Destroy All Humans! 2

Aside from paying homage to a B-movie turkey like Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” Destroy All Humans! gave us a humorous free-roaming action game with the chance to wreck havoc on those pesky humans while collecting DNA in the most hilarious ways possible. It was an excellent game that mixed GTA-styled on-foot as well as vehicle- (a powerful saucer in this case) driven action with a great sense of humor but the game lacked things to do in the 1950s-era open environment. And so we come to Destroy All Humans! 2, a sequel that seems to have fixed this problem and given us a new reason to set our ray guns to Close Encounter of the Fun Kind.

The last time we saw our Furon friend Crypto, he was infiltrating the White House with plans to overtake the weak human government by posing as the President of the United States back in the 1950s. Many years have passed and we find ourselves in a 1960 San Francisco as President Crypto is busy partying and basking in the free love hippie movement. Suddenly, the mothership is destroyed by the Soviets and the US is overrun by KGB agents looking to put an end to the Furon shenanigans. This, of course, doesn’t sit well with Crypto who - with the help of a disembodied Pox - sets out to find out why the KGB is on his tail.

Then again, all of this setup is just an excuse for Crypto to run loose on the street and gladly use his alien abilities as well as his advanced technology on the human population. He even makes it no secret that he wouldn’t mind taking out as many hippies along the way. It seems that Crypto is most happy when he’s using his disintegrator ray or anal probe against innocent civilians, police officers, army soldiers or KGB agents. Like the first game, Crypto even has a number of Furon abilities such as psychokinesis, brain extraction, Cortex scan and mind flash (used to stun everyone in sight).

New to the series is Free Love (that is used much like the Distraction ability from the first game) and Body Snatch, which replaces Holo-Bob. Body Snatch basically allows you to “jack” any human body you come across to move around freely without people reacting to your true self in horror. The trick with Body Snatch is that nobody else must see you take control of your target in order for it to be a successful or clean body snatch. The advantage is that if you body snatch a police officer, for instance, you can use a call box and call off a police search if the alert level gets too high. Secondly, there are new additions to your arsenal, including a Dislocator ray that lifts up anyone it hits and flings them around. Each weapon can be upgraded to make more damage or hold more cells (that act as ammo).

Destroy All Humans! 2 still allows you to roam around the environments before tackling on a main story mission or a side mission. The missions, once again, mix both on-foot tasks with missions that require you to hop into your saucer and take to the skies. You’ll find that the missions are actually pretty fun whether you’re attempting to introduce Arkvoodle, an ancient Furon God, to a horde of hippies or defending an antenna while blasting enemy tanks in your saucer. The game’s main story mode takes us from the United States to the UK and Japan (ninjas!). The side missions actually offer a lot more to do in this game - something the original lacked. Also, a friend can hop on and join you in the game’s new multiplayer co-op mode.

The controls still make it fairly easy to use your jetpack to get to those hard to reach areas and while the targeting could still be a lot better it’s fun zapping humans with your ray guns. As far as the saucer controls are concerned, it still controls a lot like the first game with the exception that you can drain the energy from Earth vehicles to power your saucer’s features such as your cloaking device. You can also abduct humans from afar, an act that allows you to later blend human DNA to unlock extras such as an art gallery. In the end, however, all of these things just add more new thrills to a game that feels the same as the first game. Now this isn’t a bad thing but it isn’t a new direction for the series.

Visually, the game is not the prettiest when it comes to the human character models. Crypto still stands out as a unique character with his own distinct features that make him such a treat to play. The human cast just seems a little clunky with the exception of Crypto’s new human companion Natalya. The pedestrians move awkwardly and because they use the same models for everyone it feels like you’re moving through a city of clones. At least the environments look good and the rag-doll effects when you levitate a person and drop them on their head never gets old. Even the rest of the visual effects look great.

As far as the sound is concerned, Destroy All Humans! 2 excels in giving gamers some great voice acting to go along with the hilarious dialogue that doesn’t fail to get a chuckle or two from any person within earshot. It’s great to hear such witty dialogue that happily makes fun of itself as well as make some colorful pop cultural references. The music, once again, just does justice to the B-movie science-fiction scene similar to what was heard in the first game only with some '60s tunes tossed in as well. Even the sound effects sound true to those types of movies.

If you loved the first game, Destroy All Humans! 2 just adds more to a game that might not be radically different but is still able to show Xbox owners a good time. While the story is lost in the game’s many missions and side adventures, there is still a lot to love about running or flying through the open world destroying humanity along the way.

Gameplay: 8.2
The new weapons and body snatching ability just add more fun to a game with huge open worlds and the plentiful side missions. It is still fun to run around and zap humans on foot and it is still fun to destroy buildings and abduct people in your flying saucer but now there’s more to look forward to when you want to take a break from the story missions.

Graphics: 7.0
Once again the game falls victim to “cloned” pedestrians that fill each environment. Worst yet the human character models during the game’s action don’t look very good to begin with and move rather unrealistically. The environments and backgrounds do look good as well as the cool sci-fi visual effects.

Sound: 8.5
Crypto’s dialogue and delivery brings to mind Jack Nicholson movies of the 60s and he is actually more hilarious in this game. The rest of the dialogue is appropriately campy and equally funny so expect some great lines from just about everyone that makes an appearance. The game’s music touches on the era nicely and the sound effects are once again B-movie quality.

Difficulty: Medium
Destroy All Humans! 2 is actually more challenging than the first game and there are several missions where you will want to upgrade Crypto’s weapons before attempting. Trying to carry out a mission in your saucer is still pretty challenging with tanks and rockets fired in your direction.

Concept: 8.0
The weapon upgrade system is a tad better this time around and body snatching is far better than the Holo-Bob feature in the original. There are a lot of collectibles in this game and the unlockable extras are well worth the trouble unlocking in this game. This sequel also includes a multiplayer co-op mode.

Multiplayer: 7.0
On paper the co-op multiplayer mode is a great idea and playing with a friend is actually quite fun despite the fact that the game forces the second player to stick close to you. Then again there are missions in the game where you’ll appreciate the help.

Overall: 8.3
Crypto is back in a sequel that might not be a major departure for the series but it certainly is the most grooviest fun you’ll have on your Xbox. This game actually supersedes the original in various aspects and the addition of a diverse number of side missions and multiplayer co-op make this game a blast to play so if you liked the first game you will love this one.