Good but can get boring
And so it has come to pass that little grey aliens from outer space have landed on Earth. Government agencies don't generally appreciate illegal aliens - particularly ones whose technology is a massive leap beyond our capabilities. Pandemic has released the next title in the series, and it is clear that it set out to answer the main criticisms of the first. Destroy All Humans! 2 continues the well-written and often hilarious Grand Theft Auto-meets-Psychonauts gameplay, and refines the action and story progression.
Set ten years after the events of the previous game, the swinging sixties (1969 to be precise) provides Pandemic with plenty of off-colour material to draw from. Heck, there's a character called Bongwater in the very first area of the game - classy.
Crypto himself is a bit of a sleaze, with the Jack Nicholson impersonator doing a fine job of putting a greasy, intoxicant-induced spin on everything he says. Frankly, the voice acting is consistently entertaining, and goes some way towards compensating for the often bland environments and slightly wonky animations of pedestrians and crashing vehicles.
A host of alien energy weapons are at your disposal.
Being the vastly superior life form that he is, Crypto has two main methods of attack. Utilizing his latent psychokinetic abilities, Crypo can manipulate weak-minded humans, erase minds, toss cars and wreak mayhem. As was the case in the first title, these are necessary to complete missions - particularly using Crypto's bodysnatching ability to mingle with the unsuspecting public. Of course, things go awry if your time limit-based, fleshy disguise wears off in front of a crowd. The ability of influence moods and erase minds becomes an effective tool for crowd control.
The second method of maiming comes in the form of weapons and alien technology. The weapons from the first game return, with slightly improved characteristics. The Dislocator, a rifle that flings out purple discs of gravity-warping plasma, blast anything it collides with in random directions. Watching a hapless guard get flung by the legs into a building wall 30 metres down the road is immensely satisfying, if somewhat cruel.
Side-missions have been fleshed out this time around - by the end of the game, you'll have the KGB, the army, ninjas, cultists, hippies and a host of patriotic humans after you. Each race or affiliation generally offers specific side-stories that you can tackle or ignore at your leasure.
The Arkvoodle cult quest is particularly funny - you're vested the mission of warping the minds of cult members to worship you and your people as all-knowing alien gods. It births some fantastic dialogue and really highlights how far Pandemic has come from the fairly linear and repetitive missions in the original game.