Single Player?!: A Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed (Single Player) Review

By JT

Players: 1
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, XBox, PC

We are back, my people! Here in the hot seat is a game that has come back from the dead: Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed. Having been released all the way back in 2006 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, Destroy All Humans! 2 is a step back in time to where controls could be either tanky or just alright. At the time THQ was doing very well, publishing a lot of licensed titles from franchises such as Teen Titans, Bratz, Avatar, and Spongebob, which the company often banked on in their release schedule. Then we got Destroy All Humans! 2 a year after the original. The sequel being of a larger scale than the original, there is more added story and side content. Does it add up to a potential remake years later? Is it even warranted to have a PS4 version come out after the next generation versions? I mean, it is only single player after all… Let’s see for ourselves in Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed (Single Player).

Just reading the title of the game hurts my brain. Not to say Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is a bad game. In fact the game holds up, even though neither the original nor the remake has a very good look to it animation-wise. The tone is the same, the missions are similar, but there is at least one mission omitted, being one dealing with gender reassignment surgery. That one mission aside, the scope of all other missions has largely been changed giving all players new areas to explore and plenty more dynamic cut-scenes to watch. However, missions aside, developers have added a bit more content into the game than what was in the original sequel. There are added challenges, such as Rampage and Armageddon, and mini games like a rip-off of Space Invaders. New areas to explore include both above and below ground, including inside some buildings. You still can’t swim, even though some form of underwater exploration would have been a cool addition. Just like the original version there are also plenty of collectibles which can give you upgrades. Unlike the original, or even the current generation ports, there is a huge elephant in the room, which is lack of multiplayer. We will get into that later though.

Now I will admit that upon first booting up the game I thought it was the game I got for the review, but I found myself playing the re-port and not the remake. So, I wound up playing through Destroy All Humans! 2 twice. That turned out to not be such a bad thing, especially since I had the opportunity to experience the same game twice. The one thing that stood out were the controls. They make much more sense in the remake than they do in the original. The game feels more fun because of it, with much more capability than before. The transition between targets is more seamless, which is useful in high stress situations. KGB often do look like military, so it can be difficult to distinguish the two, but over time you notice some things differentiating the two. I was also happy to note that unlike the original game, the remake has difficulty levels. Although the difficulty levels were pretty disappointing, because the most difficult level spike still felt extremely easy in comparison to other games I’ve played within the same genre.

Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed begins with a meeting of a group of KGB agents watching a slide show as a recap from the previous game. This one takes place ten years after the events of the first game where they had previously killed an alien lifeform known as a Furon. Furons are known to be dangerous and unpredictable, mainly due to their ability to clone themselves and pose as humans. One of the Furons is now living comfortably in the White House and is currently President of the United States. The KGB believes these aliens pose a huge threat to the Soviet Union. The cut-scene ends with the Furon currently residing in Bay City (think San Francisco Bay), the Soviets having fired a missile to destroy the mothership, and a standoff between one KGB agent and the little Furon. The story, while simple, gives you a basic understanding as to what is currently happening. The leader of the hippies just wants to save the planet, while taking on more cult followers through use of his own liquid called Revelade. The KGB simply want to kill all Furons and take over the world. Our little Furon buddy just wants world domination. What’s so wrong with that?

The graphics are good, and are a major upgrade from the original Destroy All Humans! 2; at least when they're not showing the human faces. The human faces are much better looking in the original, and perhaps the developers should have stuck with that. The original CGI wasn’t the best either, especially since the KGB appeared to have lazy eyes, but the graphics on humans weren’t ugly either. There are only a few instances where humans look human, opposed to looking alien. I mean maybe we had it all wrong the whole time? Maybe humans are really aliens? It would all make sense! In all honesty though, it’s likely that the developers were developing caricatures of real humans. If there was funny dialogue to match then the latter could be overlooked, but much of what was added into the final product is just not funny. The fact you speak in a normal voice with every human body you inhabit is so surreal though. It was legitimately funny to see a 40-year-old man’s voice coming out of a 25-year-old woman’s body, so most of the time I opted to be a woman. The John Wayne tone of voice also helps that kind of aesthetic.

There are a multitude of weapons with varying effects, such as the dislocator which sends people flying right into one another, with its effect being “bounce”. It does just as what is described. The Zap-o-Matic, which the game starts you off with, allows for chain damage. Unlike the first game, Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed gives you the chain damage to start, allowing multiple enemies to take damage in the same wave without first upgrading. The saucer itself has better control compared to the original. The weapons also feel as though they do more damage than before. When you fire lasers into a building, the sections fired upon will catch fire. Whole structures can also be destroyed which is nice to see. Games with destructible environments are a plus in my book. The original game had very static environments, but lifting tanks and humans off the ground was still fun. In the remake, it’s become almost therapeutic. My only problem is the bridge is not destructible, which was a huge missed opportunity.

The music in Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed gives off that 60s and 70s vibe, from when you need to escape from being seen to entering missions centered around hippies and their culture within this world. Other types of music feel as if you’ve been transported into a Mars Attacks! Film. Lasers and explosions all have the feeling of films of the era. I give real praise to whoever did the sound design. A lot of effort was placed in an otherwise very underrated medium. Whenever you hear the music go hard, you know things are going down. 

One thing I will say about Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed – Single Player is... Actually, let me ask a question here. Why? Why cut out any multiplayer from it? Why release it on the previous console generations at all if that’s the route taken? My most resounding complaints are all about the lack of any multiplayer. The game could just benefit from the Steam release and be fine, and the PS5 and Series X editions came out fine too. Multiplayer is just a bonus. In fact, that’s what it really feels like experiencing only Single Player. The game feels as if it doesn’t need that multiplayer element. However, it was all just ripped out in favor of an inferior version. Everything can be experienced in multiplayer, including a PvP option. Knowing that it feels like a waste of potential. At the very least there could have been co-op story. It feels as though this version of the game was just an afterthought. Also, I experienced two crashes within the game, and any time a game crashes it’s bad. Perhaps they experienced multiple crashes with co-op or other multiplayer options? If so, then the game was optimized poorly. The graphics are not that demanding, and neither is the scope of the entire game. It’s just a much better version of the game we got back in 2006, minus the multiplayer even the PS2 version had. That's right, they ripped the multiplayer out of a 2006 release in 2023. At $30, it’s not a bad single player experience. For an added $10 though, you could get the full experience on PS5, Series S/X, or Steam. Personally, I shop for the full experience. If you’re able to get the full experience, then do it; it’s a fun game. You will have a great time with it! Just maybe don't settle for anything less.

For More Information on Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed:
https://destroyallhumans2.thqnordic.com/

---

Story: B
Gameplay: A-
Graphics: B-
Sound: A
Value: C+ (Note: This is only the version I reviewed!)

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ Destructible environments.
+ Large upgrade from the original.
+ Controls feel nice and responsive.
+ Graphics and music enhancements add to the experience.
+ John Wayne voice.

Cons:
- Human characters look terrible compared to their original versions.
- Bad and unfunny dialogue at times.
- No multiplayer. (Again, it was ripped out for a later release.)

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

---