2008 Woodie Awards
Video Game GPA
TOO HUMAN: an epic tale… or an epic fail?
ROBERTO VALENTIN, OBSERVER CONTRIBUTOR
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Life & Leisure
Publisher:Microsoft Game Studios
Platform: XBOX 360
# of players: 1-2
Online: Yes(2 player co-op)
"Too Human" has been in development for over ten years, originally intended for release on the original PlayStation. Ten years is a long time to wait, and expectations are bound to build up. Does "Too Human" live up to them? Is Too Human an epic tale… or an epic fail?
Gameplay
"Too Human" takes Norse mythology and sprinkles in a healthy dose of science fiction. You control Baldur, a god and member of the Aesir, whose has the job of protecting the human race from extinction at the hands of machines. The gods of the Aesir are not the gods you've heard about before. While some names may sound familiar, such as Thor and Loki, these gods gain their divine power from the implementation of cybernetics. While you begin the game looking for a machine threat known as GRNDL, the story soon changes to fighting amongst the gods.
The gameplay is a mix of action, role-playing and loot dropping that makes for a fun, albeit sometimes flawed, experience. The controls in "Too Human" are fairly simple; the left analog stick moves Baldur, while you direct his attacks with the right. Simply point the right stick in a desired direction and your character does the rest. Other moves and actions are mapped to the face buttons and triggers. This control scheme takes a few minutes to get used to, but quickly feels extremely satisfying.
Unfortunately, this control scheme leads to one of the biggest problems with the game: the camera. With the right stick controlling attacks, the camera controls are taken out of the players hands. While the camera isn't broken, it does lead to many frustrating moments. When you try to back track or explore, the camera tends to have trouble following and instead points to what it believes you should be looking at. It's not as bad as, say, "Ninja Gaiden II" (man, I can't tell you how many times that camera led to my death) but it does take away from the game as a whole.
Platform: XBOX 360
# of players: 1-2
Online: Yes(2 player co-op)
"Too Human" has been in development for over ten years, originally intended for release on the original PlayStation. Ten years is a long time to wait, and expectations are bound to build up. Does "Too Human" live up to them? Is Too Human an epic tale… or an epic fail?
Gameplay
"Too Human" takes Norse mythology and sprinkles in a healthy dose of science fiction. You control Baldur, a god and member of the Aesir, whose has the job of protecting the human race from extinction at the hands of machines. The gods of the Aesir are not the gods you've heard about before. While some names may sound familiar, such as Thor and Loki, these gods gain their divine power from the implementation of cybernetics. While you begin the game looking for a machine threat known as GRNDL, the story soon changes to fighting amongst the gods.
The gameplay is a mix of action, role-playing and loot dropping that makes for a fun, albeit sometimes flawed, experience. The controls in "Too Human" are fairly simple; the left analog stick moves Baldur, while you direct his attacks with the right. Simply point the right stick in a desired direction and your character does the rest. Other moves and actions are mapped to the face buttons and triggers. This control scheme takes a few minutes to get used to, but quickly feels extremely satisfying.
Unfortunately, this control scheme leads to one of the biggest problems with the game: the camera. With the right stick controlling attacks, the camera controls are taken out of the players hands. While the camera isn't broken, it does lead to many frustrating moments. When you try to back track or explore, the camera tends to have trouble following and instead points to what it believes you should be looking at. It's not as bad as, say, "Ninja Gaiden II" (man, I can't tell you how many times that camera led to my death) but it does take away from the game as a whole.
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