Too Human: First Impressions Play Journal
“First Impressions” may be a misnomer: I’ve already had a good deal of play time with the Too Human demo made available not too long ago. So I walked into this contentious game with a good feel for how everything worked before laying my hands on the final retail copy.
For the record, I came away impressed by the demo. It took me a play or two to come to grips with the combat, but to the game’s credit, once the combat clicked-in it was a satisfying experience. Of course, the question remained whether the full game could hold up over an extended period. This concern was especially pronounced given some misgivings I had.
For starters, the camera was an annoyance. While It did not bring the game to its knees by any means - the default camera angle is set at such a distance as to not terribly interfere with gameplay - it was awkward nonetheless. Then there was the annoyance with enemy encounters - the regular grunts are easily dealt with, while encounters with larger foes were awkward and often frustrating.
There was enough, in other words, to give one pause.
Having played through the first two lengthy missions, I regret to report that many of my concerns have already manifested into full-blown issues. We’ll get these issues shortly.
Too Human’s concept is a fascinating one: Norse mythology retold in a high-tech sci-fi universe. Norse gods like Thor, Tyr and Baldur are in reality human beings, but enhanced through cybernetics, the technology that grants them their god-like powers. After the rousing opening cinema, I was confident that Silicon Knight’s adeptness and sophistication with cinematic presentation would carry this setting well.
As of this writing it is difficult to pass judgement just yet on Too Human’s story. That said, I couldn’t tell you much more even if I wanted to because the plot is presented in dribs and drabs over lengthy stretches of gameplay.
As for the gameplay, Silicon Knights has hit on something very satisfying at its core. Too Human is essentially a hack and slash, third person adventure with strong RPG elements - some have compared it to Diablo. It’s in the hacking and slashing that, once you get the hang of it, results in some fairly visceral combat with a touch of sophistication for those looking for something deeper.
Ditto for the customization options that come in the form of loot drops. All enemies will drop seemingly randomized armour, weapon, rune, charm, blueprints, and/or bounty, all of which can be used by Baldur provided he is of the proper class and level. Frequently sifting through the items in the well laid out equipment system results in customizing a character with increasingly more powerful weapons and armour. These in turn can be further customized by fusing them with runes which carry unique attributes.
So far, so good, and it holds up well for the most part or, more aptly, in the short term. But unfortunately for Too Human, the longer one plays, the more sketchy the experience gets.
The hand-to-hand combat is an admirable aspect of gameplay as mentioned. However, enemy encounters are not. Ironically, the more advanced the enemy the more uninteresting and flawed the combat becomes. Hacking away at lesser foes is a good deal of fun as you have the ability to slide about rapidly between them - it is, in a sense, a type of offensive defense. With many larger and more advanced enemies, you’ll have to resort to just standing there, hacking away at them as they hack away at you, and suffer the consequences of an inevitable death. This is due in large part to no real defensive options such as blocking, and enemies that simply rush you faster than you can possibly retreat.
What’s more, many enemy types employ a move that simply knocks you flat on your ass, and they’ll use this over and over again, point-blank, as you struggle to out-whack them. This becomes extremely frustrating.
One has to wonder whether Silicon Knights understood this deficiency in combat, because they implemented a system where death has no real penalty - when you die you’re placed back nearly exactly where you fell, and all enemies previously vanquished stay that way and all damage dealt is still inflicted on the enemies left over. It’s like the developer is appologizing. But with this appology comes the realization that you hardly have to perform well or use what simple strategic options you do have since you really can’t die. Suddenly those mano-a-mano whack-fests aren’t so intimidating.
There are a bunch of odd design choices sticking out their middle-fingers in Too Human, a litany of which are only properly fleshed out in a full review. I should mention that despite these oddities, I’m still compelled and moving forward - in no small part due to the core satisfying features mentioned previously. But it remains to be seen whether they can save this game from the dust bin.
peachey @ August 22, 2008