I played the original version of Destroy All Humans! 2 a few years ago. My thoughts on that game were that the gameplay was an overall upgrade from the original, but almost everything else was a downgrade, especially when it came to the characters, narrative, and themes. And while I enjoy this remake more than the original game, it hasn't done too much to change my opinion on that.
The gameplay is great overall. The weapon arsenal is creative and fun to use. I loved using the asteroid gun the most, flattening an entire neighborhood without having to use the saucer still gives me a huge rush of dopamine. There were a few weapons I didn't use too much (I don't think I used the borrow beast gun at all after I unlocked it), but I had a blast with the ones I did use. The maps are also incredibly fun to explore, and doing so was probably my second favorite part of the game, next to blowing everything up of course. There's so much detail put into the maps that I found myself stopping every once in a while to just look around at the scenery, I particularly loved the American map the most (probably because I'm American, and it reminds me the most of the first game).
However, as I said before, while I enjoy the gameplay, the overall narrative and thematic direction are a huge downgrade when compared to the first game. The original game's main point was to satirize 1950's Americana through the lens of what the people at the time feared most: Aliens (which were a metaphor for communism, the thing they actually feared most). You could argue that the first game was basically an alien horror film parody, where instead of fighting against a specific cast of characters, the alien fights against its own audience. The entire game was built around this thematic idea, and it worked out brilliantly, both in the original version and the remake.
For the sequel, they decided to take a different approach. Instead of satirizing American culture through the lens of something that dominated the culture at the time, they decided to make this one...a James Bond parody? For some reason? Other than the fact that this game takes place in the 60's, which was when Bond originated and became popular, I seriously cannot figure out why they decided to go in this direction.
I've actually been watching Bond films over the past year, I've watched everything prior to Goldeneye, so I have at least a decent understanding of the Bond from this era. And in all honesty, the parody is extremely surface level. The game only parodies general concepts from Bond media such as: globetrotting, Russia being the bad guys, and conventionally attractive woman being in the story for Bond/Crypto to get with. The only other elements of note are the references to the films, such as certain mission titles and the character Dr.Go! who is a parody of Dr. No. Aside from that, there really just isn't much to the whole Bond angle in this game, and it just ends up bringing down the experience as a whole.
On top of that, the story also feels somewhat disjointed at points, especially when it comes to the side missions. In the first game, every mission felt like a step in the direction of one of the two main goals: finding Crypto 136 and overtaking America. But in this game, there are just so many missions and plot elements that feel odd at best and downright counterproductive to Crypto's goals at worse. Everything after the American section, but before the Russian section just feels meandering, like the story is pretending to build up to something, but since we already have a strong idea of what that is, it just ends up feeling like nothing. I honestly can't even remember why Crypto went to Japan at all. I think it was to find some files? Or maybe they found out the Russians where there, so they went there too? It's completely out of my mind.
Though what really distracted me where some of the side missions. Aside from the missions for Holopox or The Arkvoodle Cult, I seriously couldn't figure out why Crypto was bothering with any of these missions. Why did he care about a random guy who dodged the draft? Why did he help cops from all countries arrest people? Why did he help the Russians damage America, the country he's president of? I know why I, as a player did that, but why did Crypto? He has no reason to at all. This is probably one of the most frustrating, and easily avoidable, circumstances of ludonarrative dissonance I've seen in a game recently. It's not a deal breaker, but man, is it annoying and weird.
My stance on the game hasn't changed much over the years, but that was mostly my opinion on the 2006 game, but this isn't that game exactly. This is a remake, a very impressive, and simultaneously, somewhat disappointing one.
The additions to this game as a remake are all fantastic. I loved the new collectibles scattered throughout the maps, they felt far more rewarding to find than just the alien artifacts. Unlocking concept art, posters, and music were genuinely rewarding, and I hope future remakes of any games add extra collectibles like this.
I also loved the insane plethora of skins for Crypto, unlocking skins by completing optional challenges was always so rewarding. Some of the skins were exceptionally creative too, I think my favorite had to be the Soviet outfit you get late game.
The detail put into the world was also a high point for me. Seeing mud get tracked onto Crypto's shoes, or seeing the snow disappear beneath his feet was legitimately amazing. The graphical update this game got is nothing short of spectacular. It gave the game a whole new breath of fresh air that even the 2020 remake of the first game didn't achieve (this is probably the only area I'd say this game surpasses the 2020 remake).
And I also have to give them credit for adjusting the horrendous ending. The ending of the original game is one of my most hated endings of all the games I've played. It' s repulsively misogynistic and just downright disturbing. Even if they were trying to parody Bond endings, the way they did it was uniquely bad. However, in this remake, they adjust just a little bit, to make it far more palatable. They didn't change any of the dialogue at all, they just changed the scenery and added one small moment that wasn't in the original ending that just slightly changed the context to make the scene less horrible. This was a pretty smart move, it's a nice way to still preserve the original intent of the game while still understanding that some of the elements were incredibly bad, even for 2006. (I wish they did something similar for the Family Guy-esque racism in the Japanese section, but I don't think that would have been as feasible).
Unfortunately, there are elements of this remake that fall short of the expectations the first remake set, specifically in terms of performance. I could never hold a stable fps throughout the whole game, which is in large part to how intense the game is graphically. I got used to this over time, but what I couldn't get used to were mechanics just not functioning as they're supposed to. Sometimes progress bars wouldn't load, npcs I was escorting would just run in the wrong direction, and the most infuriating of all, the proximity radar at the bottom of the screen that is used to help you find collectibles just wouldn't work sometimes. These small bugs and glitches aren't too heinous, but they build up over time and ruin part of the experience. I hope they get ironed out in the near future.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this game, but I still can't recommend it over the 2020 remake of the original game. This game is fun and definitely worth it for the nostalgia, and the new editions are greatly welcomed and strongly improve the experience. But even with those improvements, the fact that this game is a mostly directionless Bond parody with very little to offer story wise, especially compared to the first one can't be overlooked. But hey, if you want a silly game where you play as a not-so-evil anymore alien, this is definitely the game for you. I'm wondering if THQNordic are going to give the same treatment to Big Willy Unleashed and Path of the Furon next.
The gameplay is great overall. The weapon arsenal is creative and fun to use. I loved using the asteroid gun the most, flattening an entire neighborhood without having to use the saucer still gives me a huge rush of dopamine. There were a few weapons I didn't use too much (I don't think I used the borrow beast gun at all after I unlocked it), but I had a blast with the ones I did use. The maps are also incredibly fun to explore, and doing so was probably my second favorite part of the game, next to blowing everything up of course. There's so much detail put into the maps that I found myself stopping every once in a while to just look around at the scenery, I particularly loved the American map the most (probably because I'm American, and it reminds me the most of the first game).
However, as I said before, while I enjoy the gameplay, the overall narrative and thematic direction are a huge downgrade when compared to the first game. The original game's main point was to satirize 1950's Americana through the lens of what the people at the time feared most: Aliens (which were a metaphor for communism, the thing they actually feared most). You could argue that the first game was basically an alien horror film parody, where instead of fighting against a specific cast of characters, the alien fights against its own audience. The entire game was built around this thematic idea, and it worked out brilliantly, both in the original version and the remake.
For the sequel, they decided to take a different approach. Instead of satirizing American culture through the lens of something that dominated the culture at the time, they decided to make this one...a James Bond parody? For some reason? Other than the fact that this game takes place in the 60's, which was when Bond originated and became popular, I seriously cannot figure out why they decided to go in this direction.
I've actually been watching Bond films over the past year, I've watched everything prior to Goldeneye, so I have at least a decent understanding of the Bond from this era. And in all honesty, the parody is extremely surface level. The game only parodies general concepts from Bond media such as: globetrotting, Russia being the bad guys, and conventionally attractive woman being in the story for Bond/Crypto to get with. The only other elements of note are the references to the films, such as certain mission titles and the character Dr.Go! who is a parody of Dr. No. Aside from that, there really just isn't much to the whole Bond angle in this game, and it just ends up bringing down the experience as a whole.
On top of that, the story also feels somewhat disjointed at points, especially when it comes to the side missions. In the first game, every mission felt like a step in the direction of one of the two main goals: finding Crypto 136 and overtaking America. But in this game, there are just so many missions and plot elements that feel odd at best and downright counterproductive to Crypto's goals at worse. Everything after the American section, but before the Russian section just feels meandering, like the story is pretending to build up to something, but since we already have a strong idea of what that is, it just ends up feeling like nothing. I honestly can't even remember why Crypto went to Japan at all. I think it was to find some files? Or maybe they found out the Russians where there, so they went there too? It's completely out of my mind.
Though what really distracted me where some of the side missions. Aside from the missions for Holopox or The Arkvoodle Cult, I seriously couldn't figure out why Crypto was bothering with any of these missions. Why did he care about a random guy who dodged the draft? Why did he help cops from all countries arrest people? Why did he help the Russians damage America, the country he's president of? I know why I, as a player did that, but why did Crypto? He has no reason to at all. This is probably one of the most frustrating, and easily avoidable, circumstances of ludonarrative dissonance I've seen in a game recently. It's not a deal breaker, but man, is it annoying and weird.
My stance on the game hasn't changed much over the years, but that was mostly my opinion on the 2006 game, but this isn't that game exactly. This is a remake, a very impressive, and simultaneously, somewhat disappointing one.
The additions to this game as a remake are all fantastic. I loved the new collectibles scattered throughout the maps, they felt far more rewarding to find than just the alien artifacts. Unlocking concept art, posters, and music were genuinely rewarding, and I hope future remakes of any games add extra collectibles like this.
I also loved the insane plethora of skins for Crypto, unlocking skins by completing optional challenges was always so rewarding. Some of the skins were exceptionally creative too, I think my favorite had to be the Soviet outfit you get late game.
The detail put into the world was also a high point for me. Seeing mud get tracked onto Crypto's shoes, or seeing the snow disappear beneath his feet was legitimately amazing. The graphical update this game got is nothing short of spectacular. It gave the game a whole new breath of fresh air that even the 2020 remake of the first game didn't achieve (this is probably the only area I'd say this game surpasses the 2020 remake).
And I also have to give them credit for adjusting the horrendous ending. The ending of the original game is one of my most hated endings of all the games I've played. It' s repulsively misogynistic and just downright disturbing. Even if they were trying to parody Bond endings, the way they did it was uniquely bad. However, in this remake, they adjust just a little bit, to make it far more palatable. They didn't change any of the dialogue at all, they just changed the scenery and added one small moment that wasn't in the original ending that just slightly changed the context to make the scene less horrible. This was a pretty smart move, it's a nice way to still preserve the original intent of the game while still understanding that some of the elements were incredibly bad, even for 2006. (I wish they did something similar for the Family Guy-esque racism in the Japanese section, but I don't think that would have been as feasible).
Unfortunately, there are elements of this remake that fall short of the expectations the first remake set, specifically in terms of performance. I could never hold a stable fps throughout the whole game, which is in large part to how intense the game is graphically. I got used to this over time, but what I couldn't get used to were mechanics just not functioning as they're supposed to. Sometimes progress bars wouldn't load, npcs I was escorting would just run in the wrong direction, and the most infuriating of all, the proximity radar at the bottom of the screen that is used to help you find collectibles just wouldn't work sometimes. These small bugs and glitches aren't too heinous, but they build up over time and ruin part of the experience. I hope they get ironed out in the near future.
Overall, I enjoyed my time with this game, but I still can't recommend it over the 2020 remake of the original game. This game is fun and definitely worth it for the nostalgia, and the new editions are greatly welcomed and strongly improve the experience. But even with those improvements, the fact that this game is a mostly directionless Bond parody with very little to offer story wise, especially compared to the first one can't be overlooked. But hey, if you want a silly game where you play as a not-so-evil anymore alien, this is definitely the game for you. I'm wondering if THQNordic are going to give the same treatment to Big Willy Unleashed and Path of the Furon next.
Reviewed on Sep 24, 2022
BlazingWaters
1 year ago