In this game you return to the role of Cryptosporidium 137, a member of the “Furon” race on mission to gather DNA in order to restock their dwindling sources. He originally landed on Earth in the 1950s. A decade has now passed, where Crypto and his superior, Orthopox 13, have been busily harvesting the Furon component from human DNA and just generally fooling around. Out of the blue, the Furon mothership is blown up by a Russian missile. Upon discovering this, Crypto is left to rebuild his arsenal with the fragments of the blown-up mothership, and find out why the Russians wanted to get rid of them so badly.
The first title took a huge stab at American culture, particularly from the 1950s and sci-fi B-movies. This time the focus has shifted to the 1960s, meaning spy movies and the cultures of Russia, Britain and Japan are now the target. In particular, the Russians get the raw end of the deal, and of course the American and “hippy” culture from that particular time aren’t left out. There are many lines of great dialogue that drive real and humorous relationships between most of the characters in the game. Thanks to good writing, good placement and a well-developed story, it works out very nicely, with some particularly interesting takes on Russian history. However, there are a few aspects that are overdrawn or not implemented as well as they could be. We can’t help but feel that the original made more of an impact and was more enjoyable.
Pox is half the alien he used to be
On the gameplay front, DAH!2 has a few improvements that help move the game in the right direction but at the same time, a couple of issues haven’t been dealt with as well as they could have been. As in the previous game, you are left in an open-ended environment that allows you to go about and do essentially what you please. This time round, there are five areas to explore, from America, Britain, Japan, Russia and one location that is undisclosed (though somewhat obvious). The locales are no where as big as GTA cities, but are faithfully characterised and make the game experience more substantial.
Crypto is now a superior being to the one that we played through the first game with. In the first game, you were required to harvest human “essence” in order to perform all your wonderful alien powers. Instead, they are gradually unlocked as you are reminded of them, and you can pretty much use them whenever you want. Crypte has also been upgraded with the ability to “snatch” bodies, rather then becoming a holograph. The advantage of this is that it makes getting around towns and fooling around much easier and much less of a chore.
The mission structure is similar to that of any other self-respecting open-ended title. Just observe your map to see where the main story or side missions are located and make your merry little way to them. Most missions will have you following a set of icons to have you destroy/collect/protect a bunch of things. A little twist here is that because your intel sources have been decimated, you often are required to both disguise yourself and do some brain scanning to help yourself out. Snatch a body (sometimes specific) and scan a bunch of NPC’s to find out exactly where your next target is. The thoughts that you scan are either useful hints or a few humorous lines. Often you’ll realise that you don’t know where to go and all you have to do is read a mind, though sometimes it will have to be a specific person.
The side-missions have been improved significantly over the last game. No longer are they simple arbitrary fetch missions. There are some that are even relevant to the story. You’ve got a variety of assassinations, “ruin lives” and collect missions. They often require you to find a disguise, because some mission-givers won’t talk to Crypto in his pure form (or some disguised forms) and for you to do some investigatory work. Their structure, as well as the structure of the story missions, is much deeper and thought-out than in the previous game. They’re also valuable for collecting “cells” so that you’re able to perform several upgrades. Still, there were a couple that had a very lopsided difficulty level that made them very frustrating to complete, in particular, one where we were required to protect a tower in our saucer but there were simply too many tanks on the attack.
Smile for the camera.
Speaking of the saucer, you're able to hop into your saucer at any landing point that has been unlocked. There are at least half-a-dozen in each locale and have a generally anarchical way of being unlocked. Not much has changed from the saucer sequences from the first game, as it still feels quite limiting. It doesn’t help that you can only get in and out at certain points. Combat is decent but at times, too limited. Still, you can go about and level cities if you want. Furthermore, you can abduct various citizens and use the “gene-blender” to upgrade your alien abilities and unlock goodies.
There have been a fair few additions to the weaponry in the game. The more the more merrier eh? Four have been added (Gastro, Disc-locator, Burrow Beast and Meteor Strike), but we found that they don’t quite make the improvement that we were looking for. Gastro is mobile turret that can be used to divert attention and the Meteor Strike, while not as powerful as you’d imagine, comes in handy. Unfortunately, the original weapons haven’t been upgraded. The Disintegrator is useful but requires constant ammo refills, the Anal Probe is humorous but limited, the Zap-o-matic is still tedious and the Ion detonator is often impractical.
A lot of what is new in DAH!2 complements the good stuff that’s already there. The game is much more substantial and is driven by a much stronger design that its predecessor. Even with the solid gameplay that revolves around the main story, there is fun to be had messing around with the in-game physics, various distractions and unlockables. The autosave is probably the best seen in any open-ended game to date. There has even been a plug-and-play co-op mode that has been added. You can pretty much jump in with a second Furon dude and either wreak havoc together or compete with one another, either to get to objectives or in telekinetic tennis.
Still, the game is not without its issues and it’s disappointing to see a lot of them this late in the generation. One issue is that death is of little consequence in the game. You are simply recloned and pretty much able to pick up where you left off, even in the middle of a mission. It’s all good and well because it cuts out some frustration. However, when “failing” a mission because of not being able to protect the objective and being forced to repeat the entire mission is the other option, it doesn’t fit well. Additionally, the humour in this game is not up to the same lofty standard as the first title. If often feels quite forced.
It's in the name of the game
The other problems are more technical. The game mechanics such as lock-on and auto-aiming are solid and functional, though once you’ve played games that do it better, it’s difficult to go back to mechanics that are loose in comparison. Weak weapons don’t help the cause either. The AI is poor at best. Often characters that are meant to be following or leading you will get stuck and cause a few headaches. On the other hand, you can easily distract enemies and get behind them. There are also a number of in game glitches that will at times will get you stuck or prevent the normal course of action from taking place. Thankfully, none of these issues destroy the experience, though it’s disappointing to see them in this second generation title.
Graphically, the five different worlds have been characterised well. The first four are built well and the environments look distinctive. Unfortunately, while the game is able to uphold a unique style, we can’t help but think that a lot of the models could’ve had a bit more detail put into them. Sure, Cryto, Pox and the saucer look wonderful but everyone else looks a bit bland and underdone. Issues such as clipping and pop-in get in the way, with pop-in being particularly prevalent in saucer sequences but at least things like the physics engine are all in good order. Sound-wise, the game is driven by excellent voicing and complimented by well-written dialogue. There are a few great text-tree conversations (though a couple drag a bit) and they make up a lot of what is good about the game. While unique and appropriate, the sounds merely get the job done. The music characterises the places and situations well. Still, not quite up to the standard of the first game.
Overall, Destroy All Humans! 2 is a much more substantial and well-designed game than it’s predecessor. The well thought out experience is more enjoyable, particularly from a gameplay perspective, though a few of the older issues linger from the previous game. The humour and wit is pretty good but the simple truth is that the source material is not as good as that used in the first game. Still it is one of the better points of the game. The main issue that stops the game from being great, is that it feels too old from a technical perspective and is something that we shouldn’t be seeing this late in the console cycle. Regardless, for anyone who liked the first, you’re likely to get just as much and hopefully more from the second.
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