The PS2 era of video games was defined by crazy and original titles, especially compared to what we see in the gaming industry today. It was a wonderful time, and this is the time Destroy all humans franchise appeared. Now, after the reboot of the first game in the series in 2020, Black Forest is back in a new slick looking remake of the bigger and wilder sequel. And while it has some technical flaws, it’s still a wonderful alien-themed blast from the past.
The original Destroy all humans! 2 was released in 2006 for PS2 and Xbox. It was developed by Pandemic, the same studio that co-developed the first game in the franchise with the original Star Wars Battlefront games. Like the first game DAH2 puts you in the tiny silver boots of an alien invader on Earth who has access to a growing arsenal of strange alien weapons and even has his own personal UFO, complete with a powerful death ray. While the first game was set in the 50’s and was heavily inspired by Alien movies of the time, DAH2 Set in the ’60s, it expands its parodies to include more film genres and general jokes about hippies, the beginning of the Cold War, and cults. Also, the game’s main alien now has genitals, and boy, hey, does he love to joke about it.
Like the first Destroy all humans remake, this new and improved version of DAH2 was developed by Black Forest and is a real remake with a brand new engine and completely new textures and models. And it’s a damn good looking game. Sometimes when I was jetpacking and destroying people through the different levels, I would naturally stop and just enjoy the wonderful views that this game has to offer. The lighting in particular is often beautiful and reminds me more of an animated film than an open-world PS2 game. And the game has a lot of little details, like how characters get covered in dirt when walking in the mud and then leave muddy footprints.
However, this improved look comes at a price. The game sometimes experiences framerate issues in busy scenes, as well as some screen tearing and stuttering in much of the cities. It’s not unplayable, but it occasionally sticks out.
The story behind this alien adventure is that a decade after the events of the first game, the Russian KGB somehow figured out what happened and attacked the mothership of the Furon invaders, disrupting their plans to take over the world and DNA from humans stealing, were wiped out to help rebuild their species. Of course, Crypto (the alien you play) and his boss fight back against the KGB and begin to learn more about Russia’s history with aliens as they fly around the globe visiting and destroying various famous cities like San Francisco and London.
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Just like the first remake DAH2: Verified reuses the audio files of the original, and as a result it’s a fairly faithful recreation. Maybe too faithful? There are definitely some missions and activities that feel shaky, like something you’d play in a PS2-era open-world game, which I think makes sense since this is basically… an open-world game of the PS2 era. Also, some jokes and dialogue feel a bit out of place and out of 2022, something the game even warns you about before you start. Luckily, you can skip all dialogue and cutscenes DAH2 if you just want to blow up buildings with your ufo or anal probe people.
While the story and general mission structure remain the same, Black Forest has done a lot to improve the combat to make it feel more modern and responsive. You fire with the right trigger and aim with the left trigger, while the sticks react to your movement like you’d expect from any good third-person shooter to be released in 2022. As Crypto, you have access to a large weapon wheel of destruction, including flash guns, plasma rifles, anal probing weapons, and even a “Free Love” ray that can make everyone around you dance and is useful for escaping sticky situations.
And all of these things, plus the shield, jetpack, and hover boots, can be upgraded over time as you visit new cities and complete missions. Sure, nothing groundbreaking, but the progression is fun and after a few hours I felt more empowered and badass than when I started.
Most missions involve a mix of big firefights, some physics fun and some light stealth – you’re an alien after all and people will call the police if they spot you. Thankfully, no mission in the game takes longer than a few minutes to complete, and with all the weapons and abilities at your disposal, missions can be completed in many different ways without getting boring or stale. Each mission also has at least one optional objective that gives you additional upgrade resources for things like “kill 10 cops” or “blast five hippie vans”.
Destroy all humans! 2: Verified doesn’t reinvent the wheel or shake up the formula of the original sequel too much, and I’m fine with that. In many ways it was nice to have a crazy open world game that didn’t feel like it too big and crowded, with a million symbol map. It’s the kind of game that only takes most people around 20 hours to master, not 200 hours. And most of the time is spent having fun and doing silly things like fighting mutants or planting hippie trucks on rooftops to start a cult.
It’s not a game for everyone, but if you miss that era of wacky and weird PS2 originals, this is a faithful and modern remake of one of the era’s best. Let’s just hope they fix some of the performance issues in a future patch.
