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Too Human

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Rent this game first!     On: 2008-11-09

I 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: 2008-11-08

Lol 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: 2008-11-02

Rating [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: 2008-10-29

My 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: 2008-10-24

PROS:
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: 2008-10-21

As 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: 2008-10-20

pretty 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: 2008-10-19

I 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: 2008-10-17

I 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: 2008-10-16

Good:
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: 2008-10-13

ok 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: 2008-10-11

I 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: 2008-10-09

Too 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: 2008-10-09

At 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: 2008-10-08

Forget 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: 2008-09-30

Decent 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: 2008-09-29

This 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: 2008-09-25

The 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: 2008-09-22

Lets 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: 2008-09-21

Not 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: 2008-09-21

This 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: 2008-09-19

tries 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: 2008-09-18

The 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: 2008-09-18

Too 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: 2008-09-17

And before you know it, its OVER OMG I waited 5 years,,,, 5 YEARS for THIS BS.
Too Err is Human     On: 2008-09-16

Bluntly, 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: 2008-09-16

This 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: 2008-09-13

its a good game but its only 1 player and gets kinda boring when your playin by ur self
Great Game - too short     On: 2008-09-13

I 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: 2008-09-13

Why 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: 2008-09-11

The 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: 2008-09-09

I 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: 2008-09-07

I 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: 2008-09-06

This 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: 2008-09-06

The 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: 2008-09-06

What 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: 2008-09-06

I 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: 2008-09-05

T. 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: 2008-09-04

This 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: 2008-09-04

Most 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: 2008-09-03

Too 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: 2008-09-03

Story:
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: 2008-09-03

I 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: 2008-09-03

I 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: 2008-09-02

There 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: 2008-09-02

At 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: 2008-09-01

What 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: 2008-09-01

Ive 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: 2008-09-01

This 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: 2008-09-01

im 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: 2008-08-31

I 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: 2008-08-31

From 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 de