5.5, 68%, 3/5, 70%...These are just a few of the scores that Too Human has acquired since its release last Tuesday. "The story is just not all there!" "The camera is on par with Ninja Gaiden 2's." These types of lackluster scores and statements have put a bloody "disapproval stamp" all over the aura and libido that is Denis Dyak's Norse Mythology dungeon crawler. Having played through the entire campaign; spending an extreme amount of time looting, level grinding and playing an occasional co-op game, I can honestly say I'm satisfied. However, that's not
to say this game doesn't have its fair share of problems that every gamer should be aware of.-----------
Quick Wiki: The player takes on the role of Baldur (voiced by Crispin Freeman), one of the Aesir. In Too Human, the Norse gods are cybernetically enhanced humans. Baldur, son of Odin, is one of these gods and it is his duty to protect the human race from an onslaught of an advancing machine presence determined to eradicate all human life. The story chronicles the ongoing struggle between cybernetic Norse gods, the invading machine presence and mortal men, featuring many Norse gods and characters from Norse mythology including Thor, Loki, Odin, Heimdall, Freyja, Hel, and Mimir. Yggdrasil: the Tree of Life acts as a gateway to an alternate world known as Cyberspace that is accessed through the advanced technology of the gods. The human gods are using cybernetic implants to supplement their own abilities, thus becoming more machine like. Conversely, the advancing machine army is harvesting human blood and limbs in an attempt to become more human. Baldur, the main character is viewed by the other Norse gods as being insufficiently enhanced, thus "too human."
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Reviews aside, I'm going to make things awfully clear
right off the bat: Too Human's faults definitely out way its attributes. Technically speaking the mechanics of the game work pretty well. In fact, the sheer speed of the battles is sometimes so profound that on multiple occasions I found myself pausing the game to take a breath...eventually realizing that I just killed damn near close to a hundred zombie mechs in less than a minute. The battles flow extremely well and give you the sense that Baldur (main antagonist) is one tough Norse God. Basically, you perform these sliding attacks that are triggered by pressing the right analog stick in the direction of the enemy. Once the slide is triggered your combo meter commences and you trigger one hell of a romp sliding from one enemy to the next at the blink of an eye. Battles are fast, frequent and extremely satisfying...Unfortunately, this brings me to the games most tedious and malignant con.In each section of the story you pretty much mindlessly grind out four to five sections per level; meaning there is roughly four or five sections to each level. The battles happen
frequently, which is good seeing as though it takes your mind off of the pretty bland backgrounds and ambient settings. However, the biggest issue associated to this game for me was the balance of said battles. At the beginning of the game (i.e. the first level) this issue wasn't as prevalent seeing as though its your basic run of the mill tutorial stage to get the controls down. After that brief introduction the games A.I. balance flew off the charts. It became extremely hard to take down foes that you were easily handling in the previous level. All too frequently I found myself running around each battle trying to find some health orbs in order to even attempt to cope with the monstrosities that lay ahead. If I didn't find said orbs it was good by baby and time to watch the excruciatingly long, un-skipable death sequence that played out each time you died (twenty seconds long and that's no lie).
The camera also has it's fair share of issues as well. Multiple times it would stick to walls, twirl around you in a jaunting whirlwind leaving you half in a wall and half out. These types of things are what truly broke up the overall fun nature of Too Human. You can set the camera (which isn't controlled by you) to a few different settings like "ISO-metric," "Far," and "close range," but all too often I found myself agitated at the fact that I didn't have any control over the camera angles.There are, however, some extremely bright points to Too Human. I know this 'line' is used far too often and abused by many aggregated gaming sites out there, but I'm going to say it: "If you liked Diablo, you will like Too Human." The statement couldn't be closer to the truth. There are endless variations to each level to traverse and will take you a while to truly experience. There are hidden doors, chests and even battles throughout each level and this is where the game shows its true premise: exploration...and with exploration comes the Loot!
Too Human offers up endless options to cater Baldur with and it all starts at the very beginning of the game. You've got five different character classes to choose from (more are on the way via XBox's Live service):
Berserker - Melee master, able to dual wield melee weapons
Champion - Well rounded character, master of air attacks
Defender - Increased armor and health, resistant to knockdown, and may use shields
Commando - Master of ranged weapons, ammunition capacity increased
Bio Engineer - Only class able to heal self and/or allies
After choosing your poison there's pretty much only one other 'extremely' important choice to make (besides what to equipment Baldur with) and that's whether or not you want to be A.) Human or B.) Cybernetically Enhanced. I chose [Cybernectically Enhanced] and had a blast with the options this choice opened up for my leveling up "attributes tree." It was great hearing that leveling up sound and then going into your skills tree and souping-up multiple magic spells or 'roiding' up your strength level. Very satisfying, indeed.
Learning The Skill Tree is Half The Battle...I know the review is hitting the long stretch here but the last
positive thing that I took out of Too Human was the co-op. I got some hands on time with this features just the other night for the first time and had a blast with it. There really is nothing like being able to go into a battle with a friend via XBox Live and kicking the ever loving "dankness" out of those mech baddies. Though the balance issue is still prevalent, it takes a back seat to the true nature of what the co-op offers: having fun! On multiple occasions I found myself hitting a goblin in the air and watching my teammate then plug him full of ammunition while still airborne...excellent!Too Human does show its' true power in multiple parts of the game however the bright spots get pushed to the back of the bus by its overwhelmingly stout and frustrating blemishes. Th
ere is however a bright spot to all this fire; the series is planned to be a trilogy. This gives Silicon Knights (developers) two more shots at perfecting the already tainted stigma that "Too Human is un-fixable and awful." The statement couldn't be further from the truth. The best thing about being a gamer is the simple, "dumbed" down and often overlooked fact that everyone has different opinions, likes and dislikes...it's just finding those out for yourself that separates you from the rest of the pack.WARP SCORE: 7.0
Until the next Too Human appears...
-GAME HARD-
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