Review: Destroy All Humans! 2

Destroy All Humans! 2 (Pandemic, 2006) is a darkly comedic action game set in an alternate version of the 1960s.

DAH2, unlike its predecessor, is pretty much a straight up action game. Shoot stuff on foot. Shoot stuff from a flying saucer. Then run missions to get more guns to shoot stuff with. As such the game is fairly satisfying. Throwing people around with psychic powers and hucking tanks into buildings with the saucer's abducto ray is always good for a laugh. The jumping mechanics are a little hinky, as are the shooting mechanics. The control never feels tight like a Ratchet & Clank game. But it works.

There's a pronounced collecting element to the game. In the saucer, abducting people lets you improve your psychic abilities (like taking over their bodies when you need to pass undetected). On the ground there are two types of collectibles. One lets you upgrade your weapons. The other gives you access to a special weapon (and maybe something additional if you collect them all. I never bothered). Overall, it's mediocre collecting. There's nothing fun or engaging about it. There's never any new challenge to the abducting or finding the other collectibles. Eventually the collectibles show up on the mini-map, but I prefer the no nonsense approach of putting them on the big map. If I want to power up. Just let me. Forcing me to scour the place does not leave me liking the game.

It doesn't help that the game really doesn't look very good. Part of the issue is that DAH2 is trying to support seamless transitions from street level interaction to flying saucer rampages. It may also be a case of designing for the lowest common denominator (PS2, in this case). Regardless, looking at Stranger's Wrath (which came out a year earlier) makes DAH2's visuals hard on the eyes.

But that all makes sense, once it's understood that DAH2 is exactly what it's name would imply, an homage to cheesy old sci-fi flicks. This being the 60s version (the first game being the more classic 50s style), there are all the requisite jokes about dirty hippies and, as much of the game takes place abroad, plenty of cold war and racial stereotypes. Oh, and there's sexism. It's kind of an Austin Powers vibe. Some of it was funny. Some of it wasn't. That's above average for a video game. Some of it was also hurt by a very weird dialog system. The game gives choices for what you want the character to say, but often the one line of text doesn't actually reflect what comes out of the character's mouth, and the conversations often don't flow naturally, changing topic at random and making the comedy seem artificial.

All griping aside, the game does essentially work. There are enough weapons and powers that experimenting with them was fun. The mission objectives were just varied enough to keep me playing. And I did laugh once in a while.

Final Score
3 of 5


DAH2 also keeps track of your statistics, who you used certain weapons on the most; who you abducted the most. I killed well over 2000 humans (possibly over 3000, I'm not sure if the main figure was a grand total or needed to be added to the civilian count). But I don't feel at all bad, like I did about the 800 pikmin. And I wouldn't be surprised if I hadn't killed that many people in all the PS2 Grand Theft Auto games combined. (Well, I actually killed a boatload of people in the gang wars of San Andreas, so maybe not.) There are some double standards at work here, but I'm too tired to think about them now.