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Destroy All Humans! 2 Q&A Feature
Chris Leyton
25/09/2006
Crypto's back and ready to make the most of the swinging 60s...
Crypto's adventure on a 1950's Earth entertained Xbox and PS2 owners last year, its blend of satirical humour and entertaining gameplay in an open gameworld, compelling enough to look past the occasionally repetitive structure.
In the relatively short space of 16 months Crypto is making an attempt to leave a lasting impression on the Xbox and Playstation2, with the release of Destroy All Humans 2. Set in the swinging 1960s, the sequel promises a list of improvements, new features and content but keeping the comedy in plentiful supply.
TVG had the chance to chat with the game's producer, Derek Proud, discussing everything from Crypto's newly found genitalia to the chances of him making an appearance in the decade of the disco.
Destroy All Humans! 2 is set in the midst of the swinging-sixties and the Cold War; why choose the 1960s as a time-period to parody, and what more can it offer compared to the 1950s of the first title?
It mostly evolved from the character of Crypto. In the first game you set about collecting 3000 year old Furon DNA from the brain stems of humans. This enabled Crypto to restore something the Furons has lost for thousands of years, his genitalia. Moving the game to a time of free love seemed like the best gift we could give Crypto! It seemed to make a nice counterpoint as well, the sexual repression of the 50s compared to the sexual freedom of the 60s. The 60s also had its fair share of fears and activists, and these sides of humanity are great to make fun of.
There have been several current-gen titles that have subsequently been developed for Xbox 360; why has the decision been made for Destroy All Humans! 2 not to follow suit?
We do believe that there are still many people who own the current gen systems and will want more games to play on them. We see Destroy All Humans! 2 as one of the cool end of generation games that seem to come out, we are really pushing both systems to the max and the game looks incredible.
A key criticism of the original was that it boiled down to a fairly repetitive affair after a short while; what steps have been taken to ensure that the sequel doesn't fall foul of similar comments?
Those comments were mostly centered at the side missions, which were very short and not really missions in the same sense as the story missions. There has been a lot of work gone into them. They now have themes, such as the "Ruin a Life" missions where you ruin someone's life, the UFO cult missions where you performs various missions to build UFO cults around the earth, and many more. There are 58 side missions in all. The main missions are also more varied and story centric, and there are several points where the missions split up and you can choose the next one to perform.
Why was the decision made to remove the Mothership hub to the game and what effect does it have on the structure of gameplay; additionally, DNA no longer serves merely as the game's currency but is now used to open up new abilities; can you please elaborate on this aspect?
The destruction of the Mothership by a Russian nuke essentially traps Crypto on earth, which gives us our initial story impetus. It also means that Crypto receives all his missions in the game world. It leads to a more free flowing game, as you can be mucking about in sandbox mode and take some time out to destroy someone's life, or collect more DNA. The collection of DNA is now done through the Saucer via the abduction of humans (saucer abduction was something people really wanted in the last game). You are given "recipes" (for example, you might ask you to collect 3 hippy females, 2 cops and 2 army guys) to unlock a new mental power or upgrade. Unused humans are stored in the cargo hold until you unlock a new recipe to use them in.
The second title features a number of cities based on the likes of London, San Francisco, and Tokyo; what does each city bring to the experience for players, and why those cities in particular â“ how much of an increase in the size of the game compared to the original?
The game is at least 50-60% bigger than the first game. Each location was chosen for story purposes, and also to follow our "international spy" kind of sub theme that runs through the game. So you can expect to run into M16, the British Secret Service in Albion, fight Ninjas and mutated lizard monsters in Takoshima and uncover dark secrets in Tunguska Russia. There's also a 5th location, which you will have to play the game to uncover. Each location was both a blessing and a curse for us, because there is no reuse of voice over. A policeman in Takoshima will say different things to a policeman in Tunguska, and again in Albion, etc, etc. This makes the amount of audio in the game amazing. The new locations also allow us to bring in new characters such as Natalya of the KGB (Crypto's reluctant love interest) and Ponsonby of the British Secret Service.
Everybody who has played Destroy All Humans! will no doubt remember some of the weapons on offer to Crypto, and promises have been made that a new arsenal and psychic abilities will feature in Destroy All Humans! 2. Can you run through some of them, and describe some of the changes made to already-established weapons and psychic moves?
We have 8 weapons in this game, which includes the 4 from the last game (how could we get rid of the anal probe?). The new ones include the disclocator, which flings about randomly anything you shoot it into, the Burrow Beast, which awakens a massive thing from below the earth to eat humans for you, and the Meteor Strike, which pretty much does exactly that. The mental powers have been altered a lot. The first thing is that there is no concentration bar, so all the powers can be used without worrying if you have enough mental power. Secondly, we have engineered them so that the player has a lot more control over the threat level. The "Free Love" power sends people into waves of ecstasy and they will forget all about the alien that's before them (it's infectious too, so it's a great way to get out of a sticky situation). The "Mind Flash" power creates a worldwide stun for about 5 seconds and reduces the threat level to zero instantly. Lastly we have changed Holobob so that you actually bodysnatch a person rather than create the illusion of one around you, which allows you to effect the world in more interesting ways.
What plans do you have for unlockable goodies; can fans of B-Movies expect any further treats or perhaps a teaser from the forthcoming FOX series?
We have lots of unlockables, lots of concept art from the game, specials, the wrap party video from the end of the last game, and all sorts of other stuff. We also asked the actors who play Crypto and Pox to view a few minutes of footage from DAH1 and comment on it in character, which was hysterical.
How does the game's co-op mode work, does a second player assume the typical "cloned" Crypto design, or is the story shaped accordingly to the appearance of a new character?
The entire game can be played co-op at any time, so all the mission structures are the same. When a new clone joins we up the difficulty level to compensate for two players, and the second player is indeed a clone of the first (he wears red, so as not to confuse you).
Traditionally games released towards the latter stages of a format's lifecycle demonstrate a greater understanding of the system; how are you pushing the current-gen formats and what are some of the accomplishments that you've achieved?
For the PS2, it's the performance of the game where we have made the most strides. Both draw distance and framerate have seen good progress and as a result we have been able to place more items in the world and create a richer environment.
Crypto-137 makes a return in the game, but can you confirm rumours that Destroy All Humans! 2 will read memory saves of the original game to call up the number of the clone reached by players?
Well, due to his, um, upgrade, he's actually now Crypto-138. And no, the game will not read the saves of previous games.
Finally, the first game was set in the 1950s, Destroy All Humans! 2 is set in the 1960s â“ there seems to be a pattern emerging; does this mean that we can expect Destroy All Humans! 3 in 2007 set in the 1970s on the next-gen consoles or will we find ourselves in the future on Crypto's planet at any time??
"Disco Crypto? Maybe, my human interrogator, maybe."
TVG sends eternal Earth thanks to Proud and Crypto for his short interlude; Destroy All Humans! 2 is scheduled for release on October â“ expect a closer look at the title soon...
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