Destroy All Humans! 2 Member Review for the PS2

Pathetic Humans!

Humor is something that lacks in several of today's games. Just because you're trying to save the world from large hulking behemoths, masses of zombie farmers or legions of evil beings doesn't mean you can't have a laugh or two on the way. I believe that humor is an invaluable tool of gaming that further enhances the player's enjoyment of the game. By far the most effective tool of game humor is the psychotic android, as seen in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (HK-47) and TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (R-110).

Now we have the next best thing, the psychotic alien invader, in the form of Destroy All Humans! 2's Cryptosporidium-138.

Destroy All Humans! 2, by Australian developer Pandemic, is a prime example of a mix of two of the key ingredients in a truly enjoyable video game: mindless destruction and precisely placed humor. Although far from perfect, the game proves to be a well-balanced one that will be thoroughly enjoyed by lots.

For those who didn't play the first game, all you need to know is that Crypto first came with another alien called Orthopox-13 to Earth in search of pure Furon DNA. The Furon race (of which Crypto and Orthopox are proud members) had come to Earth many years ago and gotten a little 'freaky' with some Earth women, if you get the innuendo. Anyway, since then the Furons had cloned themselves repeatedly for so long that their genitals had become defunct. But, by harvesting the pure Furon DNA that lurked in the human's brainstems, it was possible to re-activate these genitals, thus saving the entire Furon race. While harvesting the DNA, Crypto had to fight a government agency called Majestic, and eventually ended up as President of the United States.

When DAH!2 kicks off, Crypto-137 is dead, replaced by Crypto-138, the first Furon warrior in years to have functional genitalia, who is down on Earth attending some hippy festival. The '60s are in full swing and Crypto is feeling good (no doubt due to his new 'package') All is not good however, as the Furon Mothership used throughout the first game as a base of operations is destroyed in a missile strike by the Russians. From there, it's full-out war between the Russians and Crypto, with the rest of the human race simply getting caught up in it.

Not that you'll be fighting alone. Orthopox-13, who managed to download his mind into a holo-pox unit before his body was blown up in the mothership, is around to provide some help to Crypto in the form of managing his radar, highlighting important objects, upgrading your guns and providing some quite funny one-liners every so often. There's also Gastro, the mothership's janitor, who downloaded his mind into an armed holo-pox unit, only his one is armed, but he's found later in the game as a weapon.

Speaking of weapons, being a Furon warrior, you get some rather big guns that really help you bring on the pain to those inferior humans. From your standard Zap-o-matic and Disruptor, to the more exotic weapons, such as the Meteor Strike, which calls down a meteor to a specific point of your choosing, to the Anal Probe, which makes the enemies brain burst out of their head. All your weapons can be upgraded by spending Furotech cells which can do a number of things, including expanding the clip size, to increasing the firepower. For example, the Meteor Strike can be upgraded to such a level that, instead of one meteor, you get three meteors and then a small planetoid to hit the targetted area, pretty much giving a guarantee that anything on the ground in that area isn't going to be there for much longer.

And if they do survive, then you can use your saucer. Like in the first game, DAH!2 allows you to get into your saucer to wreak all sorts of alien havoc onto those puny humans from above. Although the saucer doesn't have the range of weapons as you do on foot, you still get some pretty kick-ass firepower. One major improvement over the first one is that now you can cloak your saucer for limited periods of time, allowing for easier travel. At least, I think that wasn't in the first game. I didn't get very far in it, so I'm not entirely sure.

What I am sure about is that this game is pretty funny. Many conversations with Orthopox-13 have alternate dialogue lines that provide some of the funniest moments in a video game that I've seen. This may be slightly related to the fact that Orthopox-13 is voiced by Richard Horvitz, the same person who did the voice of Zim in Invader Zim, which I find truly appropriate as many parallels can be drawn between Orthopox and Zim.

That's not the only great thing you'll hear, though. The entire game is filled with appropriate and beautiful sound effects that truly capture the essence of the 60s. From the chatter amongst the pitiful humans, to the music in the background, you'll find that it all fits into the era.

What doesn't quite fit in, though is the gameplay. You've got your basic 'kill a lot of humans' missions, your 'Protect one important human by killing a lot of other humans' and your 'sneak here, then kill a lot of humans', but that's about it. There's just not enough variety of missions to keep you playing. Fortunately, there are less sneaking missions than in the first one, which is the main reason I didn't play that one for long. But still, it's all the same, really. Plus the models for the humans do tend to make it look like the Furons aren't the only species that can clone, if you get what I'm saying.

Still, if you stick with it, you can enjoy some of the extra's they've put in there, such as footage of gameplay from the original Destroy All Humans!, complete with commentary from Orthopox and Crypto. Funny stuff there.

Overall, Destroy All Humans! 2 may not be an overly complicated game, but that's all part of it's appeal. It's not amazing, but it's still well worth it. Especially for fans of Invader Zim.