Destroy All Humans! 2

Destroy All Humans! 2
Developer(s)	Pandemic Studios
Publisher(s)	THQ
Director(s)	John Passfield
Producer(s)	Gordon Moyes
Writer(s)	Tom Abernathy
Composer(s)	Garry Schyman
Series	Destroy All Humans!
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release date(s)	^NA October 17, 2006 ^EU October 20, 2006 ^AUS October 26, 2006 ^WW December 1, 2010 (XBL)
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Destroy All Humans! 2 (also known as Destroy All Humans! 2: Make War Not Love as seen in the title screen) is an action-adventure game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. It is the sequel to Destroy All Humans!. It was released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox on October 17, 2006 in North America, October 20, 2006 in Europe and October 26, 2006 in Australia. It marks the last game in the series to be developed by Pandemic Studios. Two sequels were made, developed by Locomotive Games and Sandblast Games, respectively.

Plot

The game is set in 1969, 10 years after the original. The game begins with a KGB slide show meeting showing that the main character from Destroy All Humans!, Cryptosporidium-137, is now deceased for unknown reasons. His clone, Cryptosporidium-138 (Crypto for short), made of more pure Furon DNA, is now taking his place and continuing to pose as the United States President. KGB intelligence reveals that Crypto-138 is the first and only Furon to have genitalia, referred to only as "The Package". Seeing the Furons as a threat to the Soviet Union, the KGB destroy the Furon mothership with a nuclear missile.^[1]

Soon after, Crypto's new adventure begins. Not only must Crypto stop the KGB from destroying America, he desires revenge for the destruction of the mothership.^[2]:8 Crypto's commander, Orthopox 13, downloaded his consciousness into a holographic unit (called a HoloPox Unit) just before he died. After saving Bay City from nuclear annihilation at the hands of the Soviets, Crypto discovers that the KGB have fled to Albion and promptly follows, where he meets Reginald Ponsonby-Smythe, the James Bond-esque head of M16 (a parody of MI6), and a rogue KGB agent named Natalya Ivanova. They discover that the KGB have created a type of spore that causes humans to mutate into monsters. Eventually Ponsonby betrays Crypto, revealing he is the leader of the British branch of Majestic, Majestic Sector 16. After killing Ponsonby and puzzling over his cryptic reference that the Furons may not be the only aliens on Earth, Crypto learns that the KGB have a base on Takoshima Island.

Arriving in Takoshima, Crypto has to rescue a man named Dr. Go (a parody of Dr. No) from the Black Ninjas and KGB. He provides access to the KGB base hidden in the island's volcano. Inside Crypto and Natalya are addressed by the mastermind behind the spore plot, Soviet Premier Milenkov. Milenkov shows a film clip of his men using spores on a Takoshimese intern, who transforms into a giant Godzilla-like monster called "Kojira". After defeating Kojira, Crypto follows Natalya to Tunguska, home of "Project Solaris." In the USSR, Crypto discovers that another alien race has crash-landed on Earth, The Blisk. The Blisk are an enemy that the Furons had thought they had wiped out during the Martian War. Pox realizes that the Tunguska event of 1908 was actually a downed Blisk warship crash-landing into the Tunguskan hillside and not a meteorite. After destroying the crashed Blisk warship and rescuing Natalya from a Blisk gas bubble, Crypto meets Milenkov face to face. Milenkov then retreats to his moon base, Solaris, in a Blisk shuttle.

Crypto body-snatching a human

On the moon, Crypto discovers that Project Solaris is actually a Blisk superweapon designed to bombard the Earth with Blisk spores and radiation, granting the Blisk control of Earth as their new irradiated, water-logged homeworld. Using his ability to "body snatch," Crypto disguises himself as Soviet cosmonaut Leonid, the head scientist on the moon, and convinces the rest of the humans to go to war with the Blisk. Then Crypto manages to sabotage the weapon's firing mechanism. Upon doing so, Milenkov confronts Crypto. He then reveals that ever since the blisk crashed, they have been controlling the Russian government, each premier before him had been a Blisk, and they were responsible for several world crises, including the Cold War. After their conversation, Milenkov leaves. Crypto and Natalya battle for their various species to save the Earth by attacking and successfully destroying the Blisk Hive Mind with the O.M.G.W.T.F. virus Pox developed in his lab, but Milenkov appears and fatally shoots Natalya in the back. He then reveals his true form, a heavily armored blisk. After defeating Milenkov, Crypto relaxes in his flying saucer while Pox appears on the video monitor, congratulating Crypto and eagerly anticipating his newly cloned body. He has detected activity in the emergency cloning lab. He questions Crypto about it, then realizes that Crypto has cloned Natalya, and is extremely infuriated by this and begins yelling at him, just before Crypto abruptly shuts off the video monitor mid-sentence. Lying next to him, Natalya awakens briefly and favors Crypto with a smile and an invitation to wake her "in time for re-entry." As the game ends, Crypto leers at the player and admits to having made "a few adjustments".

Characters

In addition to the return of Crypto and Pox, the following main characters are introduced:

• Natalya Ivanova - was a KGB agent who went rogue after strange things begin to happen. She allies with Crypto in order to save both their species from Milenkov and the Blisks. She is killed at the end of the game, but Crypto reclones her. It is revealed in Big Willy Unleashed that they had a son. In an in-game conversation, Pox reveals that her clone died about six years before the events of Path of the Furon due to human clones having a short lifetime. She is located in all the countries Crypto goes to. Her name is also a reference to the Bond girl in GoldenEye called Natalya Simonova.
• Agent Ivan Oranchov - he was a commanding KGB officer, and was in charge of the KGB operations in Bay City and Albion. In a final duel with Crypto, he uses Blisk spores to transform himself into a humanoid Blisk creature, but is ultimately killed. KGB agents' thoughts sometimes contain questions such as "Why does Agent Oranchov always shout at me?", or a statement such as "Agent Oranchov is mean." even after the Soviet spymaster has been eliminated.
• Reginald Ponsonby-Smythe - is secretly leader of the Majestic command in Albion. He helps Crypto in two missions, but then betrays him. He is killed by Crypto after he escapes. He speaks with a posh British accent and wields an umbrella rifle. It is discovered through mind-scanning Ponsonby or listening to his speech during his final battle, that he was in love with Silhouette from the original game.
• Milenkov - The main antagonist. He is the Premier of the Soviet Union and secretly the leader of the Blisk.
• Blisk - The aliens that the Furons defeated and all-but-destroyed in the Martian War. Pox describes them as "brutes with large claws and withering halitosis" and the result of "a cockroach mating with a lobster." They have a single hive mind, and are attracted to radiation, as it nourishes them. They are located in the Soviet Union and on the Soviet Moon base. They are able to mutate humans with their spores.

Crypto and Natalya

• The KGB - The original enemies of Destroy All Humans! 2 until the Blisk are discovered. KGB commanders include Agent Oranchov, Sasha Soyisorski, Soviet Premier Milenkov, Blazitsky, Zablazitsky and Leonid. The KGB base: in Bay City is The Rock, in Albion is the abandoned tunnel network (as well as M16), in Takoshima is the volcano as well as a single building in the city, in Tunguska is the large KGB Base, as well as acting as the police when the alert level is raised and on the moon is Solaris. If subjected to Crypto's psychoknesis, then the KGB agents may quote "You will cease to levitate me this instance!" or "You think we cannot do this in Soviet Union?!"
• Majestic Command, Sixteenth Sector - The British Majestic, controlled by Reginald Ponsonby-Smythe and ultimately Her Majesty. If a British Majestic agent (or Secret Agent) is manipulated by Crypto's psychoknesis, then they will quote "I bet Blofield put you up to this." or "I haven't got a license to levitate!"
• Coyote Bongwater - A hippie living in Bay City who was hired by the KGB and was in charge of supplying revelade to America. He tries to gas the city with revelade with blimps and then tries to dump it into the bay. He is killed by Crypto in Bay City.
• The Freak - The Freak is a hippie in Bay City who knows everything about what is happening. He apparently finds out by picking up radio transmissions with his teeth. By reading his mind, you find out that he sometimes thinks things such as "I am a fish! I am a fish! I am a fish...." or "I AM THE KING OF THE LIZARDS!". It is revealed by reading his mind that all of the other hippies avoid him unless it is to buy drugs from him.

New features

In Destroy All Humans! 2, Crypto is able to go to San Francisco (Bay City), London (Albion), a Japanese island loosely based on Tokyo (Takoshima), Tunguska (Siberia), and the Russian moon base Solaris. Crypto can now body snatch humans, using them as a disguise.^[1] In addition, new weapons are unlocked by finding data cores ejected from the mothership before it was destroyed. New saucer landing points are unlocked by completing the challenges of the ancient furon god Arkvoodle.^[1] The player is now able to call their saucer from an empty landing site in order to eliminate back tracking, and the UFO can now cloak for limited periods of time. In addition, the Abducto Beam actually abducts humans into the UFO for usage in the Gene Blender, which upgrades Crypto's abilities. Destroy All Humans! 2 has a co-op multiplayer mode, so the player can play through the story mode, free roam together and minigames, such as PK Tennis and Duel, with a friend. The new "Free Love" feature enables Crypto to momentarily force his victims to groove to psychedelic music, thus making them forget they saw him. The new ability called "Mind Flash" mentally stuns everyone in the world for a brief period of time. The Jetpack has a longer lasting battery.^[3]

There are 5 new weapons: The Disclocator, which shoots levitating purple disks that take targets with them. The Meteor Strike, which fires up to 3 meteors at the crosshairs. Gastro, the mother ship's former janitor who uploaded himself into a hologram like Pox, who shoots at nearby enemies before self destructing. The Burrow Beast, which shoots out a lure for a giant space worm to crawl around, eating nearby humans. The Anti-Gravity Field, which creates a small point of high gravity, which pulls anything, including humans, into it before exploding, destroying anything.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (Xbox) 76.61%[4] (PS2) 75.75%[5] Metacritic (Xbox) 74/100[6] (PS2) 74/100[7] Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com B[8] EGM 7/10[9] Eurogamer 8/10[10] Game Informer 8.5/10[11] GamePro [12] Game Revolution C−[13] GameSpot 7.1/10[14] GameSpy [15] GameTrailers 7.5/10[16] GameZone 8.3/10[17] IGN 8/10[18] OPM (US) 7/10[19] OXM 8.5/10[20] The Sydney Morning Herald [21] The Times [22]

Critical reception

Destroy All Humans! 2 received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox version 76.61% and 74/100^[4][6] and the PlayStation 2 version 75.75% and 74/100.^[5][7]

GameZone stated that "The new weapons and body snatching ability just add more fun to a game with huge open worlds and the plentiful side missions" and that the "game actually supersedes the original".^[17]

The AI was criticized by TeamXbox, stating, "every enemy seems as brain dead as Crypto thinks they are."^[23]

The Times gave it four stars out of five and stated, "The tone is jocular, the script humorous and well acted by, among others, Little Britain’s Anthony Head."^[22] The Sydney Morning Herald gave it three-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "A minor improvement over the original, with just as many silly sci-fi shenanigans."^[21]

Sales

The game sold over 340,000 copies and had a generated revenue of $13,000,000 in North America alone.^[24]

References

1. Sharkey, Scott (October 2, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Hands-On". GameSpot. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
2. Reynolds, Pat (November 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Make War Not Love". Tips & Tricks.
3. Perry, Douglass C. (September 22, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Hands-On". IGN. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
4. "Destroy All Humans! 2 for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
5. "Destroy All Humans! 2 for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
6. "Destroy All Humans! 2 for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
7. "Destroy All Humans! 2 for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
8. Ford, Greg (October 17, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2". 1UP.com. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
9. EGM Staff (December 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2". Electronic Gaming Monthly (210): 138.
10. Smith, Lesley (October 30, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Review (PS2)". Eurogamer. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
11. Juba, Joe (November 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2". Game Informer (163): 130. Archived from the original on June 22, 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
12. Ouroboros (October 13, 2006). "Review: Destroy All Humans! 2". GamePro. Archived from the original on October 18, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
13. v_djamgarov (November 10, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Review". Game Revolution. Retrieved January 8, 2014.
14. Navarro, Alex (October 18, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
15. Steinberg, Steve (October 24, 2006). "GameSpy: Destroy All Humans! 2". GameSpy. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
16. "Destroy All Humans! 2, Review". GameTrailers. October 31, 2006. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
17. Valentino, Nick (November 2, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
18. Brudvig, Eric (October 17, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Review". IGN. Retrieved December 20, 2008.
19. "Destroy All Humans! 2". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 122. December 2006.
20. "Review: Destroy All Humans! 2". Official Xbox Magazine: 82. December 2006.
21. Fish, Eliot (October 14, 2006). "Destroy All Humans 2". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
22. Kendall, Nigel (October 21, 2006). "Destroy All Humans 2". The Times. Archived from the original on February 11, 2007. Retrieved January 7, 2014.(subscription required)
23. Haught, Jeb (October 16, 2006). "Destroy All Humans! 2 Review (Xbox)". TeamXbox. Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
24. "Video Games Sold in 2006 Game Destroy All Humans 2 - Swivel". swivel.com. Retrieved December 20, 2008.

External links

• Destroy All Humans! 2 at MobyGames