Review of Too Human
Too Human
By: Microsoft Average Rating: 3.5 Total Reviews: 102
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It Took a Few Tries to Love It, or, How to Pinball to Godhood
On: 2010-08-19You may enjoy this game if:
-you like fantasy and sci-fi
-you enjoy developing a given character to make it more and more effective
-you are willing to try something new and put some time into it.
You may hate this game if:
-you need to have constant control over your point of view
-you need very clear directions on how to do things to enjoy them
-you are committed to single-player games - co-op is a lot of the experience
-you need a lot of variety in enemies and scenery rather than development of your character
Like many games, Too Human follows the idea the core concept of a games interest is in the development of the most enjoyable character, not the wide variety of situations that you are thrown into. Its more an RPG than an action game, yet its far more of an action game than most RPGs. For that reason, its one of the most enjoyable games on the 360 for me, falling only behind Fallout 3 and possibly Borderlands for sheer enjoyment.
Once you get the mechanics of the game down and begin to understand the game, it becomes a flow of threat-assessment at high speed. For most of the characters, melee trumps ranged combat, and it really becomes a 3D game of pinball as you launch a brightly-colored Norse "god" (hes really an enhanced human, so, yes, he dies) at various enemies. It is an absolute blast to begin to speed up as your hit meter fills up and you whirl intelligently across the screen, moving to quickly eliminate the enemy vanguard, double click the stick to "juggle" a tougher enemy up into the air, and then vault into the air for a little mano-a-mano with a three-hit finisher. As the last hammer strike knocks the unfortunate mechanical into a wall far off to the side, a click of the right stick zooms you down into the next baddy, and the controlled riot continues.
Of course, all this comes to a painful end of you go crashing into a group of exploding enemies.
What Too Human lacks in overall variety of enemies and scenarios, it makes up for it with the sub-varieties of enemies. Put basically, there are about 10-15 sub-varieties of each type of enemy, color-coded for your convenience. Know which ones to plow into and which ones you have to suddenly back away from and "plan b" while hordes of goblins lope closer and the spider-like dark elf leader launches another spinning plasma arrow from the left and the trolls hammer slams down and oh, crap, its a softener so everything is going to hurt for the next five seconds roll back roll back roll back and fierce the sword at it . . .
It really does get that hectic, but is also that fun due to the variety of abilities and the sub-varieties of enemies.
The drawbacks are the lack of camera control, a steep learning curve, and the repetition of the massive four levels. However, the co-op aspect (strategizing with two is even more fun) and the frenetic yet focused aspect of the combat make it much more enjoyable for me than the radial-menu detachment of Dragon Age and the waves of completely identical and predictable enemies in a Dynasty Warriors/ Kingdom Under Fire game.
Simply (too late, I know), I love the game. It took me a few tries to even like it, but if you enjoy the intricacies of character and item development, this $10 gem is a great buy.
Insulting
On: 2010-07-18Too Human is a great game that got bad rep because its controls were too simplistic for "hardcore" gamers to learn camer is only not realy contolable at points ment to make you slow down and not go suicidal and charge into supperior forces aiming is easy since its based around infinite ammo dont leto go of the trigger when shooting and just push towards your foe to attack him even the story aint bad adding a new spin on Nordic Mythos that most new age teens and even some adults can appreciate over all its a 4.6 in my book only real problem i had wwas the well areas are slow as can be
Too Human too awkward
On: 2010-06-26Too Human has a great story but the camera is awkward and just spins around whenever your trying to attack. You attack with the right analog stick and well thats the problem. The games graphics arent that great and the skill tree is confusing. Also, this game has bad fighting with hard to followup combos. In other words, the combos are not that great. Too Human is more of an action game than roleplaying game. Great dialouge and all, this game is the one for you if you like to get dizzy.
P.S The norse mythology is messed up.
A Decade...For This?
On: 2010-06-23After what can generously be described as a "troubled development", Silicon Knights epic Too Human finally got launched. This game has apparently cost Dennis Dyack his, you know, sanity and all --- so was his sacrifice worth it?
Well, in terms of just gameplay, yeah. Its an easy-to-pick up and challenging as heck Diablo-style dungeon loot hack-and-slash affair. There is a wealth of customization options. The right stick offense works pretty well. There are the occasional issues with targeting, but that is the case with games with regular offensive controls, so its not like its a unique problem to this particular control set-up.
You fight in four rather large areas with a collection of NPC allies that are beyond useless. Now, keep in mind, there are points where its scripted for only you to make it, so even if you babysit then, they will die at a certain point. You dont get much time to rest as the game unleashes an absurd number of enemies to fight, so your hands will be forever full.
Now, the story is crap. Idiotic crap, to boot. A weird attempted amalgamation of Norse mythology that just didnt click. The game plays as if this is a story youre already quite familiar with --- itd be as if Star Wars STARTED with Empire Strikes Back. And while the worlds are large, they also have a very similar feel to them. No matter where you are, you end up in a large metallic dungeon.
The enemies also, while numerous, are just the same thing. You have a few main types --- cannon fodder, the elemental enemies, the ones who can lob missiles at you, the leaders, and the trolls. And youll fight THOUSANDS of these and the lack of any significant changes from one group to the next (undead enemies and goblin enemies dont look or act very differently) makes it all seem to be such a waste o time. The bosses, while suitably massive, also tend to be BORING. Most bosses are killed by circle strafing with guns that dont seem to do any damage. 20 minute long fights are not rarities.
Another problem is that there is so much loot than none of it seems special. You can get "epic" drops occasionally, but you get hundreds of drops every single level. Its hard to really get used to a weapon because you, inevitably, get a better one a few minutes later. And getting the best charms to enhance your weapons is pure luck --- I got to level 50 and never found a single one, in spite of getting everything I possibly could.
The game is fun to play, but the problems are so glaring that is makes one actually wish they held it back a bit longer. I know the whole "ten years in development" thing, but the game just feels rushed. Changing engines a lot will do that, I suppose.
Trash
On: 2010-05-23It had the right ideas of a dungeon crawler down - but actually executing them resulted in creating a pile of trash. There were so many high hopes for this game. In the end, we got garbage.
Meh
On: 2010-02-13Pros
-Plot weaving Norse mythology and technology together. Everything from the Aesir (Cybernetic Norse pantheon) to the enemies (Robotic goblins, elves, and trolls).
-Graphics are detailed and high quality, however...
Cons
-Control scheme is a huge let down. You use the right control stick to aim Baulder at enemies to attack them. Double tapping the control stick in one direction can perform combos and special attacks. On paper Im sure it sounded good, in practice it is punishingly difficult to use.
-Extremely repetitive. Kill baddies, run to sell/buy gear, kill more baddies.
-Does not scale difficulty well. Are we sure Baulder is a god, because he dies a lot.
-The Death Scene is entirely too long. As other reviewers point out the death scene is drawn out and not needed.
A lot of you are asking why I would give a game 3 stars if it has this many flaws. Check the price tag. When I bought my copy it was $9.94 and I was getting free shipping because of buying a second item. I never expected this game to blow me away. To everyone who bought it when it was a $50+ game: I am SO sorry. Really, I am.
review for too human awesome game!!!!!
On: 2009-12-19I bought this game to play with my brother and this game is very awesome it has allot of action and the graphics are phenomenal. When I bough the game I was not expecting much cause I never heard of this game but I played the demo in xbox live and I knew i wanted to play the real game. :)
too human
On: 2009-12-02this game is worth the buy... wish microsoft would come out with a sequel to it but the game didnt do to good in sales. excitement i give it about 8/10 thats only because the game gets repetitive with the same monsters. sound i give a 7/10 the voices are decent and the in game action sounds are on point. the graphics get a 10/10 this is one of the early 360 releases and it shows what the graphics look like then. control is 8/10 few faulty camera angels and fighting controls are ok. overall i say at 9/10
It was a gift but so worth it.
On: 2009-10-31I originally bought this for my boyfriend since he told me he wanted it. I was shocked to hear my best gamer friend tell me it sucked after I bought it and was awaiting its arrival. I cringed when I handed it to my significant other to play thinking he would hate it. Suprisingly he loves it. The camera can make me nauseated when I watch him play but other than that it is an underrated game. It was worth the money I spent.
Seriously
On: 2009-10-28Love the game cant play enough of it only thing ill say is i bought it brand new and took off the wrap and security seal and the bottom of the case just chipped off in the corner although it does nothing really it annoys me that it looks like crap now.
this game sucked
On: 2009-08-21I love games that allow you to upgrade your guns and armor and other things but this games was the same bs run and shoot the same people over and over the enviorments sucked a big one the boss battles are boreging this game really pissed me off. I was hopeing for a good game but nooooooooooo I got too stupid my bad too human and please do not die oh my god the same things happens everytime and you can not skip it this game was bad period . I enjoyed mass effect alot more then this crap anyway buy at your own risk.
takes getting used to, but is very fun and keeps you coming back
On: 2009-07-20The biggest hurdle to overcome is getting used to the lack of camera control. If you played the Conan game on the 360 though, its not that much of a transition. The struggle to get comfortable with this game is well-worth it. It has a high learning curve to really get all the aspects of the game, but initially (in the first level Hall of Heroes) is easy, approachable and fun (until the first boss fight). Its biggest problem is lack of available information/ongoing instruction. This is a game that needs hints/instruction until you max out at 50th level. This information is available online and from co-opping however. The co-op community is great for the most part. I cant think of any action mechanic in any supposedly "next-gen" game more fun than the right-stick combat. My only objection is that only two classes (berzerker and champion) are actually good at it! As such, these are the most fun to play, in my opinion. The way guns are handled is not particularly interesting or fun, except if you use twin pistols. The Champion class is really best at using twin pistols, so again your choices for maximum fun are limited from a class point of view. Despite these flaws (and others) the game keeps me coming back, and I picked it up on day 2 after release! Get this game, when it gets hard, co-op and ask someone about strategies. Then youll have ongoing enjoyment thats tough to compare to other games!
Nothing like how it was marketed
On: 2009-07-10This game was borring and not at all like it was marketed. When they first started talking about this game they said the combat would be something akin to God of War or Devil May Cry. Instead you just hold the right analog stick in whatever direction you want to attack. theres no satisfying sense of impact. Baldur was supposed to be a [...], but turns out hes more of a [...]. Theres no real consequence to dying, so you dont end getting very attached to your character. This game may be just the type of level repeating, item collecting game some people love, but I wish they would have marketed it that way, so i would have known not to pick it up.
Barely worth renting
On: 2009-06-23I would like to start off with for what is the strongest selling point of a game, the story. As far as I can tell having played through this game, the story is horrible. Its not explained whats happening, what you are doing, and even who you are. Who are the Azeir? I couldnt tell you. For a game that was sitting in development for so long, they sure did not do anything with the story. Did the humans make the red-eyes? Are we on one planet? What is the deal with the Norse mythology? No one knows. I go onto Wikipedia or check the wiki sites, no one knows. This for me ruined the game, I decided to just go back to Fallout 3 (Which conversly, has a story).
The gameplay was horrible, the controls for attacking limited to say the very least. I found myself continually mashing the thumbsticks and occasionally doing something that helped. Ranged weapons were really quite useless, the whole "juggling" aspect was inane and useless. Again, for a game to be in development for so long, why are there no combo moves? No specific gameplay stratagies for different weapon classes? Why is the laser the most weak gun for no good reason? Not to mention I found it quite infuritating when a "god" couldnt do basic first aid to himself, I found the respawning happening far too often later in the game.
The camera... yeah... about that. It almost seemed like they wanted this game to fail, the camera was all but useless. Not to mention it often tried to show how beautiful the game is (It really is) but ends up making you lose track of where you are and whom your fighting. Not to mention from time to time the camera shows you something that makes no sense. You are aboard this "world serpent", which by a view behind you, is launching ICBMs. To where? No clue, because when you finish the stage nothing has been leveled by nuclear explosions. Did the level designer just not talk to the plot writer? Maybe there just was no plot writer, which would explain quite a few things.
I really wanted this game to be good, I wanted to enjoy playing it. But after playing 10 hours into the game, the only reason I continue was to get more achievment points to best my brother. Games are meant to be like books, have a plot that is fun to read (In this case, play). I wouldnt recommend even renting this game, its not worth the $8 at Blockbuster.
too human
On: 2009-04-03I dont know much about this game. My son doesnt talk about it at all. He usually lets me know if he likes the games.
Most underrated game of 2008
On: 2009-04-01Addicting, fun gameplay with an interesting story - what is there not to like?
i have been playing this game for 3 days straight, and i gotta say, for 18 bucks this game is a steal. if you like hackn slash games, or RPGs of any kind, buy this now. the controls can sometimes be a bit of a hassle, but in the end the few flaws can be easily overlooked as you enjoy pounding thousands of future-goblin things into dust.
Sweet Game
On: 2009-02-10This is one of the best games of the year for 2008 i have over 400hrs logged on it and its just awesome graphics and game play are great only bad thing i can say is WE HAVE NO DLC that was promised and its too short.
Too human
On: 2009-01-19Its a fun and original game the only thing i found annoing was that the levels are big and long and there tends to be a lot of enemies in one place.
Great RPG
On: 2009-01-12Very tactical, interesting game at sight and convinces in history, does not have many types of enemies, but it is another great game of RPG
Original idea but horrible execution
On: 2009-01-04I thought this game would be cool after seeing the demo with fighting similar to DMCs sword/guns and rpg style customization features. Honestly the best thing about the game was the cutscenes. Combining Norse gods with technology was an original idea but they should have focused on making gameplay actually fun. Never mind that the game is short because it seems like an eternity to finish each level. The player is swarmed by wave after wave of the same robot enemies that you have no chance of beating without dying several times and thereby forced to watch the unskippable valkyrie cutscene over and over. All the levels are nothing but long corridors/bridges and without a map this is frustrating. The only change of scenery are the forest like cyberspace sections where instead of fighting, you only open doors to progress further in the levels. Other reviews have already mentioned the horrible camera. The makers must have known its practically impossible to get through missions without dying so they just respawn you, taking away most of the challenge of the game especially on boss fights. Just when you near the end of the game the villain escapes and credits roll signaling a sequel?? If you must play it, I highly recommend renting instead.
It would be fun if it didn't make me vomit.
On: 2008-12-27The story is fairly standard for video games, but thats not a bad thing. The visuals are beautiful and interesting- think Blade Runner meets Norse mythology and youve got a good idea. Using the right stick as your attack instead of the buttons is a little weird but not bad, and I found the customizations adequate if a little weak. The problem, and its a deal breaker, is the camera. Its impossible to control in any useful way. Sure, you can center the camera behind you and have a limited ability to look around- sometimes- but most of the time it just swings around randomly inducing violent motion sickness.
One of the worst game I had the displeasure of playing this year
On: 2008-12-07This game has gotten abysmal reviews nearly everywhere, and rightfully so. After years of hype, the supposed 10 year development cycle, ditching Nintendo claiming they do not understand art, countless delays, Microsoft spending millions and millions of dollars to fund the rest of its development, and the lead designer claiming this will be a revolutionary game that will elevate the videogame genre into the high art form alongside with films and literature, the end result is a utter mess. The gameplay is just a really awful hybrid of role playing dungeon crawl and action games like devil may cry, except its been simplified to the point where you will fall asleep playing it. There are only four main levels where you fight the same horde of enemies over and over again -- for around 8 hours of the total game length (8 hours I want back!), Loot management is a pain and totally pointless since you cannot really die; youll just be forced to watch the same revival animation throughout. The story and the way it is presented is awful too. Its like an 8 year olds take on the norse mythology - totally absurd and plastering sci-fi cyberpunk look over everything. Believe the scathing reviews, this game is simply awful, plain awful.
Learning how to make a bad game the long way
On: 2008-11-26As 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 (thats 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 didnt know when they wanted to stop.
Story: Using Norse mythology as a template, the game centers on Baldur, son of Odin whos 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 Humans 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. Theres the occasional slowdown and inexplicably, collision detection with melee attacks actually not connecting in close quarters or power-ups I cant seem to grab even though I should be able to but other than that, its 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, its a mixed bag but some people might love the score while others are hearing some much sword clashes and explosions that youll probably just tune it out.
Gameplay: As with other games, there tends to be a familiarity in your tasks and controls and its 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 Humans case, its basically a case of "get used to this because youre going to be doing it for a long time." Its 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 youll 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 its 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 youre a collection gamer and love getting that one weapon with better damage than the other than youre 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 dont 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 its unskippable, unnecessary since a "now loading" screen wouldve done the trick or for co-op, just have them disappear then re-appear later but the big problem: how many times youll run into it and theres 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 lets just say the cutscene will not be a favorite among anyone.
Oh and for those of you who havent 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 hell actually stop should you stop so instead of repeatedly pressing B in a button-masher way, now its 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 doesnt help either because its trying to say "quit trying to reset the camera and look at something I want to show you." Also theres no lock-on meaning instead of focusing on the one missile launching cronie, youre shooting some foot soldier that you can vanquish with the greatest of ease. Its 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 its 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 Humans story is interesting sure but doesnt have the draw a trilogy needs for return visits and considering Too Humans length of at most 10 hours, its best that Silicon Knights either work on making Too Human 2 vastly improved over the original or dont even bother and work on new exciting material or an Eternal Darkness sequel...one that wont take 10 years to make.
Silly Premise!
On: 2008-11-23While Im glad that this is not an excessively gory game like Call of Duty 5 or Gears of War 2, the premise of this game is silly. A modern-day Norse mythology? Come on! The mythologies of the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Norsemen are all obviously false and give way to the true story of what happened: the Bible. So I think a premise like this is ridiculous! Find something else to base a game on! Theres plenty of options!
Rent this game first!
On: 2008-11-09I 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.
Critics are people that fail at everything except flapping their lips
On: 2008-11-08Lol ok this game is far from perfect but its definitely worth a rental. The graphics are very good, the combat is really fun imo - its really not that bad of a game. I can understand giving it a mediocre review but I really dont 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 youll like this.
Great action RPG with many adictive features
On: 2008-11-02Rating [9 / 10]
Too Human is a very addictive action RPG. In fact, you dont even realize its 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 doesnt do it justice as it is just too short to understand the full potential of this game.
Unique, for better or for worse.
On: 2008-10-29My 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 isnt 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 havent 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 Im 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 didnt 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 youre 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 youre banging your head against the wall and the game gets intensely frustrating. I had to turn it off many times due to frustration. Theres 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 theres a ton of little details that let you know the developers genuinely cared about this game, it was their baby. Unfortunately it just doesnt work out in the long run. Im sad to say this is a solid game, and nothing more.
Rent this game, and the second, then buy the third
On: 2008-10-24PROS:
This game was very fun, and very inventive.
It is a game that everyone should play. When you do though, play it for at least a couple of hours to get used to it though.
The controls are goofy and frustrating at first, but once you get used to them, you wonder why you would want to do it any other way.
So, coolness and fun, I give this game 4 or 5 stars.
CONS:
This game just ends right in the middle of the plot. You have to buy the next 2 games to find out what is going on.
This game doesnt end on a sub-plot like the HALO franchise, or any other for that matter. With most games, you expect the ending is coming and at least something gets wrapped up. Its like playing HALO half way through and then just throwing the game away.
So, to play 1 actual game, you are going to have to spend darn near $200 for all 3. Again, this doesnt end really on a sub-plot either. You find out a piece of information, and then the credits role and tell you to buy the second one.
So, this game was fun, but do NOT buy it. Rent it, spend a day or two on it and give it back.
Fun game, replayable
On: 2008-10-21As a fan of hack n slash gametypes, I thought that Too Human was a fun experience. The graphics look good and the plot is engaging, especially if you take the time to figure out a few of the underlying themes, rather that just charging through the story.
The only thing that I really didnt like was the 20-second unskippable death scene that occurs all too often throughout the game. Also, the campaign feels very short.
Ehh
On: 2008-10-20pretty lame. cool at first, then its just like the same thing over and over. plus, all your new gear you find - doesnt do you any good. your enemies are crazy powerful and only get better as you become stronger, so its like, Im a frigin god, yet i stink.
wtf lame game.
SubHuman
On: 2008-10-19I was foolish enough to doubt the countless bad reviews this game got. I figured Id give it a fair shot.
This game is bad. So bad that I will keep it short and sweet.
Graphics: I really could care less about graphics but I know it is a major selling point for some gamers. Too Human has beautiful "large" environments. I say "large" because the levels seem huge, with backgrounds that go on for days but you are basically confined to halway size paths that you run through and repetively slash at enemies.
Character equipment designs are gorgeous. Facial textures look laughable on some characters though. Mainly Baldur himself.
Sound: Sound along with equipment design are the only 2 stars I will give this game. The musical score is good and so are the sound effects.
Controls: The right-thumbstick controls are controversial. I see what the designers were trying to do and in fact the combat controls seem to work, however a totally broken lock on system breaks the controls. You will litteraly have a GIANT 2 feet in front of you. Tilt the thumbstick in front of you and theres a good chance you will forego this behemoth to target some random midget that is minding his own business 600ft away. This is inexcusable. This problem is compounded with a horrible camera system. Forget about using the default camera and pull back to ISO mode. Even ISO mode, however, cannot save you from camera seizures that happen when you try to turn a corner or even turn a 180.
Gameplay: Ok this is where I could rant forever but I will try to be brief.
- Game is made of only 4 ungodly massive levels.
- Combat is broken by the camera and lock-on system
- Character classes are totally unbalanced. Certain classes are dying machines. Imagine playing an MMO, where every class has a purpose in a team concept but there is no team, only you (maybe one friend online)
- Speaking of online, it is broken as well. The enemies level to the highest lvl character in the group. So.. I got my game a week before my friend. I reached level 35 he was lvl 15. We figured the game would find a happy medium to scale the baddies to. WRONG!! Every creature was lvl 38+. Resulting in my friend dying every 2 secs.
- Pointlessly boring cyberspace quests.
- Bosses have way too much health( GARN especially)
Story: The story is pretty bland with bad voice acting and dialogue.
+ For choosing Norse mythology instead of Greek or something else thats been run into the ground.
- For choosing Baldur as the main character when you have Thor and Tyr as supporting characters. Baldur is so sissified that his mother had to beg everything in creation not to kill her son but he ends up dying at the hands of the only thing she thought harmless enough not to ask.... MISTLETOE. :(
- The story could be compeling but nothing is explained. The designers must have figured that Norse mythology is the #1 religion in the world and everyone knows it like the back of their hands. Nothing is explained only refered to. Characters are introduced with little to know backstory. The story in this game basically sucks because of presentation.
So on a final note, there is a lot of complaining about the death scene. It is there to mask the loading/game over screen you would see in any other game. I actually think this is a good idea. The bad part of it is that you will die so many times in this broken game that you will see the valkyrie animation 100+ times.
For the love of God, if this did not detour you from playing this game at least rent it and judge for yourself.
Great Game bad camera
On: 2008-10-17I am playing through for the second time with a different type of character. I have enjoyed the premises. Wish I could be Thor instead of Baldar. They portrayed Thor as a big lunkhead. I liked the comic book Thor better. I only do one player so cant comment on the online experience. Camera angles are the biggest pain. Why are angles done so well in some games but not in others? Would buy it again but its no Bioshock.
Ending
On: 2008-10-16Good:
Interesting story line. Decent gameplay.
Bad:
Incredibly repetitive. Found myself only playing to further the story. Story abruptly ends without closer. Ruined game for me.
UHHHHHHH WHAT THE HELL!!!
On: 2008-10-13ok i bought this game at a local gamestop and this game looked really cool it was kinda fun at first and then it whent blank you die so many damn times the gameplay get so repetative the only thing i really liked about this game is the interesting take on nordic mythology slash slash slash some more why dont i just shoot hmmmmmm well i will be getting rid of this game very soon because this game sucks it just gets so old kinda like halo 3 since i do not have xboxlive this is not the game for me
Horrible, mindless, boring
On: 2008-10-11I truly detest this game; you cant save the game where you would like to stop, it will take you back to the beginning of the level without giving you a clue thats going to happen.
To go through the game, all you need to do is mindlessly mash the buttons and make time-consuming brainless treks back to buy new armor and weapons and you will proceed through this game without fail.
The only redeeming quality it has is that it is gorgeous, but it is utterly mindless and requires zero skill; mash the buttons, get bounty, buy weapons and armor and go back and mash more buttons. If you die, wait 3 minutes for the angel to restore you and mash more buttons.
Too Human Review
On: 2008-10-09Too Human is a good game, and at times can be very addicting to play. You play as Baldur, the son of Odin. The game uses Norse (Viking) Mythology for its characters, but applies them to a futuristic cybernetic type world. Overall, I think they did a good job with the story and the characters. Personally, I was reading up on Norse Mythology before the game ever came out, so I was at least halfway familiar with the characters.
The game is a hack and slash fest, with a TON of loot for you to collect. If youre the type of gamer who loves to constantly upgrade their character with newer and better weapons and gear, then this game is for you. You cant go five feet in this game without an enemy dropping something or coming across one of probably hundreds of "chests" filled with loot.
What makes the combat so unique and satisfying, is that you use the right thumbstick to attack your enemies instead of just mashing a button. You just push the stick in the direction of the enemy, and Baldur goes power sliding up them and hacks away. You can double tap the thumbstick in the direction of an enemy to pop them up into the air, where you can then jump and hit them while they hang in the air. You can also tap both thumbsticks in the direction of an enemy to perform a finishing move or to throw your weapon or send out a power blast.
At the beginning of the game you choose your class, from a melee heavy Beserker, an armor heavy Defender, a jack of all trades Champion, a ranged weapon specialist Commando, or a healer Bio Engineer. The first time I played the game, I chose the Beserker class, but I died ALOT. So then I started a new game as a Defender, and although I still die alot, its nowhere near as bad as the Beserker. Ive yet to try the other classes.
Graphic wise the game is pretty decent, but not great. I guess the best part of the graphics is the armor and weapon designs. Most of the enironments are pretty bland, and the fact that there are really only four "dungeons" in the game, kind of hinders the game a bit. Then you can visit Cyberspace, which looks like a forest you get to travel through, but even that is not the greatest looking.
Sound wise, the voice actors do a good job, and all the bangs and clashes sound like their supposed to. Most of the time I was playing my own music in the background, so I really cant comment too well on the games background music.
And probably the main thing that I liked about this game is that you really dont die. Well you do, but after you watch a 20 second scene (that you cant skip, but thats a small price to pay), youre plopped right back on the battlefied. All the enemies youve killed are still dead, and all the damage youve done to current enemies are still in effect. The only real punishment to death is that your armor and weapon takes damage, and can eventually become broken. However, even this was not that big of a deal for me because the game just drops so much loot at your feet, that youll never really be using the same armor or weapon for an extended amount of time. In between missions, you can have your weapons and armor repaird for a price.
Ive played through the game twice with my Defender character, and Im only at level 40. I think the level cap is 50, so I might end up playing through the game a third time to try and max him out. Which is what I think the developers intended you to do. The game will only take you about 10 or so hours to beat.
So overall, I very much loved this game. Its not perfect and its not the greatest game ever, but I dont think it was intended to be. If you enjoy a good dungeon crawling hack and slash and love to collect a lot of loot, then youll probably get some good enjoyment out of this game.
Too Human is a solid game
On: 2008-10-09At present I have 50+ hours put into Too Human. I have played extensively with all 5 classes and I am here to report: Too Human is a blast.
Diablo-style RPGs are a favorite of mine, and other than Diablo, the only other hack n slash game that I have ever played that was as fun as Too Human is the Champions of Norrath series.
Many will tell you it is too hard, or the death scene is annoying or the camera sucks.
Well I would say: yes the game is hard, especially the 2nd level, but if you make an effort to get even a little better and upgrade your equipment (half the fun!) regularly, the game really isnt THAT hard.
Learning to utilize all your weaponry, both ranged and melee, as well as your grenades, Ruiners, Fierce Attacks, Spider and Battle Cries is part of the point of the game. Once you do, you will find the alacrity with which your Baldur can clear a room is just amazing.
The fact that dying only hurts your equipment a little but leaves your enemies as damaged as you had them before you died also mitigates the difficulty.
Personally, in all the time I have played the game the camera has very rarely been an issue. Any time I have had an issue it has been in the wrong mode. The game gives you 6? camera options settings, and if you just make sure to set it in Iso, or Far (both work for me) it is never an issue in my experience. In some of the other settings it can be annoying at times, but Iso mode is my preferred mode for these type of games so it never presented a problem for me.
Now, I would not say this is a perfect game, it has issues. I think the main thing that has bugged me about it is the targeting system gets a little wacky at times, it definitely could be better. However, I have never played a game that has such a fluid transition from Melee to Ranged and vice versa, and generally speaking if you stop firing and re-aim the targeting system will correct itself most of the time.
Another thing I would say is a con is the main story is a tad short, and only 4 levels leaves you wanting more.
However, what this game has going for it is replayability. Sure there are only 4 levels, but I have played the first level 20+ times now and am not bored with it! It is just a blast to hunt for loot and rip through hordes and hordes of enemies.
The combat is excellent, a total frenetic adrenaline rush every time you enter a room and face a horde of enemies.
The equipment system is very well done, and being able to Salvage loot wherever you are at any time without having to visit a shop is an excellent idea, allowing you to keep dungeon crawling for hours on end.
There are a lot of games out there that are longer, but Too Human makes up for that with its incentives to keep playing after you beat the game. To me most games lose appeal after I have beaten them, so much so that I generally try and accomplish near full completion in my first go through because I know I will not be interested enough to play again.
With Too Human beating the game isnt a priority, loot harvesting and leveling are, so once you do finish the main story, the game is LOOONG from over, as the combat is just so damn fun and the loot so prevalent that getting your characters lvl and loot maxed is just as fun as playing through the story (which is pretty good, especially if you like or are familiar with Norse Mythology).
Overall Id say that Too Human is a solid 8.5
If it had offline co-op if give it a 9. All this and I have never played it online, which many will tell you is half the fun of the game.
I really hope they make Too Human 2, because as good as Too Human is, if they fixed a few minor issues in a sequel it would be an awesome game.
A dichotomy of sloppy design and addictive looting.
On: 2008-10-08Forget about how many years Too Human has spent in development, or how loud-mouthed its nonetheless endearing director, Denis Dyack, has proven over the years. If were going to be fair to this game, we need to take an unadulterated look at what the game is and does instead of its history.
Lets lay those answers out right now: Too Human is merely decent, and it doesnt do all that much. What it does do is present a loot-intensive dungeon-crawler in Nordic clothing. For those of you who arent familiar with Diablo, the conceit is this: Choose a class of warrior, each with differing strengths and weaknesses. Then cut through hordes and hordes of peon-style enemies. Then collect the piles and piles of money, weapons and armor they drop. Also accumulate experience points with which to increase your dudes abilities, which can result in any number of damage-increasing bonuses.
It definitely goes beyond the mindless dreck that is Dynasty Warriors. There are tons of "runes" scattered about which you can insert into open slots of your weapons and armor, reminiscent of Final Fantasy VIIs materia system. These runes serve to increase your damage potential, defense, probability of special effects (such as slowing down your enemy), and more.
So, certainly, theres quite a bit of content in Too Human as far as the collectibles and bonuses are concerned. The problem, though, is in actually playing through the game in order to get to that content. The combat is touted as fluid and accessible. Based mostly around the right analog stick, at first it seems as such. Pointing and holding in the direction of your enemy to attack is as simple an activity as you could hope for in an action-roleplaying game, and perhaps too simple: It starts to feel brain-dead very quickly.
So the game affords you the ability to mix it up by launching enemies into the air, assaulting them with any number of firearms, unleashing a "Ruiner" special move (not unlike a smart bomb in a space shooter), deploying your mechanical spider companion to cause bonus damage, and executing a combo finisher.
The good news is that this all remains accessible, as the commands to pull these off are simple button presses. The bad news is that its mechanically and visually clumsy to launch your enemies into the air, which is a key component of combat. Double-tapping your analog stick to launch isnt difficult, but it just feels uncomfortable, especially given that youll be doing it quite often. Theres nothing pleasant about it. Visually, your enemy just kind of floats in the air while you follow it up and start to wail on it -- as if youre both standing on invisible platforms. It takes some of the physicality and even skill out of air combat, leaving you wishing for the visual stimuli of Devil May Cry -- the original Playstation 2 game that was released seven years ago.
So, youve got this odd phenomenon of mindless, almost boring combat that somehow takes more focus than it should simply because its uncomfortable. Youve also got environments that largely consist of wide open, mechanical-looking rooms. With the exception of some different color hues, everything looks very similar and thus gets old really fast -- just like the combat.
Yet, as with any loot-based game, it remains compelling for the simple prospect of collecting that next great piece of armor or that new sword. Id personally stopped playing it after one playthrough in single-player and a few hours of multiplayer because the gameplay simply could not keep me interested past slightly-more-than-minimal due diligence, but I can definitely see the appeal there. Tinkering with your weapons and runes is a great time-sink diversion, and sometimes theres nothing better than coming home from a tough day and laying it all out on enemies that dont do much to resist.
In sum, then, Too Human has its merits. It doesnt do much, but if you fit the mold, it does enough. It isnt that great, but depending on your mood, it doesnt need to be. Nonetheless, heres to hoping that the next two installments of the trilogy are more involved and more varied. To have two more games in the series just like this would be criminal.
Good game, not great
On: 2008-09-30Decent game, but Fragmented story and long gaps in between action cause a stutter step that is never really repaired. Huge level areas work well for battling many baddies but become a pain when navigating without enemies. The story could have been more involved. Multiplayer becomes a session of babysitting unless both characters are the same level.
Not great, not bad either
On: 2008-09-29This game is fun, nothing spectacular. Expect to die frequently, long cut scenes while youre resurrected. Just a hack n slash, but a fun time if thats your thing.
Pretty good, but the story is too short for this first installment.
On: 2008-09-25The action is really good. My only real gripe is that its seriously meant for you to play with another person. I say this because of how it bases the level of the mobs you face off of your current level. So while its doable to do the game by yourself, which is what I did, I do recommend that you play with somebody else. The item system is pretty good. If youre willing to go through your inventory enough, I suggest turning off the automatic item management. Overall, Id say rent it before you buy it. Youll either like it enough to play it for enough hours that buying it is the better option or youll not really care for it. Ultimately, the story line is what I mostly went for. Gotta love that Norse Mythology. :D
Too Human
On: 2008-09-22Lets face it, hype is no good for any game. All hype really does is infect people with this stupid notion that the game will be the be all end all of gaming; the greatest game ever made. And then, when the game is actually released none of their expectations are filled, and so everyone is disappointed. Especially if the game concept has been in development limbo for years. Despite what most people will spout out, the current version of Too Human was actually conceived three years ago. The *idea* of Too Human was conceived almost 13 or so years ago, but that hardly matters since the Too Human on the shelves is a much different beast entirely.
Too Human received mostly average reviews from professional critics, and even some downright negative reviews, though I have to disagree with everything they have said. In truth I think they didnt understand the game, nor did they have the time and energy to actually put some time into it. To be fair, the game does no hand holding of the player, and pretty much nothing explained. Heck, even the game manual doesnt explain much. No, the player is left to their own devices to figure out the game and the strange controls. And I can certainly see why some people would be put off by this. Too Human isnt your average hack n slash game like all the reviews are claiming it is. In fact its quite original. For one, all of your melee attacks are set to your right analog joystick; tap once and your character slides to an enemy in the vicinity and sends them flying up into the air. From here you can jump up with them and juggle attack them for some serious combo damage, or you could pull out your pistols and fire away. Also, the camera is fixed, giving way to some awesome cinematic moments, and some great frustration. By pushing the Right Bumper you can align the camera behind you. It would have been nice to have an option to fully control the camera, but like I said Too Human is not your average hack n slash. Thirdly, the game places a lot of focus (read: A LOT) on armor and weapon customization. The options are literally endless. Depending on how fast and how skillful you kill an enemy they will drop armor, weapons, powerups and even health (read: loot). The faster and more extravagent you are able to dispatch an enemy rewards you with some awesome loot (good armor, good weapons etc), while the longer you take reduces these chances. Some enemies drop nothing. Its a game of chance, really. But this makes the combat fun, as you never know what treats you will end up with once the smoke clears and your foes are laying in a pile.
Too Humans story is rather interesting. The game takes place in a world where Norse Mythology and Cyberpunk meet. The world has been wiped clean by evil robots (ruled by Hel and Loki), and humanity has been relegated to a single outpost/city that houses the Gods as well. The Gods are cybernetically enhanced beings and they run the gamot of Norse Mythology. You play as Baldur, brother to Thor. The two main enemies are Loki and Hel (Lokis daughter). Overall the story is average, with the best parts happening at the very end and setting up what I think will be an amazing sequel.
When you die in Too Human, Valkyrie come down from the sky and take your body to the afterlife. This involves a 15 second death animation, one that frustrated many players and reviers alike, but they probably didnt understand the reason for the super long death animation. You are supposed to be punished for dying, since it is very possible to make it through each level without dying. Since good loot is set on a timer essentially, when you die you are forced to sit out for 15 seconds, thus worsening your chances of good loot. Its very unforgiving, but hey so is life. The trick is to...not die; To use strategy and to fully learn the controls. If you cant manage this, then Too Human isnt the game for you. Remember, it is not your average hack n slash game. You cant get by with just spamming buttons. You have to know what you are doing.
And you will probably die a lot, that is if you just barrage through the game without learning the controls, effecively managing your weapons and armor, runes etc. In fact, a good chunk of your game time will be in the menu screens, swapping out armor, checking stats, and changing weapons. This may sound boring to some, but Diablo and Balders Gate loot lovers will love this aspect. There is nothing greater than getting an awesome loot drop after an epic battle; The spoils of war. When you die, your armor and weapons take damage, so if you die a lot you will have to keep swapping out your weapons/armor because once they reach a certain point they will not work so well. The trick is to keep from dying, like in any other game.
For enemies, they come at you in hordes. You will almost always find yourself up against 10 - 15 enemies at once, sometimes including really tough mini bosses. Some of the enemies shoot arrows and some shoot rockets. Many times you will find yourself faced with 15 + enemies, all the while rockets and arrows are flying at you. It can get pretty tough, but if you know your controls then you will have no problem.
In Too Human there are only four enemy types: Goblins, Dark Elves, Trolls and Undead. While this may seem very limited its actually pretty awesome. There are different variants of each enemy type. Some will be aligned to a certain element, like Fire or Ice, Poison or Energy, while others will be aligned with none. Then there are the light/dark variants which are immune to certain attacks (light enemies are immune to ranged attacks while dark enemies are immune to melee). All in all there are enough enemy variants to keep things very interesting, and the real trick of combat is to figure out the best approach and the best attack.
Too Human is broken up into four maps (dungeons or levels, if you will), and one main hub, which serves as the city or town for the game. Here you will be able to buy/sell/repair weapons and items, use the weapon/armor blueprints you find during missions to make new weapons, and further the story along through cutscenes. The one thing I didnt like about Too Human was that you cannot interact with any of the city/town folk. They are there to pretty much serve as scenery. Sometimes they will engage in conversation with one another and you can listen to it, but it would have been nice to be able to actively talk with them like an RPG. There are only four levels/dungeons/missions, but they are pretty long. Each mission has 3 - 5 stages in it and a final boss at the end. Not to mention the myriads of mini bosses throughout. The level design is pretty awesome. Eerie cyberpunk-meets-mythology level design and some really good looking graphics make trudging through each level a visual joy. On each level there are secret battle arenas that can be entered by finding a secret passageway. In these arenas you will be faced with either a time challenge, or simply a massive amount of enemies. Defeat all the enemies in the time alloted (for the time challenges), or succesfully kill all the enemies (every other challenge) and you will be rewarded with great loot. However, if you die in the process you will lose the arena and not be able to access it again. Like I said, Too Human is very unforgiving. In addition to the secret arenas there are "cyberwells". These wells lead to a place called cyberspace where Balder can learn powers and interact with objects to make things happen in the game world. The powers you learn will only be useable in cyberspace and are more puzzle oriented than anything. Basically, you will go into cyberspace and have to find a way to open a door or a bridge which corresponds to the in-game world. Once you do this, you can advance the level. While it could have been a neat concept it really comes off as filler (think the explorable planets in Mass Effect).
On to the loot: There are thousands of different weapons, armor and power ups to find in Too Human, and you will definitely not find it all in one play through. Every weapon and armor item is leveled, and each has its own buffs and perks. The best weapons/armor in the game are called "Elite", which offer up the best stats. Its also the hardest to find. Alternatively you can find blueprints for Elite armor and weapons but it costs a fortune to make. There are so many weapon/item customization options that the possibilities are literally endless. Now, being that this is a fantasy game the weapons and armor have hilarious names like Jotun boots of blinding speed" etc, but its really fun collecting all of it, selling what you dont need, and getting the truly awesome Elite armor/weapons.
Your character levels up with experience points as well, and each time you level up you will get two points with which you can distribute amongst a skill tree. You can add new abilities to your character or buff other traits, add skills to weapons etc. At one point in the game you will be tasked with choosing whether or not you want to be a Cybernetic (which focuses on cybernetic enchancements) or a Human (which focuses more on natural enhancements). Both ways are equally powerful and offer up two different ways to play the game. In addition to this there are 5 different character types to choose from : Commando, Champion, Bio-Engineer, Defender, and Berzerker. Each have a specialty (i.e the Champion is a well rounded character, the Bio-Engineer can heal himself, the Berzerker has aggro), and each class offers a whole different playing style opening up much replay value.
Long enough review yet? This is why I say that gamers, reviewers and critics did not give this game a chance, nor could they. Too Human is not the type of game you can play for one hour and write a comprehensive review on. There is just so much going on, so much to offer and many, many ways to play through the game. Im on my second playthrough with my original character and I have yet to reach level 50 (the maximum level), and I have only found one mish mashed set of Elite armor and weapons. And I will definitely be playing through it again with the other classes.
With all the loot to collect, secret battle arenas to find, cyberwells to activate, character classes to choose from, alignments to choose from, and achievements to unlock Too Human is easily a 100 + hours of gameplay, and then some. And honestly, Too Human takes brains to play, so if you dont have em Id suggest staying away. Diablo I and II and Balders Gate fans rejoice, the Xbox finally has a dungeon crawler worth of the name!
Insert Pun Here
On: 2008-09-21Not great. Most of the other reviewers covered the areas pretty well. Suffice it to say that the camera is awful, the combat is surprisingly fun (though do some research, because they dont really explain a lot to you), and the story is pretty "rad", as the kids say. Download the demo first to get a really good feel for what Too Human has to offer. Be warned, however, if mythology doesnt interest you at all, leave this one alone. Youll not be impressed. My love of the Norse pantheon really improved my game experience. Also of note is Crispin Freeman as Baldur. Anyone who has watched Hellsing or Ghost in the Shell will recognize his voice. It is an added bonus.
Amazing Dungeon Crawler
On: 2008-09-21This game is a dungeon crawler plain and simple and its a pretty good one at that, I love this game the amount of loot, crafting and items are all right up my alley. The game is a little on the short side but I have put about 25 hours into it so far and its been pretty sweet getting my character to level 50 and trying to complete my epic armor set.
The online co-op is sweet and in my opinion keeps the game from getting old also the fact that there are different classes who play pretty differently from each other adds a lot of replay value.
Get this game if you liked Diablo, Dungeon Siege and games like that not if you like shooters or straight RPGs this game will cause you disappointment, give this game a chance download the demo its pretty sweet imo and the only real dungeon crawler for the 360 and this game has gotten me more excited for Diablo 3.
close but no cigar
On: 2008-09-19tries to do everyhting but masters nothing lol- and god help you from killing somone after your 1,000th death and you have to see the death sequence again =P
alot of fun tho. i blew 40 hours in it easy. awsome looting and melee
Really fun...
On: 2008-09-18The game overall is fun... the music is amaizing... it has some errors some time frustrating errors, but hey all games do right??
I read all the reviews from gamestop and its just stupid to belive this game is as bad as they say it is... worst than kung fu panda???? right...
The controls are tricky at first but the first level will give you chance to get uso to them... camera errors?? yeah some but ninja gayden has them to... so? what i mean is that dont pass on this game, you have to play it... at the end you may o may not like the controls but dont let gamestop decide that for you because is a really good game... and the online experience with a friend is amazing.
Agony, so why do I keep playing?
On: 2008-09-18Too Human is, to be quite frank, a disappointment. I enjoyed the demo released to xbox live enough to decide to purchase the full game. Oh, how deceptive that demo was. Simply put, I have no idea how this game made it past play-testers. A gamer of average to moderately high skill in third person hack and slash action will find themselves dying upwards of 10, 20, 30 times or more per level simply because the game wants you to be able to pick your targets so as to interrupt them at range, but gives you no reliable avenue to do so. If you attempt to play as the ranged class, you find yourself soft and squishy, which would be fine, except you also find yourself with no way to kite (gaming term for running away from the enemy while attacking them from range, usually while slowing their movement speed in some fashion) since the enemies are either as fast, or faster than you. For the enemies who do use range, you will find that they A) have an endless rate of fire B) Have a range that makes yours looks like a joke and C) there are 5 times as many of them as you, giving you a first hand look at what suppressive fire is. The in-game tips suggest you should shoot them to make them stop shooting. This works for about 2 seconds, at which point the AI decides it likes laying down a stream of fire that you cant avoid easily, and definitely cant soak. The melee classes have it a little bit better vs the ranged, being able to dodge around just long enough to close and take one or two out. However due to the nature of melee combat, you will usually close to a cluster, target one and start knocking that one back to the point where the rest will be just far enough that they opt to use ranged attacks once more instead of chasing you down to melee. This tears through your health at a rapid pace. These ranged characters are often paired with a large spider creature whose favorite attack is a ground slam. By the time you run across the first of these, youve been used to another large enemy with a similar attack that can be avoided by jumping. No dice here. At one stage I had the stats for air juggle height pushed to the point that the enemy I was juggling had to be about 20 in the air, putting me at about the same height. I was still knocked down by the ground attack. So the physics interactions within the game leave a lot to be desired even with it comes to the range of some attacks. Its hard to believe that this is the product of a decade of work. Now despite all of this, there is something that keeps me from heading back to the xbox dashboard after each death. When its not being agonizing to deal with a horde of monsters who decimate you from texas, the game is very fun to play. I am disappointed that the major motivation to use combo levels for ruiners is so you do not lose them when you inevitably die, but the game definitely has its point of enjoyability. The story also seems to be very compelling. I love the mythos theyve created for this game. Ive had to put completing it on hold for the time being as my wife, who has selected a commando as her play type and found herself unable to advance without dying every step fo the way due to the poor management of ranged combat in Too Human, wants to see if it will be a more enjoyable experience for her in co-op mode. So when I find a chance to grab a cheap copy of the game, Ill be able to explore it more. The bottom line is, if you frustrate easily, stay well clear of this game. But if youre willing to put up with some bad mechanics to get a good story, its worth picking up a used copy if you can find it cheap.
BOOM its OVA
On: 2008-09-17And before you know it, its OVER OMG I waited 5 years,,,, 5 YEARS for THIS BS.
Too Err is Human
On: 2008-09-16Bluntly, Too Human is not a great game. Yet I cant get enough of it.
Too Human is eccentric developers Silicon Knights first original game since Eternal Darkness six years ago. Too Humans concept has been floating around for ten years: initially a PS1 title to follow up Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, then moved to GC with SKs exclusivity deal with Nintendo, then to Xbox 360 when that deal was up. [You can still visit online gaming magazines and view screenshots of each cancelled iteration]. That said, Too Human for the Xbox 360 has only been in development since the system launched, but it still has a lot to live up to.
So how did it turn out? Well if you rely on mainstream critics, bad. Very bad. From what I can tell though most of the very bad response seems to be from either a lack of time spent with the game, or confusion over exactly what type of game this is supposed to be. It seems many people either think this is a Ninja Gaiden/Devil May Cry type action beat em up or a Mass Effect/Oblivion western role playing game. In Silicon Knights tradition, the reality is that its neither and both of these things.
Too Humans closest relative is I feel the Phantasy Star Online series. Like PSO/PSU, Too Human is a dungeon crawler loot game with action elements. Like PSO, you can choose a class based on close combat, ranged combat or healing. Like PSO, you are expected to run the same levels repeatedly to gain levels and gear until you are either infinitely powerful or bored to tears. Too Humans combat system has a lot more action elements than PSO and they are much better implemented, but essentially the two games are very similar.
So knowing what this game is "supposed to be," first Ill discuss what I feel this game does wrong.
1. The camera is bad. In a developer interview the designer team explains that the camera is programmed to show the biggest threat, not necessarily what you are facing. Honestly, Im not sure if it actually ever works out that way. In combat, the camera is usually fine. You can cycle through several camera modes, from very close to "Iso," which is usually similar to an overhead Diablo style set up. But far too often the camera just spazzes out when you are running, turning a corner, or hugging a wall, leading to an instant headache. Since nearly all chests are along walls, this is no good. You can tap LB to reset the camera
behind you, but it does not always work and sometimes it instantly snaps back to where it was. There just really needs to be a way to manually control the camera.
2. The game is too short. The story mode will take about 10-12 hours, and Im ok with that. Youre supposed to run each dungeon into the triple digits, right? So its actually packed with hundreds of hours of gameplay. But I still say its too short and heres why. Theres only four dungeons to play through, and they are all tediously long. So you get bored of playing the same dungeons over and over, and you get bored of being in there for up to an hour longer than feels necessary. With only four areas, it also limits the opportunity for storytelling, which is mostly done in between dungeons. The story is strong but only pulls together right as the game ends, making it feel underwritten and badly paced. I strongly feel that if the game had six shorter dungeons instead of four incredibly long ones the story and gameplay would feel more naturally paced. While the game is the first part of a planned trilogy,
it still feels incomplete. Its as if Star Wars ended when the Millennium Falcon left Tatooine.
3. Cyberspace is boring and pointless. In the game there is another realm that you sometimes visit called "cyberspace." In a not so clever twist, its the only area that does not look cybernetic, looking instead like lush forests and gardens. Some of these areas are very large. You are required to enter them to do some brainless puzzling to unlock doors and paths in the main game. There are no enemies in cyberspace, though there are "chests" full of good loot. But they really feel pointless and like a chore to access, especially through multiple playthroughs.
Note: A lot of people gripe about death in this game. When you die, your equipment takes damage and can eventually break, your combo meter resets to zero, and a Valkyrie descends from Valhalla and lifts you into the sky. Many people complain that there is no penalty at all, which is completely untrue. Its very irritating to have your combo meter depleted since it fuels all special moves and has to be filled by killing enemies. Equipment damage is also no good, as when it breaks all armor and benefit is cancelled. Many people also complain about the Valkyrie animation, specifically that it takes too long and is unskippable. It takes about 20 seconds. Then youre playing again. No Game Over screen and load from menu, no running back to your body, just a 20 second animation that happens to be gorgeous. I fail to see the problem.
There are other small issues here and there, but those three main points are MY biggest complaints. So heres what the game does right.
1. The combat is a lot of fun. The combat in Too Human is unique in that the triggers control ranged weapons and the right stick controls melee attacks. After a brief adjustment period, I think this layout is very fun and effective. Its awkward at first but after a while becomes second nature. The only problem is that it leaves no way to control the camera. Combined with the slide mechanism, the game becomes a thrill when there is lots of stuff to kill, and thankfully that happens a lot. Melee and ranged (guns) are well integrated, and its a lot of fun to bat an enemy into the air with a hammer then juggle with your pistols. The ranged combat is handled with the triggers and an auto lock. The auto lock is flawed in that it often remains locked on dead targets or sticks to a target when you try to change, which you do by tapping the right stick while firing. But overall the melee/range relationship is fun and well implemented. Stringing combos together by striking, sliding, air combat, and finishing moves fills your combat meter which fuels special attacks and abilities that are determined by your class and alignment.
2. Customization is deep and balanced. There are several modes of customization, although character appearance is not one of them. The primary choices are class and alignment with a skill tree for each, and of course gear. There are five classes that let you specialize in various types of combat, such as high melee--Berzerker, high ranged--Commando, average all around--Champion, high defense--Defender, and health regeneration--Bioengineer. After completing the first dungeon you must also choose an alignment, either Human or Cybernetic. Generally Human is more combo reliant and Cybernetic is more gear reliant. Each class and alignment has a skill tree that you put points into as you level. The trees are fairly simplistic when compared to something like World of
Warcraft, but do add to the overall customization experience. Lastly there is the gear, which is seemingly endless. Not only are the combinations of weapons and armor immense, but many are slotted meaning you can add additional properties in the form of runes. You also have charms, which cause status effects in combat, such as gives a chance to freeze targets or gives a chance to explode on contact, but are activated by completing quests and inserting other runes or charms. The customization possibilities alone will keep you playing for dozens of hours.
3. The story and presentation are top notch, and have that special Silicon Knights touch. I mentioned above that the story feels cut short due to the lack of game content, and thats true. However, the integration of story, characters, art direction, and gameplay make for a rich gameplay experience. Its here where SK consistently is able to overcome technical setbacks to create something truly special. The developers always have great success in drawing from history and mythology to create a living world within their games, and Too Human is no different. This time Norse Mythology is the source, though from the
perspective of a cyclical history where the ancient gods were in fact much more techologicaly advanced than we are today. The graphics and art direction reinforce this concept with massive architectural environments that really feel alive. Character and enemy design is also top notch, highly detailed to the point of being flamboyant but not silly.
In my opinion Too Human is not a bad game and does not deserve the rabidly negative response from the internet gaming community. It does have some major flaws though that keep it from reaching its potential. That Silicon Knights charm manages to overcome a lot of the frustration brought on by the bad camera and limited game content, but not as much as in the past Im afraid. Dennis Dyack, lead designer of Too Human, insists this is the best game theyve ever made, but I just cant find truth in that statement. In fact I think its the weakest of their three major projects behind Eternal Darkness and Blood Omen.
If you love loot grinding games like Diablo II and Phantasy Star Online, there is much to love about Too Human. When you are killing waves of enemies its a blast, and thankfully that is happening most of the time. Its a game that you "get" or you dont, but if you are willing to look past its flaws, it is ultimately addicting and very fun.
Awful, repetitive crap.
On: 2008-09-16This game just feels broken. I hate the unskippable resurrection cutscene, and the worst part is you die A LOT, so youll have to endure this cutscene often. I would love to know which idiot thought that making it so long and unskippable was a good idea. And why are there so many enemies ever few steps. The game is just so repetitive and annoying. The only good thing I can say is the art direction is really imaginative, but I wouldnt recommend buying it at all; I rented from Blockbuster and wound up returning it without finishing (I had a few days left to keep it, but couldnt bring myself to do so).
is okay
On: 2008-09-13its a good game but its only 1 player and gets kinda boring when your playin by ur self
Great Game - too short
On: 2008-09-13I loved the game but the amount of game play makes it not a good value. That being said I will buy the sequels. I have finished it twice and the ability to continue to improve your character is addictive. I have not played online.
Blue Human - I'm sorry, that sucked.
On: 2008-09-13Why so blue? Well although its nice to see some people give this game a fair score, its not quite getting the praise it deserves. While not without its problems, Too Human is easily in the top 5 best games on the Xbox 360. It amazes me that people gripe about such stupid little things like a 15 second death scene that you cant skip. The graphics are very good, and the frame rate smooth.
The gameplay is extremely deep with swordplay, gun and special attacks. Dont forget the RPG elements - Leveling up, skill trees, rune system (think materia from Final Fantasy 7), and loot.... LOTS and LOTS of LOOOOOT. I didnt even know I was a loot whore! Swords, staffs, hammers, pistols, lasers, shotguns, and Im not even going into the armor selections - theres quite a bit. Gamesovergirls.com will have my full review, check it out. Oh yeah, I should let it be known that Im on my fourth playthrough and I cant see myself stopping anytime soon. Please help me!
Too Human Good vs. Bad
On: 2008-09-11The Good
*Really cool looking fighting. Weapon trails, sliding and aerial combat are visually spectacular. Switching back and forth from melee to guns is easy. You can plow through hordes of foes like the Norse bad-a$$ God you are.
*The campaign is only 10-15 hours, so its easy to go back and play again. 5 different character classes offer unique playing styles and appearance.
*The ability to hop out of the mission and go back to Aesir HQ whenever you want makes the game easy to pick up and put down if you dont have a lot of time, without losing progress on your mission.
*Character appearance. Baldur is not only fierce and grim, but hes a snappy dresser. The large variety of highly customizable armor and weapons allows you to thoroughly tailor your heros look.
*Cinematics are impressive and frequent.
The Bad
*Dialogue. I think Dennis Dyack had his angry teenage son write the script. Its mostly awful.
Some sample dialogue: http://fidgit.com/archives/2008/08/top-10-amazing-piece-of-dialog.php
*The NORN , World-tree computer world side quest is an interesting concept, but its boring,boring, boring in execution. This game is an action RPG and all you do in this part of the game (which can be hours long) is walk around and collect loot. There should be things to kill in here. I wanted to gouge my eyes out. Luckily you dont have to do this part, you can skip it if you dont care about loot. Sadly I care about loot so I wandered through the whole thing, hoping at some point it would get better.
*Dying is teh suckz. By the end of the game you want to strangle the Valkyrie and break her glowing metal wings off.
*Boss battles. There are only 5 of them and they are basically boring. Mostly it consists of you running away or hiding, and shooting them from a distance, which takes a really long time. They should have made shorter, more frequent, more compelling boss battles.
*Controls are intuitive..................after about 6 hours of gameplay.
*The camera is definitely the most difficult boss fight in the game, you battle it throughout the whole game.
*It feels like the game is really designed for coop play, not single player, as there is really only one character class balanced enough to play through single player without lots of dying and frustration.
Too Human, too bad.....
On: 2008-09-09I was hestitant after playing the demo, and my disappointments were confirmed after I played this at a friends place. And since I just finished Ninja Gaiden 2 and Vikings Battle of Asgard, TH was particularly disappointing.
My views concur with many of the reviews here. The good points include fairly impressive graphics. Visually, its quite a treat, but thats about the only thing it has going for it.
I really wanted to like this game, but it was hard. To cut a long story short, this game will put you to sleep. There are promising features - five classes of characters to play, skills trees, upgrades and loads of loot to pick up; but the core aspect of the gameplay is repetitive. While repetition can be fun, there is little real innovation to the fighting of TH, and when this is combined with level designs and enemies that replay again and again as the game progresses, its rather hard to sustain ones interest level. As everyone already knows, the melee fighting is done via right stick movement, this just doesnt do it for me. I was yawning by the 3rd level. Not that it was easy, the waves upon waves of assaulting enemies will overwhelm you, but the way the fighting controls are done, I dont find it entertaining and there was little satisfaction in the slaughter. And as already highlighted by others, the camera is problematic while the audio is average.
Apart from the graphics, all other aspects of the game seem like Xbox/PS2 standard, and the game certainly doesnt match its peers on the 360. Im actually quite curious as to the affairs of the games development. I heard the prolonged development was due to legal issues, perhaps the people at Silicon Knight were too occupied with these issues, raher than devoted fully to make the game great.
If you give it a chance you won't be disappointed.
On: 2008-09-07I really dont understand how the critics gave this game such poor reviews. While this game is not prefect, it has a lot going for it, mainly the fun factor (especially in co-op).
- The camera and controls are tolerable once you get used to them and then the melee actually makes sense. I think I am just about finished with the main campaign and I am already looking forward to playing through with another class.
- While the graphics are adequate, I wish Silicon Knights could have gotten the Unreal Engine to work for them since I saw a lot of potential in the art direction of the game. I hope they make up with Epic (since they are trying to take them to court over the engine not working for them, siting this as a cause for the release delay)and get the next two games working with it.
- I am really digging the setting (Norse Mythology in the future) and cant wait to see how the story plays out in this installment.
too human is awsome
On: 2008-09-06This game is awsome and fun. I will admit that there are some bugs. the camera does screw you up sometimes but press Lb and the camera fixes itself. read the instructions in the game and you wont have problems with melee or shooting.
Overated
On: 2008-09-06The camera angles in this game were possibly the worst that I have ever seen. (and that includes the Lord Of The Rings games). This made the tough fight sequences nearly impossible, as you would be facing the wall half of the time without being able to tell. The reason I rate it so highly still (and yes, for this game 2 is high) is because the cut-scenes and story behind the game were excellent. Hopefully the designers decide that players will actually need to see their enemies before they go ahead and make the second game.
Not human minded enough
On: 2008-09-06What a rip off. Microsoft should be ashamed of itself. There should be a warning lable on this one like cigretts. Dangerous to your mental stability. If this were the only game I saw I would never even start playing video games.
This game has no redeaming qualities at all.
Because it cost $ I have been playing for hours and can still not understand that dumb tree. I want to use the spider but I cant figure out how it works. I am on the third story line and still cant do anything. I simply randomly press every button and twirl every analog stick and things happen but I dont know why or what.
Really we need a warning system so we dont buy garbage like this. Really Amazon you shouldnt offer games like this to your customers.
Better forget this one. Not even worth a $1.00 bargen basement left over junk box sale.
Great game!
On: 2008-09-06I love the game and you will too if you enjoy titles like Diablo. It has a few flaws with the camera, but other than that its nearly perfect. A lot of people are down on the game due to the platform its exclusive to. Give the game a rent like I did and youll be surprised by it.
Free to make up my own mind...
On: 2008-09-05T. Paslay gets it... I was really looking forward to this game after playing the demo but the reviewers almost talked me out of the purchase. I think it was GameSpot that gave it a 5.5. That is the sort of score youd see for a mediocre/lousy game. This game is neither. I love the game play. It does take tactics and I dont find it hack & slash at all. I spend a lot of time tinkering w/ my skill tree, salvaging weapons, and upgrading weapons. See I LIKE doing this things! So many options to accommodate different play styles.
On the forums for this game Death cab posted a link made by Kevin Pereira from AotS on G4 and it is worthy another mention: [...]
I liked the story in single player and I liked not having the story in co-op which made it non-stop action. I have put in over 20 hours of play time and I still cant wait to get home. I think about it at work. Its a worse situation that when Vice City came out and I started looking for "hidden packages" at in my office building. I want my character to find all the pieces of his epic armor. I want to find out how to do more than 18 pts of ballistic to an ice troll. I want to find the red charms and complete them. But probably most important is that I can not wait to do it all over again with a new avatar.
Excellent Title!
On: 2008-09-04This game has suffered from a slew of negative reviewers who totally missed the boat on WHAT THE GAME truly is all about. Is it perfect, not by a longshot, but does it live up to the reasonable expectations of fans, it does and more.
The Story/Plot:
Some reviewers have pointed out that the story is confusing? HUH??? Evidently, they arent clued into Norse mythology thru Marvel comics, because if they are, then theres no frigging way they dont understand whats going on. This is an incredible re-imagining of Norse Lore that surpasses anything in Stargates re-take of Egyptian mythology, which I found to be ridiculous and a totally negative spin on that lore. Too Human takes a positive spin, and really creatively re-tells the story of those ancient gods. So I give the story an A+ in the re-telling of this ancient tale.
The Controls:
Another controversial point in the game, and its simply because the reviewers are Too Lazy to learn to play Too Human correctly. Its incredible how rapidly I can switch from melee to range attacks in the game...stunning actually. So, the only way to do it was to utilize the right-left button and the L-Stick to get the full effect. If you actually take the time to practice with it, and learn to use it, I find this control system to be superior to anything Ive seen. Ive recently completed Devil Might Cry 4, and I found this control system to be far superior to that game...Ill say to check people XBL tag to see those who are telling the truth about Too Human or not, btw
The Graphics:
Sure, theres some clipping on the cut scene, but its hardly anything too hard on the eyes, but Ill say this about Too Human, because of this, the cut scene are nearly seamless from the actual gameplay, and this totally reduces the shift from cut scene to gameplay, which something catches me off guard..."oh...this is the game..." and thats a nice surprise. Given the whole nasty split with SK and Epic over the game engine, I think SK did a great job in designing an engine to support the game. The next game in the series will be FAR more polished and superior to this game, since they will be tweaking the engine, and not working on it from scratch.
The Gameplay:
Enough cannot be said about how much fun it is to "slide" and smash enemies...I F#$KING LOVE IT!...I feel like a complete...well...God, as I charge into 10-15 enemies and slice them up. This is an incredible experience, and so intoxicating. The story moves along briskly, and Ive dropped trying to get thru several games, as Im glued to Too Human. The Loot...gotta love it!
The Bad Stuff:
With all that said, Silicon Knights NEEDS to address several of the complains many have lodged against the game, namely:
- The camera POV can be "sticky", but I think a lock-on targeting system would improve this issue.
- The leads to my next improvement in providing an optional target lock-on. When fighting Trolls and other non-trash mobs for example. It would be nice to be able to lock ur view to be able to snap back directly onto the target.
- Loot is great, but some people complained about THIS as well...hmmm...not sure what can be done about it. I love loot, so its fun to be constantly upgrading as you level, which compared to other games, such as DMC4, there IS no comparison.
- The graphics clipping...yeah, I think SK can address these issues with the next game with little problems. This was the first game on the new engine, and the game might not be as polished as it could have been, if they had been able to spend more time on "prettying" up the game, rather than doing the heavy lifting off developing a new engine.
So my overall review of this game is that it is an excellent choice for anybody willingly to actually TRY and learn the game. If youre looking for easy to learn parlor games, this is probably not for you. Too Human controls are complex, but its like riding a bike, once you get the hang of it, you can pop wheelies and other stunts with no problem.
Action packed Loot-fest
On: 2008-09-04Most people are quick to tout the O so prevalent "flaws" in too human but are pensieve about showing off its succeses and innovations. Why is that? The game is a solid choice if you want an intertwining storyline, loads of action, plenty of choices and options for any of the classes you play and an innovative control scheme that lets you choose exatly who you hit and precisely how. Pistols, swords, hammers, rifles, staffs, maces/shields, Cannons(yes cannons) and other toys I dont care to mention grace this game and give you the option to obliterate your foes however you so choose. The leveling system is fun and easy to track, and the HUD is great for keeping track of the battle details. Overall a solid game if you look past a few faulty camera angles and the occasional slip of the controls(you usually have to be precise). Great buy, only reason I dont give it a five is because the normal diffculty is BRUTAL in some spots, and the whole respawn thing eats about 30-45 seconds of your life. Sounds small, but try respawning like ten times in one area and you get frustrated.
Wait it out....
On: 2008-09-03Too Human is a hit or a miss for most people.
On paper, Too Human sounds great, but when youre actually playing the game, it becomes quite a different thing.
In my opinion, the game breaks down into two pieces: story and game play.
The story of Too Human is based on the Norse Mythology gone techno. Im not familiar with the Norse religion, but those of you who have played Valkyrie Profile would have a basic idea of the religion. The "big picture" of Norse religion is that it is based heavily on warfare. Now that sounds like fun, but Too Human puts an added mixture to it: robots and cybernetic humans.
I believe the biggest fault of the story of Too Human is the fact that nearly everything is related to technology. I feel that stories that rely heavily on technology tend to detach the main characters from the player. What I mean is, when youre fighting robots and so fort, you sort of feel detached because there isnt any sort of emotional relationship with the characters since robots arent "alive." While playing Too Human, I didnt feel attach to any of the characters. I felt that the friends and foes you meet are just generic and not only that, it felt as if the creators just forced the characters on you. I mean there isnt any sort of hatred or love for any of the characters. You know certain characters have a past together, but the game just doesnt develop it well enough for you to get emotionally attached to.
The next piece of the game is the game play. Most of the time, you will be fighting and this game has a unique combat system. Instead of button mashing to combo opponents, you must use the right thumbstick to fight. The thumbstick fighting is relative to your enemys position from the character. For example, if your enemy is to the left of the screen, simply move the right thumbstick to the left, and you will attack. This sounds all fine, I believe, but its not intuitive in my opinion. What Im getting at is that combat is not smooth at all and it feels rather automated. Simply move the thumbsticks and you will fight. You dont even get that many moves and even more so the enemies dont seem to challenge you all that often and when they do strike, its usually because youre overwhelmed by enemies.
Speaking of combat, its inevitable that you will die in this game. However, this game is quite unique in its death system. Unlike most game, you continue where you left off and the only real penalty is that you lose your combo count - a meter that fills as you fight and as it grows it gives stat bonuses as well as the ability to use moves. This is really a hit or miss and in boss fights, you dont even really need to fight... simply do small damages, die, return to life, and then recycle.
Aside from combat, from time to time, you will be walking in town. The fact is the towns might as well be empty because you have zero chance to interact with people. On occasion you may hear people talk about you, but you have no chance to interact with anyone. I mean normally in games, I sort of ignore the townfolks, but in this game, Im begging to just talk to someone. Simply put, when youre in town, you just go to some location, and then youre done.
Too Human has RPG elements to it in the sense that you level up and gain new equipments. If anything, this game has a full array of unique weapons, armor, and skills for you to try out. I must say I was quite happy to see how much stuff you get.
However, there are some serious flaws with Too Humans RPG system. First off, as you level up, so does your enemies. You dont really fight all that much, but simply a harder version of the previous enemies you fought.
The second flaw of the system follows the above. Remember how I said you can gain many new equipments and weapons? Well, you sort of have to change them over and over as your enemies changes. Basically, if you found some really cool set of weapons, youll eventually have to change them either because they broke (yes weapons and equipment degrades as you die I believe - another penalty for death I believe), or because you leveled up and now the weapon is useless.
Overall, I am half happy with the game. In my opinion, if youre unsure to buy this game after reading the many reviews on it, wait it out. What I mean is wait until it becomes cheaper or at least trade in games. I have a younger friend who plays a lot of games, and he doesnt have a job so he gets money through chores and his parents. I felt really bad that he wasted 60 of his hard earned dollars for this game and only to be disappointed by it. If you have friends or family members you plan to buy this as a gift for his/her birthday, I say have the receipt handy in case.
Too Human: released too soon or too late depending on how you look at it.
On: 2008-09-03Story:
This is what I got out of it since I didnt finish the game:
The aesir are the protectors of the human race, unfortunatley they are fighting a losing war with the machines, which are the left over war machines of the einhander(which lost to whatever enemy that they were fighting) that are fighting anything that gets in their way (think Star Trek: Borg or the scifi series berserker wars by Fred Saberhagen). All the aesir can do is fight the machines to a stand still which apparently is causing their world to slowly be consumed by winter. In this backdrop comes Baldur who suffered somekind of accident that badly injured him and killed his wife. He is convinced that there is a new threat lurking out beyond the "wall". He is soon proven right and soon discovers a third meance that may mean the end of the aesir race if not stopped.
===========
If the above is a bit confusing and vague, then hopefully it gives an idea of trying to make out whats going on when actually playing the game. Now on to the game. I think this is what happens when a developer trys to take all the games that were popular over the last 10 years (with a heavy emphasis on diablo) or so and mashs them all together. When it works it works, when it works great Baldur is walking, air juggling death machine that that smashs through anything and anyone that gets in his way. Unfortunatley when one of the bits that didnt mash quite right pops up it knocks down the whole house of cards. Just about all of the issues have been mentioned else where, in great detail with with much description so Ill let the reader go find them, elsewhere. My main complaints with the game are the pacing, the dungeons and the controls. The pacing is more or less the story mentioned above, to me there was no real reason to want to go to the next dungeon or to want to go onto the next cut scene. If your going to copy Diablo then at least figure out what made the formula work and why people still play the thing. The story may not have been the most orignal or the greatest, but it made sense and finding out what happened next fit perfectly with finding a ton of interesting loot. Secondly the dungeons, for starters the ones I played all kinda looked the same, go down hall fight small monsters and then go into a big room where you fight a lot of small monsters and a couple of big monsters and then repeat until you get to the end where you fight a really big monster that is a nusiance to beat. Dont worry though you cant really die, it takes you more or less 30 seconds to respawn. This may not sound like a long time but when you keep getting killed because you get swarmed it adds up. Which brings me to the controls which lead the player to seeing the valkeryie slowly come down and slowly go up alot. If baldur is being nice to you then the sword work (mark of kri)and the gun play (DMC)actually work togther to make a fairly enjoyable combat experience. The problem is that pesky camera issue some game makers get and some game makers need to get. The actual problem is that the player does not control the camera. You have a choice of near, far, close and hit the Left Bumper if you want to spin the camera in the direction being faced by Baldur and if you happen to hit an enemy in the opposite direction of you have fun shooting or slicing air unless your lucky and the auto target decides to work. My usual luck was that I would knock the enemy in the air and the halfworking auto target would miss that and I would shoot up the scenery. Also there does seem to be an emphasis in this game for co-op, one of the pop up tutorials even says some of the bosses are better taken on with another player. All in all I had to give up on this game around the time Loki escapes just because the dungeon following that brought all of these issues to a head and had me banging my head against the wall. If you like diablo and dont mind dealing with a wonky control system and/or you have someone to play this game with in on-line co-op mode then you might get a good time out of it. Everyone else should rent before buying, Im glad I did.
Graphics: Great
Story: Would proably be interesting if it made some more sense, apparently at the end there is a shocker/cliff hanger
Controls/Camera: Hopefully they will make sure this actually works right when they release the sequel. This is soupposed to be a three parter.
Too Human...
On: 2008-09-03I was nervous to purchase this game because of some bad reviews that I have read, but I purchased it anyways. I can now say after playing for a few hours that this game is interesting. Yes the camera and controls are very bad at first, but after an hour of playing I was used to them. The thing I dont like about this game is that its unbelievably easy. I dont like when games are impossible but this is way to easy.
With that being said, this game does have some good qualities to it. First, I can actually play it (coming from the recent junk we have received lately, this is a good thing). Second, I am semi-interested in the story, I can tell the developers actually put some time into this.
So if you are reading this you are probably wanting to play this game. Go ahead and give it a try! I would recommend downloading the demo or watching some gameplay before you shell out $60. But coming from me, this is the best game that I have played this year (with the exception of GTA 4 and Mario Kart Wii of course).
Madness meets Genius
On: 2008-09-03I just finished Too Human and I can only recommend it to Players who are dying for a hack n slash for the 360. This game has some great innovation and some horrendous flaws.
Story:
The story is a mix between the Matrix and Norse Mythology. As the story began I felt like I was reading the 8th novel in a series because all sorts of epic things were happening and I had no clue what was going on. Apparently, the Norse gods live in the matrix, fight monsters with swords and laser guns, and travel through cyber space. My friends told me the story was awful and I really tried to like it, but I just couldnt. The main character, Baldur is voiced by Crispin Freeman of Hellsing. Im a big fan of Hellsing... still couldnt get into the story.
Gameplay:
The gameplay basically sucks. You use the triggers to fire your long range weapons and the right analog stick to point to the enemy that you want to attack with a melee weapon. (sword, hammer...) If you double tap the stick, you launch the enemy into the air and you can jump combo them or shoot them as they fall. This is pretty fun. However, often times, you target enemies that you dont want to target. To make matters worse, some enemies explode or poison you. So, you end up dying from time to time by accident. What really breaks the game is that unless you play the Bio-Ops class, you cannot heal yourself. Thats right. No health potions, regeneration, heal spells... nothing. The only way to get health is from random enemy drops. Sometimes, you can kill 30 guys and they dont drop anything. Other times, you can kill 3 and 2 of them drop health. This is extremely frustrating because you may be near death, and theres nothing that you can do. There are crystals that you can destroy in the environment, that drop health, money, or weapons, but those are random as well. With no consistent way to regain health, you end up dying repeatedly. This is NO FUN!
Death:
Dying takes about 30 seconds to a minute. An angel comes down and takes your body away. There are times in this game where I saw the angel more than I was playing. This was very frustrating.
Economy:
The economy of the game is pretty good. You never have too much money and you need to make decisions on what weapons you want.
Inventory:
This game may feature the best RPG inventory system of all time. Its incredibly easy to sell, buy, and customize your weapons and armor. You dont have to waste hours in cities like most other RPGs. Its all done with the Start Button and a few inventory screens.
Art:
The art style of the game is very cool. A nice blend of Warhammer 40k and Norse Mythology.
Camera:
The camera is your friend most of the time. However, sometimes... the camera is not your friend. When you are in combat, it is difficult to target enemies and you often target the wrong enemy. The camera points to that enemy allowing you to get killed from behind. This is... no fun.
RPG:
You get new gear and level up quite often and that gives you a good sense of accomplishment. However, the enemies level up with you, so most of the encounters feel exactly the same.
Overall:
Playing through the game once takes about 12-13 hours. About 3 of those hours are fun. 2 of those hours are nonsensical cutscenes. 2 of those hours are spent leveling up and getting new gear. The other 5 or 6 hours are painful.
So, if youre a big fan of hack and slash games, dont mind a weird story, want to play Diablo without health potions, and know a bit about Norse mythology... pick it up.
Anyone else... youve been warned. Youre in for a confusing and frustrating time.
Play The Demo First
On: 2008-09-02There is no way to say this strongly enough --- Play The Demo First. The controls are laid out poorly and dont work particularly well anyway and the camera is unforgivable. This will ruin the game for more than a few players. Play the Demo first. Youve been warned.
Great Game when its full depth is realized
On: 2008-09-02At first I didnt think this game was all that great after playing the demo, however I was soooo wrong. I havent even yet realized all of this games great depth and with the many skills, upgrades and runes stones that benefit not only your player in single player but also how much they affect and benefit your coop player in multiplayer. I believe this is the exact reason why this game got poor reviews by so many mainstream websites. I dont believe they actually took the time to research and learn all of this games depth.
most people dismiss this game as just a linear action game, but there is soo much more, for instance: building up your combo meter by performing different combos gives you an experience bonus as well as higher damage faster melee attacks, faster rate of fire and many other things.
This game gest very exciting and satisfying the second time around when you bring your character back for another playthrough with double the enemies and different encounters. The game will pit so many enemies against you and you will just enialate them in seconds, you will truly feel like a bad***!
Aside from the intense action ther is the LOOT! I spend most of my time now hunting for the EPIC loot which is incredibly hard to find but gives the game soo much replayability. I am currently on my 5th playthrough with about 70 hours logged so far and I cant put this game down yet!
Too Human = Too Crappy
On: 2008-09-01What an amazingly crappy game. There is so much wrong and frustrating about this game, that I dont even know where to start. How do you push a game from release several times over and still release a stinker such as Too Human? Im sorry, but the team over to Microsoft Games took one from the page of the makers of Alone in the Dark over to Atari with Too Human.
Graphics: Subpar at best. PS1 at its worst. For whatever reason, when you venture into Cyberspace, the graphics take a jump through time, back into the 1980s with flat grounds and environments. Why doesnt the water move?
Controls: Okay, however I cant tell you how many times I started swinging my weapon around while trying to adjust the annoying camera with the right analog stick. Another page from Ataris Alone in the Dark? Why on earth did they do this? You have two other buttons that arent even used! Arghh! Frustrating. Swinging your weapon with the right analog stick is absolutely miserable and single-handly takes away any "fun" that the combat has to offer.
Note to game makers: Halos controls were great and spot on. Follow what works, and has been tested.
Gameplay: OMG! Repetative! The same enemies over and over and over again, with the occassional new one thrown in to say that they atleast tried to spice the game up. Just wait until you try and target a floating enemy with a gun while 900 unkillable enimies flatten you in two seconds. Oh, and dont get me started on the Valkiyre cutscene everytime you die.
Speaking of dying, although you dont have to restart the entire level when your character perishes, youll soon wish you did, if that meant you could skip the annoying Valiyre cutscene. What were they thinking? Did they want to punish the player for spending $[...]?
Final thought:
This games is a renter at best, but if you want to buy it, wait a few weeks, itll be in the bargain bin by then.
I will never understand what posses compainies to release complete piles of crap like Too Human or Alone in the Dark. Id rather have the game scrapped completely, and be dissappointed but still have my $[...].
In the end its your choice, but if youre on the edge about this game, then rent it first!
Kinda Hard Difficulty
On: 2008-09-01Ive played through the entire game in single-player mode (as opposed to 2 player co-op). I thought it was too hard in some areas and really seemed to be telling me that I should be playing it co-op because if you chose a melee-based character, you will sometimes wish you had better ranged attacks, or vice versa. Also without the bio engineer class, you cannot heal (except for health pickups which can be frustratingly sparse sometimes).
Overall, I thought the game was innovative and cool, but on the difficult side. It is also heavy on inventory management, so if you dont want to micromanage your characters inventory in a heavy action game, then this is at best a "rent" for you. The camera can be bad and if you want to play a ranged character, good luck because you cant really cycle through different targets once you have locked onto one target. So the game can be overly hard at times (where you die over and over).
Still a cool, interesting game. Just not as fun as I would have hoped.
Dig a little deeper
On: 2008-09-01This game has been getting fairly horrible reviews. The problem is not THIS game, the problem is all the other games. See, were so used to a game holding our hands through every little facet it has to offer us that when a game comes along and gives you little more than a few tips and a control scheme we think its just thrown together. When you approach your first troll fight the game doesnt pause and provide a detailed tool tip on how to defeat a troll, YOU have to figure it out. The same goes with most things in the game. Its a game requiring alot of trial and error. You know what though? Figuring everything out is a hell of a lot more rewarding than having everything explained.
At first Too Human comes off as a button mashing loot fest. It can be very frustrating getting through the first few hours. On the surface it seems like the enemies are a bit overpowered and SK used the Valkyrie mechanic to avoid having to balance the game. Once you realize that youre not dying because the game is unbalanced, youre dying because you suck at the game, it gets a lot better. This is a game about strategy, each situation calls for more tactic than power sliding into the fray and mashing around the right control stick. It also requires careful planning of your skill point trees to compliment your play style.
Some people claim the game is too short. This is a game where you CAN sprint through it in around 8 hours and have a character around lvl 18. ?However, my first run through I logged 14 hours and had a level 30 character. Exploring the game isnt necessarily encouraged, but it is most definitely rewarded. I faced enough extra mobs by taking time exploring and trying to get the most out of the game to achieve an extra 12 levels over those who just rushed through it.
The story comes under fire a lot as well. First off, if you dont know anything about norse mythology then the story isnt really going to shine. I think its funny that people are talking about how stupid or corny the story is when its all actual Norse mythology thats altered slightly to fit into the sci fi world. To say that the storys stupid, is saying that the Norse myths are stupid, so you cant really blame SK for that. I thoroughly enjoyed the story. It was pretty fleshed out, it does take a little bit of walking off the beaten path and talking to the other Aesir even when not prompted to. Before you play the game (or even after if youre not happy with the story) go ahead and Wiki Baldur and Fenrir and some other figures and stories from Norse myths. Youll probably appreciate it a lot more. I thought the ending was great and really set up the rest of the series.
There are some problems with the camera angles as most have stated, but I really only had issues a couple times once I got used to it and trusted it to show me what I needed to see. What game doesnt have camera issues though? Another issue I had was with the auto target on the guns. Its really tough for you to pick out a specific target. Its not a huge deal, usually targeting anything that moves is fine, but there were a few instances where I wanted to pick off a certain mob to weaken the group and had difficulty.
Summation: This is a great game and its really too bad that a lot of people are going to pass it up due to reviews. It takes a few hours to get used to it and figure everything out, but when you do the game really shines. It clocks in at about 8 to 12 hours depending on how much exploring you do, 10 hours seems to be the norm for most games these days. The story is great, but may get lost if you dont do a little research first. Strong replayability. Im still working on my Defender class. Theres a lot to go back and unlock. If your friend has a copy you can do co-op over live for hours of goblin bashing, loot grabbing goodness. Its not perfect but its a fresh title thats loads of fun and a unique take on an old story. 4.5/5.
Any game that keeps me addicted for 12 hours in a day gets 5 stars...
On: 2008-09-01im a huge fan of this game after playing it for 2 days straight. this game led me and a pal through 2 all nighters and plenty of day time adventuring. its so addicting. each time we try and find a stopping point we say, "we just got an awesome weapon/armor piece! we have to go a little further!" and we, of course, keep going only to stay hooked for another few hours. we have had some awesome moments in co-op. my friend will rush in to the middle of 20 people and start stomping on them and i will be farther back protecting him from a barrage of 20 missiles. the explosions constantly going off in the air as i laser each rocket and the bodies flying make for one hell-of-a fun experience. or other times where i will blast away at an enemies armor and he will circle around back and jump on them for a finisher as i distract them. or even more awesome co-op moments such as when he will smash his hammer down, launch 4 enemies in the air, and each of us shoots them out of the air with a pistol aimed on each... this game is great. the campaign is good so far, ive only played the first 2 levels of it. the game has 4 major worlds in it. they are LONG though. it took us about 17 hours to go through the game.
one thing to note is that in CO-OP, there are no cutscenes, so no story progression. but a good thing is that whether you are in Co-op or story, all items and experience you gain stay with your character. you can also work on multiple characters without having to delete the old ones. now that my friend and i beat it together, we are going through it in campaign to level up and experience the story. afterwards, we are going to try and get to level 50 and find the best armor and weapons again. i even bought a copy of this game for my brother, just so i could play it with him.
this game begs to be played. it has its drawbacks but i believe that the fun factor far outweighs the occasionally weird camera angles (just press RB to reset it, stop complaining!) or the minor glitches. and i have NEVER fallen through a floor into a "pseudo-abyss" as gamespot said in their biased review. this game is amazing, and as a whole, i think it is more addicting than any game i have played on 360. (i play ALOT of games) do yourself a favor and buy it NOW. and maybe buy it for a friend as well. they will thank you.
Stop what your doing and buy this game now!
On: 2008-08-31I like most people who play games listened to some of the reviews about this game.I decided to purchase it any way and Im so glad i did. Its one of the most enjoyable experiences Ive had with games and Ive been playing for over 25 years. The only negative thing I would say is that I wish the campaign was a little longer. The graphics are good and if they would have been able to use the unreal engine it could have been better. The story is top notch and the combat is very enjoyable. The cameras bothered some people and once in a while it will bother you, but for the most part its not a problem. What a great game and more than worth the money I paid for it. Cant wait for Too Human 2!
Falls short in many places but has potential
On: 2008-08-31From what I have seen people either love this game, or they hate it. Well I am sorta in the middle. This game has been in some form of development for the past 10 years. To be honest I was expecting a masterpiece. What I got was something that felt unfinished. Even so the game has some great ideas behind it and with two sequals promised for the future Silicon Knights can definitely fix the issues and polish the next game so that it will be a masterpiece.
So, bad points in the game...there is no camera control besides centering it behind your character. I had few problems with the camera but when I did have it go wrong it normally resulted in my quick death. The death sequence is about 20 secs. long and looked really cool the first time, after that it just got a little annoying. The developers knew that you were gonna die and you die alot. Theres even an achievement that gets unlocked after you die 100 times. Thats kinda depressing if you ask me. The story is rather short and has poor voice acting, like I said it feels like there could have been more to it. The actual gameplay can also get really repetitive really fast. I thought it was cool that you dual wield pistols no matter what class you are but the whole idea about aiming at two enemies at the same time needs to be fixed. You can aim at two enemies but when one dies, I could rarely get that gun to stop targeting that enemy. There were also quite a few graphics bugs but none that affected gameplay, just kinda ruined the visual aspect for a few seconds but then everything goes back to normal. This game was frustrating, but if you can get past all that there are quite a few good things as well.
This game wants you to collect loads of loot. I mean there seems to be no end to all the stuff you can get. Well until your level 50 and you cant level up past that so theres not much more that you havent seen already. You can equip different styles of armour to your character and change the color with cool little color runes you buy. Before you freak out the things cost about 100 bucks for the most part and you almost always have a ton of money from gettin rid of old armour and weapons. There are weapons and armour that come into youre possesion as blueprints that you have to craft before getting it. These tend to be the best items available to your character level and often look the coolest. Crafting is easy though, you select the blueprint, pay the crafting fee and bam the items in youre inventory. This can be done anywhere as long as you have the cash. Weapons come in quite a few different styles and can effect how you play. Of course you can customize the color of youre weapons as well. So what im getting at is that you can customize to youre hearts content. The combat is fast paced and at times you really get a sense that youre some super powerful warrior god. Thats an awesome feeling seeing youre character flash across the screen killing everything in his wake. Though the story is short there is a lot of room to expand on character relationships and to develop the main character into someone you can really start to like. As it is he just seems kinda blank, but that also seems to go with the story so I guess its up to you to see if you like him or not.
So to be honest, I enjoyed the game and gave it four stars because I see great potential. But I also have already beaten it and leveled three characters to fifty and I feel bored with it. If youre planning on taking the game online to play co-op then there is definatly more fun to be had but I didnt get a chance to try that part yet, but I have heard good things. All in all, you should definitely try it first to see if you like it. If it works for you then definitely pick it up. The thought of a Too Human 2 with all the issues fixed has already got me eagerly waitng for the chance to bring my level 50 characters into a new experience. If you do pick it up, just have fun. There really is a decent game in there, it might just take you an hour or two to find it.
Buggy and "copy and paste" mindless of levels with samething over and over
On: 2008-08-31Some reader reviews said the game is better but you have to play most into the game to know which it is so bad. Simply playing it for a few hours dont tell you the real story.
Did Sillicon Knight got a group of artists but forgot to make the game? The graphics look very nice, and force you watch unskippable the death scenes over and over. Every few steps, the game throws at you tons of enemies non-stop. Most levels look and play alike like the game developers simply copy and paste the same level repeatly. There are only a few lines recorded for your squard and the same lines got repeating over and over. Your squard random disappears but they are still talking. There is no way to adjust the audio in the game (the audio option doesnt even exist). The explosions are ultra loud which is played continuously. There are so many stupid things in this game to point its not even a game but rather the artists want to force you to watch their art than playing the game.
Too Human looks very promising on the surface and the more your play the game, the more pointless and boring it becomes.
Not bad, but doesn't live up to the hype
On: 2008-08-30The eagerly anticipated, much hyped about Too Human is finally here, and sadly, it doesnt live up to the hype that has been surrounding the game for so long before its release. A mix of action and role playing, Too Human is also a mix of cyberpunk storytelling and Norse mythology as you play as the god Baldur. The bulk of Too Human revolves around you taking out baddies and making it to an end boss, and repeating the process. Sometimes this can be fun thanks to the interesting weapons and armors that can come into your possession, and the skill trees allow you to really make the character your own. While the basic combat and RPG elements are decently implemented, Too Human falls flat with its story, ranged combat, and the fact that it wont take you long at all to finish the game. Not to mention that by the time the games story gets really compelling, the game comes to an end, and naturally sets up for a sequel. Getting there however may be more difficult than you think, as Too Human is also loaded with frustrating moments, but strangely there are moments where youll be getting immense enjoyment out of the game as well. Technically speaking, Too Human looks and sounds wonderful, but there still just isnt enough here to measure up to the hype. All in all, Too Human is definitely worth a look at the very least, but for those who had been eagerly anticipating the games release, prepare to be disappointed.
Game took ten years to make this many flaws rofl
On: 2008-08-30I started playing this game having high hopes than I realized the storyline was kinda dumb ...Than after that a few minutes later I died in the game and waited for the stupid angel to revive me about 30 seconds later cause you cant "fast foward" through this .After respawning I died again and again every 5 minutes.This game was made to be way too hard and on top of that the camera angle is gonna drive you nutes when you got 50 enemies coming after you and cant lock on to the enemie you wanna attack.After all this the controls IMO suck and you will wonder why it took 10 years to make this crappy game.Im atm stuck on trying to kill a monster that apparently wont die as I hit it just keeps attacking me without taing any damage at all died 20 times and quit playing I would not recommend wasting 60 bucks on this garbage maybe pay 20 bucks only cause its my face genre action adventure type rpg...
Too Human-Bad Press, Unique Game, Too Fun
On: 2008-08-29Once you put aside the hype, the hate and the less than stellar forum behavior of the games director what you are left with is a very solid hack and slash game that offers so much customization that you would have to truly hate this kind of a game to avoid having fun.
The graphics are good, and really pick up if you can focus on the backgrounds, which are both huge and incredibly well rendered. Also, while there are only four levels, the replay value of the title is immense, I found it more fun after completing the campaign with both the loot and enemies scaling upwards toward your level. Also, the camera isnt so bad. If you can change between 6 weapons while 15 people try to squash you in a multiplayer match, you can handle 5 camera settings and swapping them up.
Fun. Fast paced. Too Fun.
This game feels half done...
On: 2008-08-29This game is only a half a game. Let me explain why. First off, the camera needs work. Although if you hit the down key on your "D-Pad" it will change, I recommend "Iso". That is just one of the basic complaints on this game.
Another problem is the story. They hint at a few things happening (I dont want to spoil it for you people, so I wont go in to details) in the past, but dont go to far into detail about it or explain why they do what they do or how things got they way they are. The story line through the game keeps the explanations to a minimum. Just that "Loki" committed a horrible crime.
The combat...ohh the combat. The combat is some of the shallowest I have ever seen a game of this nature. All you do to melee is tilt your right stick towards the person you want to attack. Or tap it towards them to knock them into the air. After a few battles of does the same 4 moves over and over it gets old....fast. As part of the combat, the classes all play the same. I made a ranged class thinking that I could stay at ranged the whole time. But was sadly mistaken when I found out guns do hardly enough damage to take care of the lowest level baddies. Especially when they throw 15 or more at you at a time. So i ended up meleeing all the people to take them down, but as a ranged class i had low Health Points and Defensive points to stand a chance.
Graphics and sound are probably the best things about this game. Dont get me wrong, they are not fantastic by any means, but are about par for this day and age.
All in all, if you enjoy games like Devil May Cry and God of War, you MIGHT enjoy this game if you get by all these major flaws.
*Sorry for grammar mistakes or spelling.*
Don't believe the reviews.
On: 2008-08-29This game for some reason has been hated on by all the reviewing sites for some stupid reason. The game is not AAA, but its a great game. Lots of fun. Always leveling up. Combos are insane! The graphics are good, and best of all frame rate holds up during gameplay always. If you like dungeon crawlers then you should buy this game.
I am half way through it and still loving it.
Don't believe the hate
On: 2008-08-29This is a great game and very deep once you get into it. The combat is fun, and the story is good as long as you have some knowledge of Norse Mythology. If you thought the demo was fun, then definitely pick this one up because it only gets better!
Casual Gamers May Want to Avoid this One
On: 2008-08-28I am not a tremendous fan of the action/pseudo-RPG genre, but there have been some of these games that I have really enjoyed, such as Assassins Creed and Saints Row. This game, however, suffers from defects that significantly detract from its enjoyableness for those of us who just want to play and have fun, not wrestle with a games difficulties or just sycophantically embrace it.
The main defect, as expressed in other reviews, is the camera control. It is erratic at best. As I played, the camera would swing around to the front or side and the only way to regain control is to center the view by pushing left bumper, but this sudden change in point of view was very confusing for me, especially when moving or when confronted by enemies.
I found the character, Baldur, difficult to control as well. When surrounded by enemies, I found it difficult to get Baldur to turn and engage the enemies behind him. Often, it seemed like he would root in place, resulting in him getting backstruck repeatedly. And this isnt something that you can afford. The game is pretty unforgiving with healing. There isnt enough of it for a casual player like me who just wants to play and have fun, not die every 3 to 5 minutes.
I found the game unintuitive and the in-game tutorial tips insufficiant. The first level was easy, relatively, compared to the second level, where the difficulty ramps up unexpectedly and significantly. Too significantly. I was completely unprepared for the difficulty of the second level and the game itself offered little help. I was dying over and over, far too frequently, for the game to be even remotely enjoyable, and, everytime I died, I was subjected to a cutscene of Baldur being taken by a valkyrie that got old after the second time that I saw it and was just intensely annoying everytime after that. This cutscene is just conceit on the game designers part and a blatant disregard for the fact that most people have only a limited time to play their games and they dont need it wasted watching the same pointless scene over and over again.
I am not saying that this game is completely bad. I am sure that some people, perhaps those more time on their hands than I care to waste, will enjoy it. I would suggest renting the game and playing through the second level before you decide to buy. Dont trust the demo. The first level is much, much easier than the second and the demo is just an abbreviated version of the first level. The second level may be more difficult than you want to waste your time with, if you are a casual gamer as I am. For me, the aim of the game is entertainment and, with its lousy camera control, difficult to control character, and lack of intuitiveness, this game failed miserablely to entertain me.
Good game, ok, I no know why
On: 2008-08-27I like game little. IT fun. It give loot and kill stuff. I beat it in one sitting because i have disease. I asia.
Excellent game of its GENRE
On: 2008-08-27Let me say that I too like many use metacritic and gamerrankings.com as a guide when I am looking for a new game. For the most part I agree with the reviews and average scores. This game however is a bit of conundrum in that professional reviewers gave it bad scores and most regular gamers have given it great scores. I usually do not write reviews, but this one time this game is getting an unfair reviews.
To start of with when reviewing games one has to review games and compare them to compeating games or games within its genre. One cannot compare this game to Halo 3, Gears or Wars, CoD, 4, etc and then compain that the game sucks. The best game to compare to is the gold standard for this genre and that would be Diablo 2. If you loved diablo 2 (or World of Warcraft) then you know what type of game you are getting yourself into. It is a game where you mindlessly kill 1000s upon 1000s of bad guys, mindlessly loot, mindlessly treasure hunt, and cointinue to try and achive perfection for your character (Collect all pieces of elite gear, complete elite charms, etc). And then after that start all over again with another character type. The whole concept of skill trees, modifiers, resistances, etc play significant role. If you never liked Diablo or World of Warcraft (or any other similar games) then you are not going to like this game. Dont even bother trying to play the game because you will never understand the concept of the game. If you do like this genre, then read on.
The game mechanics are different. We (as gamers on consoles) are so used to FPS controls than anything different automatically becomes bad. Its like PC gamers claiming that the only way to play shooters is with KB/mouse. It is not the only way, it is that individuals preference. Similarly, there is a learning curve (but it really is not that bad), and instead of mindlessly (I like using that word) button mashing A or B like many games have, this game you use the R stick instead. After playing for hours, I really like this setup and I think in the long run lessens the strain on your hand because of this. The learning curve is not bad, but one has to have an open mind to trying the different setup, and if you do not have the ability to adapt, then the game mechanics can become a little difficult.
1. Graphics are pretty good, I play on a 130" projector and even at that size I am happy. They are not the best on the console, but they are far from the worst. They are better than launch game graphics.
2. Sound is great, especially playing in a home theater setup
3. Action is non stop, and extremely fun. Even better when playing co-op. Compared to games in its genre, the mx of enemies, the difficulties etc are great.
4. Monsters level as you do. Some people like this (Oblivion does this) but some people want to feel like gods when they reach level 50 (this will not happen). The main advantage is that rather than being confined to a tiny area for looting and treasure hunting for high level items, the entire game is available to treasure hunt because all monsters will be max level as well. This is a good thing.
5. Camera issues. Again it is differnet. There are 6-7 different camera angles too choose from. Like the controller setup, it is different and thus you have to adapt, and truthfully, it makes sense after playing for hours. Just like the controller issue, it is difficult if one plays for a couple of hours and then passes judgement (like the professional reviewers), but after playing dozens of hours, the camera makes sense. Think about it, Silicon Knights probably spent thousands of hours making this game, and felt that this was the best options, and I tend to agree. The flow-panning-handling is very smooth, and I like the way it is setup.
6. 2 player Co-op. I know many of us really want 4 player co-op and apparently it is in the code to do so. The option was removed because it apparently made the game unbalanced. I have no doubt that either in a patch or more likely in Too Human 2 it will be available. That being siad, 2 player coop is even more fun than playig solo. The monsters are also much harder and more challenging.
7. Cutscenes could have been better quality
8. The story is complex and makes no sense to begin with. However the story makes much more sense at the end of the game as everything falls into place, and leaves you wanting more (thus Too Human 2 and 3).
There is so much more positive things to say (inventory management, the menu system (maybe a little dumbed down but again a good thing for a console, etc). Comparing games in its genre I give it a solid 8.5/10. It could be a little more polished (thus not a 9), but the game is just so much fun and addicting.
The reviewers are wrong.
On: 2008-08-26The game does have its flaws, but it is very good in its own right. Once you get used to the controls, the game is a lot of fun. I have a lot of xbox360 games, and this is one of my favorites. It is not a regular action game like Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. This is more of a mix between Devil May Cry and an RPG. Dont listen to the critics, just try the demo in XBL and find out for yourself. Just be warned, you need to play the demo at least 3 times before you get a real feel for the game.
Great game!
On: 2008-08-26First off, the controls. They are absolutely great. They decided to step away from the norm and adopted a control scheme that is unique, responsive and allows for non-stop, quick-paced action.
Secondly, the camera. Okay, the camera sucks, I cant argue that, I have found that I have died several times just because the camera gave me some obscure view.
Third, the graphics. They arent the best, but they arent that bad. People seem to expect everygame to look as good as Gears of War, sorry people not everygame is going to.
Fourth, the user interface. It looks like a mess at first, but after about 10 minutes of play you should have figured out what parts of it you need to pay attention to, and it really doesnt bother me the least.
Lastly the game is just so much fun. It could have been bad, but it isnt, it is highly addictive and unique.
While there are lots of good games coming out in the upcoming months, this game should not be avoided, I plan on playing this game until Fable 2 comes out in late October.
Fun game will a couple of flaws
On: 2008-08-26Well first off, I think its a great game, and the controls are real fluid, alot better than it would have been in the standard shooter controls. The only gripe that I have is not being able to skip the death resurection cutsceen. Its too long and in some of the harder areas you see it very often and its like one min long. THe first time you see it, It looks great and neat. But after seeing it 6 or so times in 20 min you just want to stop and put down the game for a while. But its a good game.
Loot gathering fun for all
On: 2008-08-25Too Human is a fun action RPG with a lot of depth yet easy enough for anyone to pick it up and play. The innovative control scheme does take a little while to get used to but once you get a hang of it building combos is tons of fun. The game has a good story if you are looking for one but the game is just fun to play
If you can stand the camera, you'll love this game
On: 2008-08-25My advice is to pick up the demo or something and give it a spin. If the camera (which is terrible and basically completely out of your control) doesnt ruin it for you, then buy the game, because thats really the only down side to it
The game itself reminds me heavily of Mass Effect, except without the conversation trees. The art and level design, especially in the base area, looks like it was done by the same people
Anyway, the game is easy to get into, has a somewhat hard to understand but passably interesting story, and theres lots of replay value, so like i said, if the camera doesnt make you throw it down in disgust then you should be good to go
Don't believe the hate
On: 2008-08-24This is an incredible game. Its a shame too many game review websites have a personal vendetta against the developers, but its true and they have let it cloud their judgement by issuing terrible reviews. The game is fast paced action, with an incredible array of loot drops. Character building is fun and involving. If you miss this game you will regret it if you are a fan of action/loot related gaming such as Diablo or Titan Quest. Think for yourself, disregard the haters and give the game a try, it will not dissapoint you at all. Great replay value, and pure hack and slash fun with an excellent story and graphics to back it all up.
A good start to a possible trilogy but not perfect
On: 2008-08-24I preordered this game and thought that after seeing the reviews from most place it was going to be a mistake. However, after playing the game completely through and starting on my second time through, I am glad to say that it was a good purchase. It is by no means perfect but I do see so great ideas here and most are executed fairly well.
Pros
-Graphics are pretty good and the environments feel different.
-Sounds make you feel that you are in a large scale battle.
-You can customize your character in a large variety of ways.
-Interesting take on Norse mythology
Cons
-Game is kind of short, about 10 hours of game play or so.
-Camera can be a pain with no easy manual control.
Mixed Bag Things about the game
-The game can go from easy to incredibly hard from section to section.
-The hard sections are more about endurance than skill since there is no game over possibility. You just respawn until you kill everything. Which these section can be annoying at times.
-The respawning moments can get old and you seen them a few times, however, I guess it quicker than having to reload a level.
-The controls are simple so anyone can pick them up quickly, but have some complexity when attacking with a large group of enemies but leading to some pretty good fight scenes.
-The game offers a little bit in story variety depending on whether you choose the human or cybernetic route.
-There are 5 different classes to choose from but the story is the same for all of the them.
Overall
This is a good game, but not the best one of whats going to come out still this year. It does have descent replay value and would be a good game to have especially if they follow up with the other parts of the supposed trilogy. Is it a must have, probably not but it is a game that if you give a chance, it will be entertaining.
Good game just don't pre-order from amazon
On: 2008-08-23This is a good game. The controls are fun and you kill alot of bad guys quickly. If you like God of War, Ninja Gaiden, and Devil May Cry and you are willing to try a new control scheme then this game is for you.
The goods: Lots of killing, you will kill 20-30 enemies in roughly 10secs of battle (expecially grunts) then there are the more challenging baddies which you have to take out with special tactics and moves. The gameplay is new, whereas traditionally you would use the right analog stick to control the camera, or dodge, etc, now it is your multi-directional attack with the triggers as you pri/sec fire. Second there is lots of loot, LOTS of LOOT. And finally, it is a sci-fi spin (think Battlestar Galactica and Riddick) on Norse mythology with all the power and barbarian style debauchery that comes with it.
The bads: There is almost too much loot. You get a new piece of gear around every corner. Second, when you die there is a 30sec cut scene you cannot skip. Third it is way too linear, the only times you allowed to deviate from the railroad tracks is when you find a secret area, then you are right back on the tracks. I dont think the camera is bad, it is just something you need to get used to.
All in all, its not game of the year material, but if you like action adventure with a touch of RPG then shell out the bucks for it.
Now for my bash on pre-ordering in general. DO NOT PRE-ORDER from amazon or anywhere else. I pre-ordered this game 2 weeks before its release and the only reason I got to play it was I borrowed my brothers copy while he was at work. My expected delivery date is next monday and the game came out this tuesday (I used 2-day shipping and I live 30 minutes from an amazon depot). I did however complain so much that amazon credited me with the price of 2-day shipping. I think Pakistan no longer has any love for me anymore (Pakistan or India is where Amazon outsources its cutomer service to) Pre-ordering is a scam and it is much better to wait a couple days and pick it up from the store. Plus read a review or two before buying especially on multi-plat games.
A Refreshing RPG For Xbox Users
On: 2008-08-23First off, if youre more into Japanese Rpgs or Epic Rpgs or anything of that sort, press your back button now and never think about this game again. However for the other gamers out there who are like me and prefer easier, more "drop in and out", and less complicated RPGs, then this just may fill you up.
The game is flawed, not heavily, but noticeably, from the occasionally lagging framerate, the lower level visuals, and the inexplicable lag issues with the Live co-op. Sometimes while Im playing with friends over Live, enemies will continue to attack me without taking any damage from me, until the lag catches up and kills them, or in one particularly infuriating moment, my character was unable to attack at all, while the monsters pounded on my friend and myself.
Apart from these flaws, the game is excellent. I couldnt bring myself to give it 5 stars because of how much the flaws detract from your experience sometimes, but this game is an excellent experience.
No matter what youre more into, be it a heavy shooter game or a melee focus, you can get your kicks here. The melee was handled very well, by using the thumbsticks to control all fighting, without worrying about combo systems or carefully timed button presses and such. If you see a bad guy you wanna hurt, just move the stick toward him and your character reacts. The shooting is even more fun. I prefer to hang back and play the gunner while my friend handles melee, and theres not much better than watching your character unleash gunfire into a crowd and shooting grenades into mobs of machines and watching the explosions go off.
The amount of customizing in this game is also huge. All different types of weapons and all different types of armor drop constantly, as well as the introduction of extra bonuses (charms) that you cant just get, you must earn. And the runes that you can augment weapons and armor with are amazing.
Lastly, I do have to bring up something that will drive people crazy just like myself and my friends... This game is hard. Not Ninja-Gaiden-Hard, but hard. You will die many many times (and have to watch the lengthy death scene) and then you will fight again and die again.
Way better than I thought it was going to be.
On: 2008-08-22Having wanting to play this game since I first saw a preview of it almost 10 years ago I decided I was going to buy this game no matter what.
All I can say is WOW!!! This game blew me away by far. I dont know if it was because everyone was saying bad things or what but my experience with this so far is just plain fun.
The right analog stick for an attack is so cool when you get the hang of it. You can just kick some serious butt when you get good at it.
All in all if you like hack and slash rpgs. This one is a blast especially with the CO-OP.
Terrible game
On: 2008-08-22First off, the controls. They are absolutely terrible. They decided for whatever reason to adopt their own control scheme outside the standard one (left stick to move, right stick to pan the camera) and go with something horribly unnatural and confusing. It is, hands down the BIGGEST problem with this game.
Secondly, the camera itself. It will suddenly just pan to some horrible angle out of the blue, the developers felt it would be more "cinematic" but int he end, its just incredibly obnoxious. Especially given my point above where moving the camera is a serious pain in the arse.
Third, the graphics. Honestly, I hate them. Ive read reviews that claimed they were good but in truth they look like something in a game I would have played 5 years ago or more. This is largely due to the ridiculously long development of this game.
Fourth, the user interface. Its just bad. Like in every way you can think of. In some ways the UI is harder to manage than the actual game play. I found a lot of the UI almost impossible to read, odd considering I play on a 46inch HDTV, and the menu itself is just stuipidly designed. Sometimes complex is just complex, without the innovation its meant to have.
Lastly the game just isnt fun. It could have been but isnt, not just because of the above points but because they screwed up an otherwise interesting concept.
Avoid this game like the plague, wait till next month when the good games begin to come out, like fable, fallout and many others.
Fun game in terrible package
On: 2008-08-22Too Human is the new Diablo clone on the X360. It is a fun game but be prepared to wade through a lot of messy, poorly programmed mistakes to get to it.
Heres a hint to other developers: If you have mutiple dialogue languages options in your game, and then list that the game has subtitles, you should probably ACTUALLY have subtitles all the way through, at least for the cutscenes. Not just for 1 in 6. Also, 30 second death animations went out of style before we even knew what death animations were. ALSO also, over the top, gung ho manly men were only ever done correctly in Aliens. For crying out loud, STOP TRYING TO DO IT. They come off as idiotic, immature losers. I suppose much the same as the audience theyre aimed at but for crying out loud lets try leading by example instead. Also, tutorial messages should stay on the screen until I choose to make them go away, NOT after 3 seconds. Especially when theyre long enough to take up half the screen.
Also, also, also terrible writing. "Permission to kick ass, sir" is not a dialogue line I should ever have to hear, much less every 2 minutes.
Also x 4, If youre making a god? Like in this game? Baldur? Dont make him look like a overweight gym teacher that never married. And moral raising speeches do not need to be as long as they are nor as lame and stupid sounding.
Silicon Knights, you people have NO TALENT.
They literally rip of every "cool masculine" genre convention out there, from the opening of Diablo II, to Aliens to even using bullet time from The Matrix. Yeah, bullet time. That thing everyone is sick of. Even worse, EVERY WOMAN IN THE GAME makes it VERY obvious that they think Baldur is just the hottest meat on the hoof. Mayby SK needs to hire some people who are actually attracted to men because this fellow theyve made? This Baldur? Not only is he ugly but hes chubby too. In fact, the woman are portrayed so offensively that I just have to shake my head and stare; several characters even go into tirades about how woman have no place on the battle field and all theyre good for is sex and magic.
AND NO ONE EVER DISAGREES WITH THEM, EVEN THE WOMEN WHO ARE PRESENT.
Also (again), every character has these "idle animations" they do when you arent controlling them. They obviously have ants in their chocolate mines because they do them instantly and constantly. And you know what they are? Professional wrestling streches. It just looks so stupid I cant believe it. Thats what this storyline is, Norse gods replaced with cybernetic professional wrestlers.
Again, tho, the game itself is great fun. Half the time Im enjoying the gameplay, which is new and tricky, and half the time Im scrambling for the mute button and hammering the skip cutscene button (which doesnt work all the time either).
Don't let the reviews fool you
On: 2008-08-22I was hesitant to purchase this game based on the reviews from sites such as ign.com and gamespot.com, but I started to hear people say that the game is a lot of fun so I picked up a copy. They were right! The game isnt perfect by any means (the camera does take a lot of getting used to and can be a pain sometimes) but overall it is entertaining and fun. My first night playing it I put in 5 hours. If you enjoy games where you constantly search for upgraded equipment you will get hooked on this game. This is definitely not game-of-the-year material, but I would highly suggest at least trying it out if you enjoy games that center heavily around searching for new items. Personally I give this game a 4/5, but for the general public I say it will probably be more of a 3/5.
Bad reviews mean nothing. This is an awesome game.
On: 2008-08-22This game has been all over the place in reviews, from sites that both loved and hated the game. It is true, this is a love it or hate it kind of game. I am one of those that absolutely love this game, it is both innovative and exciting. Combat is great, customization is awesome, and graphics are not spectacular but they are also not that bad. I have seen far worse games with far worse graphics. Some of the environments in this game are truly stunning. The lasting appeal in this game is strong due to the fact that you can go through the game playing as a diiferent class, there are five to choose from, get different weapons, and earn different items and upgrades. The sound in this game is spot on with the action. It adds suspense to your battles. For the gameplay, sure the camera is hard to get used to but trust me, once you get used to and trust the camera, you will have no problem playing this game. I have learned to respect the camera and I get through the game just fine. The right stick is used to attack, but this just feels right. There is no point during my playtime that I felt this control scheme was difficult or unappropriate. It works just fine. Just trust the controls, you will get used to them. Overall an awesome game, most definately worth the time and money.
Fun, brainless, imperfect
On: 2008-08-21Theres a lot to like about Silicon Knights Too Human, especially for Diablo fans who want to run around mechanically influenced dungeons killing all sorts of baddies and picking up loot. The problem is with how long this game was in development, the polish should shine brilliantly. Thats not the case here.
Some of the reviews say the skill tree is gimped or not in-depth enough, but I disagree. I think its fine--but for those of you expecting something like we had in Mass Effect, youll be left wanting more.
Other complaints include a weak story (Come on studios! Games cost a lot to make now. Writers are cheap!), some of the trickier combat combos takes a little while to get a hang of, and the camera can be a big pain since the other thumb pad is used only for weapons. Also, its kind of easy to get lost in the shuffle if you go somewhere that the camera doesnt "expect" you do go.
But really, with how much they do right (sound, level design, fun factor, weapons and loot, co-op, lots of baddies on the screen at once), it doesnt matter so much if you know what you like and you like click-to-kill RPG-lite crawlers.
All-in-all this is exactly what I was expecting: a solid, largely brainless, dungeon hack that drops all sorts of shiny junk for you to horde and trade with a buddy or online. I wish they let more people play at once, or maybe some options (ranked arena fights anyone?), but who knows what will come out in TH2 or an add-on pack.
I havent finished it yet...about 6 hours in, so something might be waiting blow me away, but as of now I can recommend it as a fun game that not everyone will be blown away by but will provide a lot of fun for most.
enjoyable action but has some issues
On: 2008-08-21I played the demo for several hours, bought the game today and played for about three hours tonight on a bio-engineer. I played online with a partner who was running a commando. Quite simply - we had a blast.
Ill open with some positives. The multiplayer did away with the annoying cinematics so that was great. The five available character classes will provide quality entertainment for everyone from those who enjoy ranged assault (commando) to dps crazy blademaster types. The graphics look great on my 1080i tv. I can see playing this game repeatedly for improved loot drops as some of us do/did Diablo II or Hellgate London. The multiplayer provides two benefits - the obvious assistance in crushing bad guys but secondly, tradeable loot. Multiple skill trees for each class make character customization a reality which will add to the replay value significantly.
There are some obvious issues too. The controls and camera are not great. Well the camera is not even good. I found myself looking around frequently after battles to figure where I was and where to go next. The action, while intense and immersive, lacks the open ended multiplayer options provided by games like Halo 3 and CoD 4.
This game wont have the online allegiance of a CoD 4 by any stretch, but it will probably develop a rabid fan base who will wear it out until titles like Force Unleashed and GoW2 come along later this year. Compared to my recent pc gaming experiences, this is a vast improvement. Its a simple, honest game - kill stuff, loot, level and customize your character. If you enjoy action and/or are tired of "next big thing" pc releases which wind up in the trash after 2 weeks (see AoC) this game should keep you going for a few months and be well worth your $60 investment.
In summation I give this game 3-4 stars technically due to the goofy camera issues but 5 stars for enjoyable action, an immersive experience and available character cusomization. Overall this is a 4 plus star game.
Early review
On: 2008-08-21Ive been eagerly anticipating the release of this game, for a couple of reasons. I like 3rd person games, (1st person gives me a headache lots of times), Im a long-time fan of Norse mythology, and lastly, it just looked cool in the previews and demo.
While its pretty early to review this game since Im not very far into it, I will say so far Im very happy with it. Its pretty obvious that there is a TON of stuff under the surface, and it looks like its going to be a game (at least for me) that gives more than a few days of playing. I will say that there have been a few instances of "what do I do?", but thats a tell-tale sign that this is a game thats going to be playable for quite awhile.
The basic premise is that you are a cybernetic god charged with the protection of mankind, which has been pretty much wiped out by some dark forces. Some skullduggery exists withing the Aesir, most certainly involving Loki.
The graphics are outstanding, which is pretty much standard on new games now, and the music is outstanding. Some people might get tired of the death scene with the Valkyrie, but I think its cool everytime I see it.
Im a God of War, Metal Gear Solid, Viking, Conan, and Guitar Hero player, and this game fits right in with what I like.
Don't believe the hate, it's a solid game
On: 2008-08-21OK, lets get the biggest point out of the way first and foremost. This is not the best game that ever hit the 360. This is not a AAA title in league with Gears of War, or Halo 3, or CoD 4. Yes, there is a lot of scrutiny, yes there is a lot of negativity, yes there are some issues............
but, with that said, it is sitll an A title. not bad, just maybe rough around the edges, but if you can get past that, you are in for a game that is going to suck you in, not let go, and have you addicted without ever realizing it. several reasons for this..........
1 - the controls. move with the left stick, attack with the right stick. if you can get that down, BOOM, you have now mastered 85% of the controls. easy. move toward the enemy hordes, rotate the right stick, KICK SOME @SS.
do you like kicking butt? well then, go get some!
2 - when you are not being friggin awesome, and beating the bejeebus out of monsters, you are getting loot. lots of loot. tons and tons of loot. every 5 seconds you are getting new swords, new boots, new bonus, money, new new new new new new new.............
you are going to spend a lot of time customizing and upgrading your guy, which rolls me into.........
3 - leveling and skills. 5 character classes, and each has 3 nodes to choose from, which basically fit into your play style. with all of the options, i cant imagine anyone having similiar characters on Live, chances will be slim.
despite the shortcomings, it is a fun and addictive game that is as easy and mindless (run around and kill) or as deep and complex (upgrade your weapons/armor/skills) as you want it to be.
one last big suggestion, take a few minutes and read up on Norse mythology. Silicon Knights did a lot of research and went to great lengths to stay true to the mythology, and unfortunately (one of the short comings of the game), you can get a little lost trying to follow the story and not having the information. knowing the mythology will help you enjoy it more................
.....or just hit the red button, skip the cut scenes, and get back to killing and being/feeling like an awesome god.
An esoteric sci-fi dungeon crawler
On: 2008-08-21Too Human is a spiritual successor to Phantasy Star Online- there are 4 large zones, lots of items and rare loot, online co-op (only 2 players here instead of PSOs 4)... but there is a lot more meat on the bones here. 5 distinct character classes, a much larger variety of weapons and armor, and a customizable skill tree that you can re-spec anytime. The way you go from enemy to enemy, launching and juggling them in the air, shooting lasers and grenades all over the place... its the most hectic (and rewarding) action gameplay in any dungeon crawler yet.
It can be fairly difficult, but the challenge pushes you to discover the deep game mechanics and strategies with the unusual (and initially awkward) control scheme Silicon Knights has cleverly crafted here. Armor and weapons have many varieties of status effect and skill buffs, and they can be customized. By planning out which kind of effects you want your gear to have, you can re-spec your skill tree accordingly to create specialized, powerful characters. If you just found a sweet new laser rifle, you can re-spec your skill tree (for a cost) to maximize laser damage, rifle damage, and increased ammunition as well as customize your gear with runes (inserting a +5% laser damage rune on your rifle, for example) to optimize your effectiveness with the laser rifle.
Too Human has great graphics but with some rough edges (mostly in the character models) and overall it doesnt quite live up to the extremely high expectations we have with the current crop of games on the 360. The audio though is truly spectacular with lots of deep sub-bass and some excellent sound effects.
The menus are a bit sluggish and cumbersome, and the auto-camera can sometimes be a pain- but they arent dealbreakers. The flaws are overshadowed by the unique fun that Too Human offers.
edit: After playing it more, bump it to 5 stars. This game is paranormally deep. You can legitimately obsess over it- honing your skills with the game, learning all of the techniques and when to use them- if you have the patience, its as rewarding as a video game can get.
Gargatuan Letdown
On: 2008-08-20After an unoriginal cinematic opening- futuristic Marines going into unknown territory- this game falls flat on its face. My biggest gripe with the game is the combat. Unbelievable clunky and weak due to its reliance on the flick the right analog stick mechanism. There is no intuitiveness whatsoever. A lot of game developers are overusing this right analog stick. It might have been better with simple button mashing. The battle sequences are... epic and frenetic. But not in any sort of good way. The game never engaged me at all. With all the delays and legal troubles with this game they must have finally given up on polishing the game and the higher ups must have been frantically yelling, "Cut our losses! Who cares if its a disaster, these gamers will buy anything thats had enough advertising!"
