THQ Nordic is one of the publishers and developers that has probably grown the most recently, along with its parent company. Thanks to THQ Nordic, we have seen the return of Crypto, the protagonist of the crazy Destroy All Humans series! Which now receives a remake for the second part of his adventure.
Destroying almost all humans
Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is a third-person action game that takes us back to the 60s and puts us in the shoes of an alien who, in this case, returns to earth to take revenge on humans and, in particular, on the KGB. We were surprised that at a compassionate time with these issues, with games being delayed to avoid touching the extremely delicate political situation in which we live, Reprobed openly portrays the Russians as rivals. On the other hand, it’s completely understandable, firstly because of its comedic approach to narrative and secondly because it simply brings back the story of the original.
Whether you have played the previous remake or the originals, you will know what awaits you here: all kinds of crazy weapons, “infiltration” sequences possessing humans, moments of destruction unleashed from our flying saucer, fights against bosses… It is a clear title in terms of playability, perhaps more a product of its time than anything else, and that recreates itself in absurd and, at times, scatological humour –one of the weapons, for example, is an anal probe–, but thanks to the variety of objectives and the brevity of its missions it becomes very entertaining. Unlike many current games that can be taken too seriously, with complex tasks and endless rides, Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed It is always to the point, and it is something many players may want.
As a game, the truth is that it does not seem like a revolution concerning its predecessor. In the end, it is somewhat more varied (something noticeable above all in the scenarios that we can explore, set in different areas of the world), but the design is still fundamental and fails where the first part failed. Obviously, some aspects have been polished in this remake concerning the original, but the core is the same, and it is still an entertaining game without more.
Finally, there are three split-screen multiplayer modes, only locally and not available online. We can enjoy the story cooperatively. The other modes, the competitive one and the so-called “PK Tennis,” are interesting and entertaining, particularly the last one, in which we use our psychic abilities to play a bizarre game of tennis.
Enhanced graphics from another planet
We will make it clear that, graphically, it cannot be compared to the most significant technical marvels in the industry. Still, to be a remake of a PlayStation 2 game and, we are sure, to have a moderate budget, we believe that Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed looks fantastic. Thanks to the ever-versatile Unreal Engine 4, Crypto’s new adventure looks surprisingly good, with fantastic lighting, razor-sharp detail, razor-sharp animations, and razor-sharp everything everywhere you look.
As you know, we can possess humans to carry out missions unnoticed, and the devs deserve credit for how careful any character is designed to favour this ability. Thanks to the mode, we can appreciate in even more detail the enormous work that Black Forest Games has done to update this sequel graphically. The only thing lacking is that the “off map” areas have very little detail and are even shocking, wonder why the devs didn’t want to put any work into these sections.
For the rest, we find an equally careful sound section with well-crafted sound effects and surprisingly effective soundtrack. Finally, the main story takes about 13 hours to complete, with much more hours if we want to do 100% and, of course, more with the multiplayer modes.
Final Thoughts
Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed is one of those games that you already know if it’s for you or not. It doesn’t do anything exceptionally well or stand out. Still, it keeps us entertained from start to finish thanks to a very agile design, which prevents it from becoming tiresome or giving us time to get bored. If you feel like something like that or are fans of the original, it is a title we can easily recommend.
We prepared this review with a download code for the PlayStation 5 version of the game provided by Evolve PR.
