Review: Too Human (360)

I hated the Too Human demo the first time I played it, absolutely hated it. The graphics seemed mediocre, the sound didn't fit, and the gameplay was awkward as hell. Something compelled me to give it another shot though, and I ended up playing through the demo about 4 times and really looking forward to the game. Rarely has a game had so much public arguing over it's faults and merits. The craziness even inspired this piece of genius to mock the situation. The game is not as bad as most will tell you, but it's not nearly as good as it could have been.

The premise of Too Human is that you are Baldur, son of Odin and favorite god of the humans. There have been other games with featuring Norse Mythology (although I really haven't played any of them) and it seems they are in a more traditional context. The cool thing about Too Human is that it has a futuristic spin on the mythology: the Aesir (or "gods") are actually just cybernetically enhanced humans fighting incredibly advanced machines of war. I found the story to be pretty good: very little is as it seems and the ending makes you want to play additional games to see what happens next. I knew very little about Norse Mythology, but a quick look at Wikipedia gave me all the background I needed to follow along with the game's story (it seems as if most is loosely based on Norse Mythology, so a strong understanding is not really necessary). It is odd that it is actually difficult to see the opening sequence in the game: you either have to let the menu screen sit idle for several seconds or select it from the Cinema menu. I neglected to do this (or to even realize it could be done) and it helps make the first level make much more sense if it's viewed first.

The gameplay is where most critics of the game have there issues. All combat is controlled with the right analog stick: just simply point in the direction you wish to attack and the game takes care of basic combos for you, no button-mashing required. Projectile attacks are done by holding the right trigger down and aiming with the right-stick, and there are some additional juggling combos, "ruiners", and other attacks, but for the most part you'll find yourself just pointing towards a dude, sliding up to it, and going to town until it's dead. It's also important to note that there are 5 character classes to choose from: Champion (basic all-around), Berzerker(dual-wielding melee expert), Defender(extra defense and hit points), Bio-Enginneer (able to heal self and teammates), and Commando (expert with projectile weapons). I tried out three classes through my demo sessions (Champion, Berzerker, and Commando) and chose the Berzerker. Champion would have been my second choose. The Commando wasn't a good option for me because distance combat just wasn't very fun. I didn't try Defender or Bio-Engineer at all and probably never will: they just don't sound fun.

The best part about Too Human is the variety of the character builds. Each class can choose to be "Human" or "Cybernetic", there are skill trees for each class, there is tons and tons of loot to collect, there are charms to unlock and use, etc. If you enjoy these types of games, it's possible to literally get hundreds of hours of gameplay (even on loot upgrades alone) out of this game, and the way characters can be built makes for hundreds of possible permutations. I played to get my character to Level 50 (the highest level for this game) and that took about 35 hours, which was four playthroughs of the campaign (the first playthrough took me 16 hours and I tried to unlock as much as possible that go-round).

It's said the 2-player Co-op is the best way to play Too Human, but few people are actually playing it, so I didn't get a chance to try it out. The game makes for a pretty enjoyable 14-16 hours of campaign mode play, but I was literally sick of playing after 35 hours. I am looking forward to the sequel though, and this is a decent rental option for most, and a possible purchase for those who love loot games.

Score: 7.5/10

Note: This is a decent points game: you should get about 600 points in the first playthrough with little difficulty.