Reviewing a title that has been in development for a Decade. Especially from the studio that brought the EXCEPTIONAL Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain for the PS1 and then Eternal Darkness & Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes for the Gamecube.
Too Human has been hyped since 1999 in my mind, back when I was at E3 and a short but intriguing video was shown. then game then jumped ship from the PS1 to Gamecube and then sat seemingly dormant for years. After 2003, I sort of lost any hope in a quality final product, IF and when it was ever released. When I started hearing the hype mill rolling and Dennis Dyack chirping again about it this last year, I have to admit, I bit onto the hook again, truly hopeful that Dyack and team could once again make me feel the glorious rush they had with Blood Omen. So when I got my hands on my copy, I was thrilled to say the least.
Having played through it now, I have to admit, that while fun at times, the game completely falls short of the hype. While no individual component of the game fails completely on it’s own merits, as a whole, the game is just not what was expected.
Gameplay utilizes the not-so-unique pseudo RPG character development concept that has been used sooooooo much: kill things, get points, spend points on new abilities. This formula has been being used Since Diablo II in 2000 to my memory, and possibly further back than that. No one was expecting the developer to rewrite history, but with all the hype surrounding how awesome this game was supposed to be, this was just too commonplace of a system. Add to this one of the most irritating combat control systems ever. If it had been polished more, it could have been interesting. Unfortunately, it really just consists of moving the right analog stick around and watching the character onscreen slaughtering everything in sight. NO JOKE. Enemies will come by the truckload for this distinct purpose: to make the Battles LOOK epic. If you are watching someone else playing, it might almost hold your interest fr 10 or 15 minutes. After that though, forget it. But PLAYING it? Tedious. Not because it is difficult. I actually finished some battles with my right elbow while eating a sandwich. No Joke.And don’t even ask about Ranged Attacks. They are worthless. By the time you can get the retarded targeting system to aim at the body part you want, the enemy is already on top of you stomping your guts out.
Too Human does manage though to create an interesting paradox: How does a game that completely removes any penalty or repercussion for dying at all then turn around and make you dread, cringe and truly FEAR Dying? Here is how: A RIDICULOUSLY LENGTHY, unstoppable animation of a Tech-laden Valkyrie coming from the sky to take your corpse to Valhalla. Serious. Can’t be skipped, Can’t be avoided. Will make you hate dying, and life when you do.
My last gripe comes in the form of a development choice. When a developer wants to make a game more difficult, they have a choice. Make enemies smarter, faster, adaptive and cunning, or just make them cheap. Too Human goes with the latter. While you are mowing through the masses with whatever massively powerful super weapon dropped in the last 4 seconds off the corpse you just annihilated, you will suddenly just get blown to bits by a rocket fired from about 1/4 mile down screen. Now, don’t mind the fact that even the most powerful ranged weapons in the game available to you lose the ability to lock on or aim outside of about 20 feet from the enemy, but the ranged weapons of the enemy are accurate with surgical precision from about 1,580 feet. So, As you hack and slash away (READ: TURN RIGHT STICK IN CIRCLES WITH ELBOWS), then enemies you can barely make out on screen will be pelting you with massive missiles. So as you take massive damage trying to fight WHILE dodging these things, you will Finally arrive far enough down screen to slaughter the offending ranged enemies, only to discover the army of enemies you passed up to get to the ranged enemies is now whooping your ass. Oh Yeah: and you now moved too close to one of the 21 Mini-Bosses in the area, and he is now rocking your world with a earth shattering hammer fist with equally ridiculous range.
I don’t want to call Too Human pure exhibitionism, but I will. Dyack and company were so set on amazing the media and graphics whores out there with a visually stunning Tech-Viking Epic, that they forgot some of the basics of good game design: Make it fun. It is shiny, it is pretty, the story is actually kind of good and a departure from the normal fantasy fare, but the game is just too repetitive, common and just not engaging.
Rent it. If there are not any good New Release movies to watch. Or your only other entertainment option is E.T. for the NES.
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