Too Human

As I was playing Too Human, one thought occured to me: this is a classic example of someone getting way too big of a head with an even bigger ego only they just so happen to be the main driving force in a given project and not knowing when to say when. Too Human was basically stuck in development hell and was supposed to be a big Playstation epic (that's the first machine by the way), then on the Gamecube then finally on the Xbox 360. But is it one of those projects where the wait was worth it? Nope and in fact it seems only to enhance the problems of the game actually since it makes me look at the repetitive hack-and-slashing of the "Dynasty Warriors" games in a better light thanks to this: those are easier and quicker to make, fun in that boneheaded way and has enough story to at least compel in the slightest. Too Human on the other hand feels like it took so long because they didn't know when they wanted to stop.

Story: Using Norse mythology as a template, the game centers on Baldur, son of Odin who's been tasked to defeat the machine armies who seek to vanquish all life. Only the Gods are actually enhanced by cybernetics and Baldur with his non-cybernetic ways makes people see him in a lesser light, thus making him be "too human". The story follows Baldur through several levels as he takes on numerous enemies and the political ideals that are encouraged.

Graphics: For all of its copy-and-pasting of environments, Too Human's graphics look quite stellar with dozens of enemies on screen at once, facial animation and detail in cutscenes to be cool and "cyberspace", a garden that looks more real than anything in the normal world has a nice tranquility and feel. There's the occasional slowdown and inexplicably, collision detection with melee attacks actually not connecting in close quarters or power-ups I can't seem to grab even though I should be able to but other than that, it's a great looking game.

Sound/Music: The music is going for that cinematic and epic feel which is strange because outside of cutscenes, I barely noticed it. While I might appreciate more on its own, within the game it was like I was unconciously phasing it out and not even hearing it. Voice acting on the other hand is quite stellar and really delivers. Aurally, it's a mixed bag but some people might love the score while others are hearing some much sword clashes and explosions that you'll probably just tune it out.

Gameplay: As with other games, there tends to be a familiarity in your tasks and controls and it's up to the game to give fresh uses or change it up a bit via a vehicle section or special mission (i.e: the stealth sniper mission in Call of Duty IV) but in Too Human's case, it's basically a case of "get used to this because you're going to be doing it for a long time." It's basically a dungeon crawler hack-and-slash and believe me when I say this game get can mind-numbingly repetitive to the point where I get the feeling it took 10 years just to program the levels themselves since they seemingly go on forever. The phrase "here we go again" definately applies here as you'll be doing a lot of one thing the entire time.

The first of which is looting where better weapons and equipment can be found throughout the levels with better damage, better sell value and whatnot (though they have really silly names that sound like D&D to the extreme) and it's a common occurence to go into your menu and switch equipment, sell crap equipment or add Runes which act like special bonus abilities. Another way you progress is with the skill tree where you can get better damaging attacks, added status effects or new abilities to use and thankfully you can buy back your skill points should your initial choices suck. If you're a collection gamer and love getting that one weapon with better damage than the other than you're going to love this.

Now we come to the big issue and the one chief offender I have with the game: the Valkyrie cutscene. Essentially you don't really "die" in the game so much as respawn a ways behind where you were (though sometimes it spawns you in the thick of battle anyway) and it's unskippable, unnecessary since a "now loading" screen would've done the trick or for co-op, just have them disappear then re-appear later but the big problem: how many times you'll run into it and there's even an achievement for dying 100 times meaning seeing the cutscene that much. Enemies will continually firing lasers, swarms of enemies coming up to you and sometimes exploding with incurable status effects temporarily or freeze upon contact and let's just say the cutscene will not be a favorite among anyone.

Oh and for those of you who haven't found out, you melee attack using the right analog stick. Just push in the direction you want to attack in and Baldur goes from there though he'll actually stop should you stop so instead of repeatedly pressing B in a button-masher way, now it's a stick masher as one game website described it as. This leaves you having to rely on an ineffectual camera that will shift for no apparent reason, changing your direction and resetting the camera doesn't help either because it's trying to say "quit trying to reset the camera and look at something I want to show you." Also there's no lock-on meaning instead of focusing on the one missile launching cronie, you're shooting some foot soldier that you can vanquish with the greatest of ease. It's the school of thought some developers have where it "sounds like a great and unique idea" but never figuring out how to make it work properly because it's too focused on how unique it is.

In the most egotistical and ill-fated development news, Too Human is apparently part 1 of an "epic" trilogy which is strange considering Too Human's story is interesting sure but doesn't have the draw a trilogy needs for return visits and considering Too Human's length of at most 10 hours, it's best that Silicon Knights either work on making Too Human 2 vastly improved over the original or don't even bother and work on new exciting material or an Eternal Darkness sequel...one that won't take 10 years to make.

I realize there are many other reviews on here, but i feel obligated to list the pros and cons with this game. The pros include:

Addictive combat scenes
Semi colorful equipment
Cut scenes look decent
Sound clips

Now, the cons...

The cyberspace? One of the worst things ive seen in a game
Extremely slow and annoying deaths
Slow movement except when in combat
Repetitive skill and combat styles

There are many other cons, but I will just post a quick summary of the game. The very first thing i saw was the cutscenes, which were nice. After that, it progressed into a worse game. You have to enter cyberspace many times throughout the game, and this is extremely tedius and slow. There is absolutely no action here, except running around different areas trying to find different ways to move on in reality. Also, i really wish there was a button to make you run faster. If you are superhuman, why do you have to basically waddle throughout every part of the game where there is no enemies? The equipment selection and weapons are somewhat cool though. I only played with the berserker class, but I felt like I had enjoyed enough of the game with one play through. You may be able to color your equipment with runes, but all of the combat is basically the same, even when you master all of the advanced combat moves. The same also goes for your skills: you have a skill tree, but it barely affects gameplay as much as Oblivion or Diablo 2 does. Also, there are a few times when there are many machines you have to kill, but every time you die it takes you atleast 15 or 20 seconds to come back to life. If you die 4 or 5 times in a specific spot, and the combat itself only takes two minutes, you are spending half the time watching an angel type creature take you up and come back to life over and over and over. The combat control was also very different. It was not completely bad, but it seemed strange that the only game that had this strange combat control style and terrible camera placement was with this game. If you like this sort of game, I would advise renting it first; you will probably get enough of it from playing it just once.

Lol ok this game is far from perfect but it's definitely worth a rental. The graphics are very good, the combat is really fun imo - it's really not that bad of a game. I can understand giving it a mediocre review but I really don't get the overly negative attention this game has gotten. Even with all the failures of this title I still had a ton of fun playing through the whole game. If you like Diablo I think you'll like this.

Rating [9 / 10]

Too Human is a very addictive action RPG. In fact, you don't even realize it's full potential until at least one full play-through of the game, which is probably why it recieved many negative reviews.

Combat is fun and addictive. The action elements are just really enjoyable.
The skill trees are very well thought out.
Loot system is very involved.
Co-op is really cool and there is rumor it will be updated to 4 player.
Cool characters and the story is awesome.
Levels are nicely designed.
Replay value is very high!

It is not without its fault as the camera could have used a bit more refinement. As could the inventory UI.

Definitely worth buying if you are a fan of the genre. The demo doesn't do it justice as it is just too short to understand the full potential of this game.

My friend and I had such high hopes for this game. I had various ideas of how it would turn out. Silicon Knights has delivered on some of those ideas, while the most important ones are sadly ignored.

The graphics are pretty good. it isn't the best looking game ever produced, but its still nice to look at. There can be a huge amount of things happening on-screen, and the framerate somehow manages to keep up smoothly the entire time. Ironically, during cinematics the framerate stutters and there can be a little bit of texture pop-in. I haven't run into any bugs throughout the game, but it is littered with invisible walls. I think the sci-fi art design mixed with norse mythology turned out well and gives the game a unique and attractive look, although I'm sure there are plenty who disagree with me. The main city is gigantic, while the levels are narrow, streamlined, and cramped. The lighting effects are great, but I didn't really notice any shadows at all. The character models are well rendered for the most part, with a couple of exceptions. Baldur especially looks good, they put a lot of work into making him the standout. Character animations are lacking and very stiff, but your attacks do a good job of poprtraying a sense of power, and sliding across the floor looks just plain cool. Overall its a technically impressive game.

The soundwork is great. The voice acting is pretty good for the most part, with a few cheesy moments. The music is perfect and dramatic, and it reacts to your situation.

The storyline is awesome if you're into norse mythology, although not entirely accurate. The game-play is another thing that makes this game so unique. Instead of using your traditional XYBA buttons for combat, you use the right control stick. Normally this would be a major problem concerning the camera, but Silicon Knights has done a great job of using cinematic camera angles that allow you to see the action pretty well, plus you can center the camera back on Baldur with the press of a button. I still had the urge every once in a while to move the camera though. The right control stick works out better than msot were predicting, but it is still alittle clunky and can sometimes be unresponsive. The targeting is solid for the msot part, with the occasional quirks. Your enemies are very are tot ake down later in the game. It ends up feeling like you're banging your head against the wall and the game gets intensely frustrating. I had to turn it off many times due to frustration. There's a bunch off loot for you to customize your character with. Its very fun at first, but gets old after a couple fo hours.

When you play this game, you can tell that a lot of work went into it. Its very polished and there's a ton of little details that let you know the developers genuinely cared about this game, it was their baby. Unfortunately it just doesn't work out in the long run. I'm sad to say this is a solid game, and nothing more.