Warning: If you loved Too Human don\'t read on, or don\'t say that I didn\'t tell you so.....
Game: Too Human
Genre: Action/Adventure
Platform; Xbox 360
Score: 5 out of 10
Its kind of hard to get too excited about a game that has sat on Silicon Knights back burner since the days of the PSOne. But when I saw some concept art and heard that Epics bedazzling UE3 game engine would be utilized in the games creation, I was completely sold that this would be a quality game that I might actually enjoy. And here begins the tale of how Microsofts rescued a game that time almost forgot.
Too Human is an action/adventure game that follows Norse mythology in the loosest way possible. Playing as the cybernetically enhanced god Baldur: Odins favorite son, you are put in charge of saving humanity from a horde of machines bent on wiping the human race from the face of the earth. Now it is up to you to stop the advancing robot army in a land that exists somewhere between legend and reality.
There are some choices to be made upon starting a new game in Too Human. Choosing a class of warrior was one of the hardest decisions I had to make before my adventure began. There are five classes of warriors to choose from, and depending on your playing style, or just what class looks more badass than another, choosing a class of warrior can be a big decision to make. Some classes were forged with weapons in mind, and some were based on the ability to regenerate health. I heard through various sources that Id be dying a lot so I picked the medic class: even though I would later go on to regret this decision.
After what seemed to be a cut scene that lasted for an eternity, I was transported to a land far from the comforts of home. This was a cold dark land, void of any sign of humanity, where flesh met metal on the battlefield for one last confrontation. My battle with the machines was just beginning in this larger than life place that looked all too familiar. My first encounter with the machines was an odd one, one where I relentlessly wrestled with the controller, trying to get down the awkward combat controls. Never in my twenty-seven years of gaming have I ever been forced to use the right analog stick to fill in for an attack button in a combat situation, so this was new to me, and it took some getting used to. After a while, I unwillingly caved into the games strange battle mechanics. I pressed forward with my hammer in hand bashing away at any oversized copier that got in my way. The only problem with this was it seemed I had to bop these toaster-like things over the head ten or twenty times before they fell. This seemed odd to me, since my hammer was such an enormous weapon. I figured a hit or two, maybe three at the most would bring down these fragile looking machines. But it didnt, and I was a god, who was made to feel like a weakling.
This was just the start of Too Humans demise in my eyes. As the story rolled on, the ten-minute cut scenes about nothing were almost unbearable to watch; I found myself hitting the skip button and opting just to get through the game as fast as I could. The story evolved into some sort of conspiracy theory about a quarter of the way through the game. I found myself yawning as Silicon Knights tried to spin a tale of epic proportions that I quickly crushed with one half-assed press of the B button. In my own defense I rarely do this and love to get elbows-deep into a story, but I just couldnt swallow what was being spoon-fed to me by this game. Being German myself, and my name meaning famous in battle I felt a bit betrayed by the way the game tried to base itself around the Indo-European mythology my forefathers believed in. Sure the gods were all there like Baldur, Thor, Odin, Loki, Freya, and Hel. They even threw in the Tree of Life and some deities for good measure, but the mythology just wasnt there as much as Id hoped it would be. It just seemed like they took these characters and copied and pasted them into the game and said that the game was based on Norse mythology. Personally I just wasnt buying what they were selling me in this futuristic sci-fi menagerie.
As the game went on my frustration surrounding the combat grew. I wondered what the hell was wrong with this game, and then I realized why the game was the way it was, and it all made perfect sense. Too Human was meant to be an RPG. The upgrading of weapons, and armor, and the ability to forge things were the telltale signs of an RPG. Even the combat made sense at that point. I mean how many freakin times do you exchange hits in an RPG. A LOT! It was to late for me at the point I realized the game was a RPG based game slapped into an action/adventure box.
Another major problem I had with the game was that it seemed like I died every five minutes or so. And every time this ironclad vixen dressed in some kind of armor suite ripped off from Devil May Cry 4 would descend from the sky to carry my body off to god knows where, and then proceed to drop me back into the game what seemed to be a mile from the place I actually died at. It was like suffering two deaths, one where I had to watch the lady drop from the sky, and the other where I had to walk forever with no sprint button back into the battle. It was like getting rochambeaued and then asking, may I have another please? Im accustomed to dying in videogames, as most gamers are, but when forced to watch a sixty second production of how my body was carried off, became more of a hindrance than anything else. It wasnt enjoyable. And as I watched the Valkyrie land knee high into the ground nine times out of ten, my distaste for the game grew, just for the simple fact that Silicon Knights couldnt even get one cut scene that they would reproduce over and over again right visually.
By the end of my stay in this world somewhere in-between Norse mythology, the real world, and a load of crap, I found myself glad that there were only four levels I had to beat. The graphics were meh, and I found too many similarities between Too Human and too many other games to take Silicon Knights creation seriously. There were the Valkyries that looked like they were modeled after DMC 4. The levels looked like something Microsoft Game Studios had in the back of some closet that they just dusted off and handed to Too Humans development team telling them, here just use these. The level of the undead just seemed like you were battling the Flood from the original Halo, I could go on, but I wont.
On another note:
The game probably would have been a lot more exciting to play with a friend doing Co-Op. But I neglected to play with a friend and selfishly pushed through the game solo. The graphics werent half bad, even if they did look similar to a game from the original Xbox era. The combat was mangled, but forging weapons and upgrading abilities were Too Humans strongest points, but only made up for some of Too Humans downfalls in this next gen era.
Game: Too Human
Genre: Action/Adventure
Platform; Xbox 360
Score: 5 out of 10
Its kind of hard to get too excited about a game that has sat on Silicon Knights back burner since the days of the PSOne. But when I saw some concept art and heard that Epics bedazzling UE3 game engine would be utilized in the games creation, I was completely sold that this would be a quality game that I might actually enjoy. And here begins the tale of how Microsofts rescued a game that time almost forgot.
Too Human is an action/adventure game that follows Norse mythology in the loosest way possible. Playing as the cybernetically enhanced god Baldur: Odins favorite son, you are put in charge of saving humanity from a horde of machines bent on wiping the human race from the face of the earth. Now it is up to you to stop the advancing robot army in a land that exists somewhere between legend and reality.
There are some choices to be made upon starting a new game in Too Human. Choosing a class of warrior was one of the hardest decisions I had to make before my adventure began. There are five classes of warriors to choose from, and depending on your playing style, or just what class looks more badass than another, choosing a class of warrior can be a big decision to make. Some classes were forged with weapons in mind, and some were based on the ability to regenerate health. I heard through various sources that Id be dying a lot so I picked the medic class: even though I would later go on to regret this decision.
After what seemed to be a cut scene that lasted for an eternity, I was transported to a land far from the comforts of home. This was a cold dark land, void of any sign of humanity, where flesh met metal on the battlefield for one last confrontation. My battle with the machines was just beginning in this larger than life place that looked all too familiar. My first encounter with the machines was an odd one, one where I relentlessly wrestled with the controller, trying to get down the awkward combat controls. Never in my twenty-seven years of gaming have I ever been forced to use the right analog stick to fill in for an attack button in a combat situation, so this was new to me, and it took some getting used to. After a while, I unwillingly caved into the games strange battle mechanics. I pressed forward with my hammer in hand bashing away at any oversized copier that got in my way. The only problem with this was it seemed I had to bop these toaster-like things over the head ten or twenty times before they fell. This seemed odd to me, since my hammer was such an enormous weapon. I figured a hit or two, maybe three at the most would bring down these fragile looking machines. But it didnt, and I was a god, who was made to feel like a weakling.
This was just the start of Too Humans demise in my eyes. As the story rolled on, the ten-minute cut scenes about nothing were almost unbearable to watch; I found myself hitting the skip button and opting just to get through the game as fast as I could. The story evolved into some sort of conspiracy theory about a quarter of the way through the game. I found myself yawning as Silicon Knights tried to spin a tale of epic proportions that I quickly crushed with one half-assed press of the B button. In my own defense I rarely do this and love to get elbows-deep into a story, but I just couldnt swallow what was being spoon-fed to me by this game. Being German myself, and my name meaning famous in battle I felt a bit betrayed by the way the game tried to base itself around the Indo-European mythology my forefathers believed in. Sure the gods were all there like Baldur, Thor, Odin, Loki, Freya, and Hel. They even threw in the Tree of Life and some deities for good measure, but the mythology just wasnt there as much as Id hoped it would be. It just seemed like they took these characters and copied and pasted them into the game and said that the game was based on Norse mythology. Personally I just wasnt buying what they were selling me in this futuristic sci-fi menagerie.
As the game went on my frustration surrounding the combat grew. I wondered what the hell was wrong with this game, and then I realized why the game was the way it was, and it all made perfect sense. Too Human was meant to be an RPG. The upgrading of weapons, and armor, and the ability to forge things were the telltale signs of an RPG. Even the combat made sense at that point. I mean how many freakin times do you exchange hits in an RPG. A LOT! It was to late for me at the point I realized the game was a RPG based game slapped into an action/adventure box.
Another major problem I had with the game was that it seemed like I died every five minutes or so. And every time this ironclad vixen dressed in some kind of armor suite ripped off from Devil May Cry 4 would descend from the sky to carry my body off to god knows where, and then proceed to drop me back into the game what seemed to be a mile from the place I actually died at. It was like suffering two deaths, one where I had to watch the lady drop from the sky, and the other where I had to walk forever with no sprint button back into the battle. It was like getting rochambeaued and then asking, may I have another please? Im accustomed to dying in videogames, as most gamers are, but when forced to watch a sixty second production of how my body was carried off, became more of a hindrance than anything else. It wasnt enjoyable. And as I watched the Valkyrie land knee high into the ground nine times out of ten, my distaste for the game grew, just for the simple fact that Silicon Knights couldnt even get one cut scene that they would reproduce over and over again right visually.
By the end of my stay in this world somewhere in-between Norse mythology, the real world, and a load of crap, I found myself glad that there were only four levels I had to beat. The graphics were meh, and I found too many similarities between Too Human and too many other games to take Silicon Knights creation seriously. There were the Valkyries that looked like they were modeled after DMC 4. The levels looked like something Microsoft Game Studios had in the back of some closet that they just dusted off and handed to Too Humans development team telling them, here just use these. The level of the undead just seemed like you were battling the Flood from the original Halo, I could go on, but I wont.
On another note:
The game probably would have been a lot more exciting to play with a friend doing Co-Op. But I neglected to play with a friend and selfishly pushed through the game solo. The graphics werent half bad, even if they did look similar to a game from the original Xbox era. The combat was mangled, but forging weapons and upgrading abilities were Too Humans strongest points, but only made up for some of Too Humans downfalls in this next gen era.
it's basically a hack-n-slash with rpg elements that has tons of combinations for armor,weapons, and equipment that make a great impact on the game as well as being able to set up your specific character's classes abilities. if you just go into the game and don't put any effort forth in these attributes as you level up, you will die often because as you level up, so do the enemies. yes you have to chip away at the big guys but how much fun would it be to kill everything in one strike anyway? the majority of gamers wanted this game to fail before it was even finished, the funny thing is that star wars f.u. had much more financial backing and xplay reviewed it with a 2 out of 5 where too human got 
