop to the next and then quickly drop down to the ground. The engine simply can't keep up with how fast you can move.
The graphics also change in some weird ways between the game and cutscenes. Although most of the cutscenes are created using the games engine, better looking models occasionally make an appearance. Watching Natalya's hair switch styles from one cutscene to the next creates a strange disconnect which becomes even more confusing when the rare prerendered cutscene shows up and her entire appearance alters drastically. A little consistency here would have been nice.
The best part about the visuals is the animations. Running on the Havok engine, you wind up with some great death throws as bodies fly about like rag dolls. Usually this sort of thing would seem a bit overdone, but it fits in this over the top world quite well. The facial animations are done extremely well with the quality voice acting matching up with the way the lips are moving. Well done.
©2006-10-17, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Crypto, the main character, returns as the foul-mouthed, crude, oversexed alien bent on blowing everything up, fornicating, and taking the piss out of everyone he meets. He's an anti-hero for sure, but his charm is undeniable as his tender side comes out as you work through the game. Perhaps it's his faux Jack Nicholson voice or the way he tries to have sex with every big bosomed female in the game, but Crypto is our kind of guy. With plenty of spectacular weapons, the ability to peak into the thoughts of humans, or take on their appearance to go incognito, and a sweet jetpack, Crypto has all of the tools and attitude necessary to keep you interested.
Not to give away too much of a plot spoiler, but Destroy All Humans! 2 is surprisingly light on the destruction of humans. Sure, you'll get your fill of running around killing innocent people on the side of the road or wiping out KGB agents, but much of the game actually focuses on more alien objectives than the simple conquest of earth. Although each little plot delivery is interesting and filled with jokes, the overall story isn't the most compelling we've ever seen. The plot twist that comes in the latter half of the game didn't really help to renew interest in the middling story the way you'd hope it would.
While the original Destroy All Humans had some stealth elements, they've been nearly entirely wiped out for the sequel. You can still take control of humans and use them as disguises, though the process is simple and you're much less likely to be unmasked. Rather than forcing you to take control of humans and sneak your way around, most of the missions only require you to disguise yourself momentarily either to trick other humans or gain little bits of information. Outside of that, the main focus is on killing enemies and blowing stuff up. To help you, the weapons from the original are back with some new and powerful additions. The first new weapon you get is the Dislocator, a gun that shoots purple discs that grab anything from a person to a tank and begin whipping them about in random directions. There's also a gun that can call down meteor strikes which, when fully upgraded, is quite the site. Our favorite is Gastro. This little hologram on a hover-ship zips around blasting anything that dares threaten Crypto with extreme prejudice.
One of the nicest parts of Destroy All Humans! 2 is the side quests. They feel just as fleshed out as the main story and are a far cry from simple mini games. In this case, they're known as odd jobs and you can find anywhere from one to seven of them in each of the five regions of the game. Additionally, there are the Arkvoodle cult missions, where it is your job to convince humans to begin worshipping an alien god. Some of these missions are a bit tedious, such as the one where we were required to pick up ten vans and put them on particular rooftops to convince hippies of Arkvoodle's power. Most, however, are quite fun. The odd jobs where you're required to ruin people's lives are always a good laugh and the conversations that Crypto has while trying to convince humans of Arkvoodle's power are hilarious.
Aside from the forty Furotech cells scattered throughout each region, you can also find ten alien artifacts. These hidden collectibles are your incentive to do some exploring as they'll help you upgrade your arsenal and unlock bonus movies and artwork. You'll also unlock some bonus features and powers by abducting and doing genetic experiments on humans. All told, there is a ton to do and see in the game. Trying to find and unlock everything requires an extensive time commitment.
There are some issues with difficulty in Destroy All Humans! 2. Some of the missions are as easy as talking to one character while others require you to escort and protect an NPC through an extended gauntlet. At times, these missions get downright frustrating, except that dying seems to have almost no consequences. You'll be loaded back into the game at almost the exact spot you died in most missions, except you'll find that most of your ammunition has been restored giving you a huge advantage. Many of the more difficult missions end up being a piece of cake since you can just die and appear back in the game with a huge arsenal of weapons. Use them up, die again, and you'll be set with a new set of ammo. This doesn't happen in every quest, making the ones where death means starting completely from the beginning of the mission seem out of place and annoying. It's inconsistent and causes the difficulty in the game to vary too drastically.
The sound in Destroy All Humans! 2 is stellar. The sound effects are straight out of an old cheesy sci-fi movie and really help to add to the overall atmosphere. They're mostly clich?d, but in a game that is tongue-in-cheek from start to the finish and never stops poking fun at itself and the sci-fi movie genre, they'll most definitely have you chuckling.
The interesting conversation is really where Destroy All Humans! 2 sets itself apart from the competition. Every quest, main or side, that we tried gave a short introduction through Crypto talking to whoever was giving the mission. These little conversations make even the more mundane side quests interesting and fun. You know that starting a mission is going to give you a bit of sick humor to get you ready to kick some serious ass.
The visuals in Destroy All Humans! 2 aren't going to win any awards, though they won't make you want to gouge your eyes out either. There's a heavy fog that never lifts obscuring everything that isn't in your immediate vicinity. This creates some nasty object pop-in as you make your way through the streets. Enemies, various humans and their vehicles, and the occasional tree or building sometimes wait until you're almost on top of them before appearing. This happens most often when you begin jetpack-jumping your way from one rooftop to the next and then quickly drop down to the ground. The engine simply can't keep up with how fast you can move.
The graphics also change in some weird ways between the game and cutscenes. Although most of the cutscenes are created using the games engine, better looking models occasionally make an appearance. Watching Natalya's hair switch styles from one cutscene to the next creates a strange disconnect which becomes even more confusing when the rare prerendered cutscene shows up and her entire appearance alters drastically. A little consistency here would have been nice.
The best part about the visuals is the animations. Running on the Havok engine, you wind up with some great death throws as bodies fly about like rag dolls. Usually this sort of thing would seem a bit overdone, but it fits in this over the top world quite well. The facial animations are done extremely well with the quality voice acting matching up with the way the lips are moving. Well done.
©2006-10-17, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved