Time to get groovy with this remastered sequel.

I grew up terrified of Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks. The wide-eyed, gibberish spouting aliens put a fear in me that has never once subsided. They’re so freaky and otherworldly, killing without remorse even though they clearly exist to be made fun of. Having the chance to reverse that conflict and cause chaos as the martian menace that haunted me was weirdly sobering as a kid, and why Destroy All Humans still has a special place in my heart. It’s fun, campy, ridiculous, so aware of what it wants to be.

Pandemic’s open world alien adventure arrived on PS2 and Xbox back in 2005 and immediately became a flagship series, albeit one that would crash and burn after the second entry as its original developer moved onto bigger and better things before closing its own doors. But nostalgia is a powerful thing, so obviously Crypto and company were given the remaster treatment courtesy of Black Forest Games. It was a faithful yet comprehensive revival, not wanting to change too much but also adjusting controls and visuals, so it fit comfortably on modern hardware. I kinda dug it, and now the sequel is on the way.

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Destroy All Humans 2 continues to walk the satirical path occupied by its predecessor, with Crypto and Orthopox now partying it up in the 1970s after overthrowing the US government and ruling the United States from the inside. The opening cutscene depicts the bumbling president as a clear Donald Trump parody before our heroes’ mothership is blown out of orbit by the Soviet Union, leaving its remnants to rain down upon the San Francisco suburbs below where our protagonist is partying it up with stereotypical hippies and undesirables.

Those who played the original game’s remaster will feel right at home with Destroy All Humans 2, although some elements have been further refined and feel better as a consequence. Mobility is more graceful with a jetpack that allows you to weave through the air instead of moving in a relatively straight line, while the recharge time is more forgiving so reaching massive rooftops and basking in the continued destruction is more than possible. The city environments this time around are also much larger and more ambitious, so Crypto’s loadout needs to reflect that. You can even visit London and lay waste to the capital, which is an orgasmic power fantasy for anyone who hates the conservative government or the outdated monarchy. Royalists need not apply.

Missions are still heavily scripted affairs, but objectives feel more inviting, and being able to explore these cities on your own terms outside strict parameters is so much fun. It has a classic collectathon feel, while flying about in your saucer and raining hell down on the unsuspecting masses results in immediate B-movie thrills. Failure states and inconsistent checkpoints can still frustrate, but are an inevitable consequence of older game design remaining untouched while the surrounding visuals and mechanics are updated. This sequel is far more ambitious, but it does trip and fall sometimes, and that remains true here.

Crypto’s selection of weapons and upgrades have grown massively, and you’re given a greater variety of gadgets to play with in the opening hours than before. No longer are you waiting to get your hands on the precious Disintegrator Ray, if anything almost too many toys are popped in your lap without enough room to master them. Back in the day I always saw Destroy All Humans 2 as a somewhat inferior game that tried to do too much in the face of its own success, and I’m curious to see if the remaster can avoid such mistakes.

Your job is to overthrow the KGB and continue your invasion of Earth on a global scale, and of course this means dealing with new countries and political threats that will stop at nothing to curb this alien menace. Moment-to-moment gameplay is a compelling mixture of stealth, combat, and exploration that both feels like a classic homage to an older generation while also hinting at where exactly open world games would progress to in the future.

Even in a remastered form, Destroy All Humans 2 is far from perfect, but from the couple of hours I’ve played it feels like the perfect mixture of nostalgia and enjoyment. Those with fond memories of the original experience should definitely check this out, while others keen for a tongue-in-cheek adventure drenched in parody that never takes itself too seriously will also find a lot to love here. If anything, the success of this game makes me curious if some painfully mediocre Xbox 360 and Wii titles will ever see the light of day again. I’d almost prefer a completely new outing instead of reviving those disasters.

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Jade King is Lead Features Editor for TheGamer. Previously Gaming Editor over at Trusted Reviews, she can be found talking about games, anime and retweeting Catradora fanart @KonaYMA6.