Critics are ignoring key features
STORY:
First, I don't understand the naysayers concerning the story. Is it Shakespeare? No, but not only am I an avid reader of High Fantasy or SF as the professionals prefer, I'm a writer of Epic Fantasy myself. That being said, Too Human isn't God's gift to writing, but along side other videogames it is in the top ten percent. I've been playing games since the Comodore and I feel I have the wherewithal to make that claim. The characters, if somewhat cliche and archetypical, are varied and interesting. The physiological details in the characters are fascinating. As is common in fantasy fiction, the protagonist Baldur is the most uninteresting character of the bunch. The all American, all common, heart throb type. The Quarterback of the football team. But other than Baldur, I found myself mesmerized with Thor, the strong back, weak minded war-monger that is so cybernetically "juiced" that his eyes appear yellow as if stricken with jaundice; Loki, the Lucifer of Norse Mythology and the first to be "gifted" with the cybernetic enhancements of O.D.I.N that falls from grace and rebels against his brethren; Idunn, who is obsessed with her own intelligence and the superiority of cybernetics; and Heimdall, who acts so similarly to a company vice president I have had it is uncanny, not the brightest but wields the power and expects things to be done the wrong way by spite. There are more, but like I said, I've only played about 16 hours and will be updating this review.
COMBAT:
Second, I don't understand the naysayers concerning the combat. Is it simple? Yes. You can push the right analog around aimlessly and kill things, but guess what? You will die a lot like all the critics are complaining. To them, all I have to say is: Read the manual and visit Tyr's armory for tips. The game balances this by giving strong incentives to fight well. Time your flicks right and your combo will continue and grow, enabling Battle Cries, Spider Abilities, Ruiners and spirit animal like Sentient Weapons. Dual fick both sticks and depending on the proximity of your enemy you'll execute a ranged attack, an aerial finisher, or a ground finisher. Double fick and you'll launch your enemy into the air to either jump and perform an aerial attack that can combo back to the ground, a finisher that will give you a combo bonus, hold it in the air with dual wielded pistol fire, or hold it in the air with one pistol while firing at another enemy with the other pistol ( pretty frickin' cool to watch as Baldur crosses arms to shoot in opposite directions ). On top of all that, the game also adds an incentive to time these moves between the start and end of a slide to get a "2-in-1" that gives you a combo bonus or reduces combo meter use ( used by Battle Cry, Spider, Ruiner and Sentient Weapon ). Getting a little overwhelmed? Understandable. But after getting comfortable with these controls, your god, Baldur, buffed out to the very tee as you see fit, can trigger a chain reaction that can self-perpetuate itself into an orgy of destruction: Run at 'em gunning, slide to an air launch, jump and aerial attack, combo down to a ground enemy ( combo points achieved ), launch Spider, Battle Cry, Ruiner or Sentient Weapon, slide to an air launch, train one pistol on the airborne and another on the enemy next to you while moving to a more strategic location for your next onslaught. This time triggering whatever combo meter depleter you didn't use last round: Battle Cry, Spider, Ruiner, or Sentient Weapon. Next time pull out a rifle and launch a grenade at those airborne, while training a concentrated laser at the ground assault. Now consider all of this with thousands and thousands of iterations of buffs, appearances, and style of fighting from Swords, Spears, Hammers, and Pistols and Rifles that shoot slugs or lasers and perhaps you begin to understand why I have a hard time with those who call the combat too simplistic and repetitive. I call those people unimaginative.
LOOT:
Third, and lastly until I finish the game and update this review, the one thing that critics seem to be unanimously praising with restraint, saying things like, "If you're a loot whore than you'll probably like this game," is unfair and implies disdain. The loot in this game is well designed and varied and is so far constantly impressing me. With runes to customize the buffs on any of the myriad items that come with rune slots,? the possibilities are virtually endles and even more so with Xbox Live's proficiency at DLC and the content to come. I look forward to any content they send down the pipe with no reservations, for this game is already packed to the gils with production and replay value. Imagine a downloadable content pack that includes Master Chief's Mjolnir armor set with assault rifles, plasma swords, and sniper rifles from Halo. Hey, both games are published by Microsoft, it could happen. Not to mention other licensed stuff. Could be cool. And with a trilogy in mind, I see Silicon Knights ironing out any of the wrinkles in later iterations and possibly even a patch for this one. Alright, well that is enough for now, need to get back to godding around Midgard. So much loot and so little time. I need to devise a way to collect it all and have Buff-Specific armor sets, that would be dope.
THE UPDATE:
STORY:
There is a fine line between sparking interest for sequels and providing sufficient closure to the existing story. Whether or not it is done well is subject to as many opinions as there are people to give them. Do I have questions? Hell yes. Were some of those questions answered. Well, yes, some were. That's just the way it goes. I much rather have a cliffhanger where plot arcs build, level, and climax over several stories than something ALMOST entirely new in each sequel in order to placate those who have trouble enduring their unanswered questions. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the characters, and the setting and look forward to the trilogy. I recommend a second play through because, like so many of my favorite fantasy novels, the second time through allows for the subtle dialogue to be much more relevant and has much more impact when you are more fully aware of its context. I truly believe the complexities were intentional.
COMBAT:
I beat Too Human as a level 38 defender with an Epic Skullplate of Iron helmet. I beat the entire first area and Grendel, the first "Boss", without ever dying. It was my first time through. I read the manual. I played a little and read the manual again for a better contextual understanding. Now I am truly a god. I chose to replay every level in between one another in order to have access to more strategy while experiencing the story. Where once I was constantly leaping to escape the fray, now I bat around robots like softballs in a frenzy like some kind of reverse pinball machine. They even make a high pitched "Ding" when you slam your steel against theirs. But even as a god, I must assess the lay of the land before deploying my assets. I hear people complaing about the implementation of status affects. I don't think they understand how to exploit these ticking time bombs. The carriers of these status "diseases" I look for first, singleling them out, launching them into the air, circling round them until they are on the verge of death, letting them fall amidst their brethren, putting one last shot between its eyes, and unleashing a status bomb in the middle of the enemy horde. Some times this is required several times before these double-edged swords of the enemy are no more. Secondly, I look for the leaders who cause the most damage and dispatch them as quickly as I can. Usually taking them airborne to avoid the battering droves below. Thirdly, I rush the fringe hugging missile launchers and eliminate that threat. All the while keeping an eye on the grunt hordes, occassionally sliding towards them and unleashing ruiners at a reduced cost ( press the ruiner while sliding ). After the hordes are slain, keeping clear of any Troll's area of effect attacks, It's time to play jump roap. Yes, you heard correctly. JUMP ROAP! I have yet heard any one mention this tactic in the myriad reviews I have read. The Troll's area of effect attack has an epicenter or center where its hammer lands that is extremely damaging and glows red. A wave ripples outward from this epicenter and must be lept over to avoid damage. It follows a rythm and as long as you sync with that rythm while running around it, you'll be ready for the Double Dutch championship, or at least be able to train your gun or guns on its torso plate in order to expose it for a mantling and then bashing of its central computer ( a quicktime event requiring you to press 'A' when behind the Troll ). Not all Trolls are susceptible to central computer bashing, these must be picked apart piece by piece with munitions fire while playing jump roap around them. This is a little tricky since every time you reload you'll have to re-train your weapon on the appropriate spot. I personally would recommend aiming at the most lethal part of its mechanical anatomy first, but that's just me. Concerning the aiming complaints, I suspect most people are releasing the thumbstick and trying to aim elsewhere, bad idea. While trained on one enemy with your gun, hold the stick in that direction. When wanting to cycle to another enemy, depending on its location, keep holding the thumbstick against the edge of the circle and rotate it in the direction of the enemy until you see it highlighted by the green circle at its feet. You can only aim at the enemies in front or between. If they are behind another enemy, the very best you can hope for is that your piercing ability will penetrate through to it. Being able to shoot over and around enemies would make no sense, even if you were trained by Angelina Jolie. Also, when attempting high combo counts I recommend "bouncing" back and forth between clumps of enemies because a strike sometimes renders an enemy invulnerable to the next attack and does not count the strike. I find holding the stick in one direction, waiting for my weapon to strike, releasing the stick and holding it in the opposite direction, then repeating works pretty good as long as there are enemies in the opposite direction to strike. When I'm surrounded by a clump of enemies, I find it is a good strategy to break away from the crowd and slide back in to a ruiner to save combo cost. Ruiners are cool and they change visually and effectively as you level them up. I am 42 hours into the game and still find the combat gratifying and lootfully rewarding, but I suppose it is mostly from the witnessing of well laid battle plans being executed impeccably. I wouldn't expect much pleasure from flicking the stick around aimlessly and watching that valkyrie lift me to Valhalla every five minutes, but that's just me. And this is my take on the combat when I have yet to take my god online for some co-op, so I expect it to get even better.
Now to address a more general approach to combat: character and armament development. I read somewhere that some dude got to level 50 within the first few days of playing and was still finding the game far too difficult. This does not make much sense on many levels. I am a level 38 defender and wade through hordes like water. If this guy was finding it difficult at level 50, it is unlikely he had made it their in a few days. It would have required about 50 hours with Experience buffs capped on all his equipment, dying as little as I have and so not finding the combat especially difficult. And if he in fact has reached level 50 and is still finding the game too difficult, he must have made a debauchery of his skill tree. I have a one word philosophy for approaching one's skill tree, armaments, and buffs: Specialize. Find out what your character's specialties are and feed these indiscriminately. My configuration seems to be working well. The following is just my stats. Skip it to my conclusion if you are not interested in number crunching.
BEGINNING...
MY CHARACTER STATS:
I'm a level 38 Defender that chose the Human path and I followed the far right of the skill tree and the far right of the Human skill tree.
SKILL TREE: 6 : Decreases damage taken for entire party, 6 : chance of reflecting 100% damage, 6 : Laser deploying Spider, 6 : Battle Cry attracting all enemies to me, 10 : Hammer damage, 10 : Sentient Weapon Fenrir that sends spirit sword to wreak havoc, 2 : More powerful ruiners.
HUMAN SKILL TREE: 2 : Decreases combo costs, 6 : melee attack speed, 6 : Fierce attack range, 6 : Increase Ruiner damage, 6 : Decrease Spider recharge time, 10 : Increases combo meter growth and at level 10 raises combo meter to 4 ( most important in my opinion ).
MY EQUIPMENT:
HAMMER: Orange : Sovereign Immortal Hammer of Breaching : Damage - 1763 ( 1123+57%), Value - 14936, Strength +29%, Attack Speed +8%, Hammer Damage +8%, Hammer Damage +6%
GUN: Epic : Harrowing Lance of Wrath : Damage 216 ( 204+6% ), Value - 63837, Pierce +39%, Total Armor +13%, Health +6%, Health +5%
TOTAL ARMOR : 1394
HEAD: Epic: Skullplate of Iron : Armor - 119, Value - 76325, Ballistic Resistance +8%, Battle Cry Damage +4%, Health +8%, Total Armor +11%
TORSO: Orange: Myomer Reticulation Suit of Energy : Armor - 111, Value - 12486, Laser Damage +6, Total Armor +10, Total Armor +10, Hammer Fierce Damage +13
SHOULDERS: Orange: Sovereign Combat Spaulders of Impact : Armor - 136, Value - 15574, Blunt Resistance +3%, Total Armor +13%, Hammer Fierce Damage +17%, Hammer Fierce Dammage +14%
HANDS: Orange: Merciful Triggerfree Plated Vambrace of Reinforcement : Armor - 118, Value - 13925, Total Armor +10%, Total Armor +13%, Total Armor +13%, Spider Duration +19%
LEGS: Orange: Sovereign Web-Brace Greaves of Fortune, Armor - 125, Value - 14225, Loot Drop Chance +3%, Piercing Resistance +3%, Total Armor +12%, Hammer Damage +8%
FEET: Orange: Sovereign BattleGrip Shoes of Elusion, Armor - 125, Value - 14037, Improved Dodge +13%, Improved Dodge +13%, Hammer Slide Distance +3%, Total Armor +11%
CHARMS: Purple: Grand Blight Insulator, chance of emitting damaging radiation cluster on contact. Purple: Electrostatic Aspect, chance of triggering a damaging EMP pulse.
HIT POINTS: 2417
MAX COMBO: 4
...END OF STATS.
The addition of randomly generated dungeons is an astonishing surprise considering the graphical richness of the world. The way it has been implemented is a stroke of sheer genius and I must applaud those responsible. The graphics may not be the most impressive on the 360, but considering the depth of gameplay, they are amazing. You can't have everything. So many people online seem to think you can. I expect a similar graphical complaint to be leveled at Fable 2. Again, the lack of graphic superiority in Fable 2 has me even more excited about the game for it implies a depth of gameplay that the developer deemed more important than a flashy superficial coat of paint. But I digress. I thoroughly enjoyed Too Human and I expect I will continue to for a long time to come. Busying myself with the hunting of Epic sets of armor along side my friends' gods online and trying out some of the other character classes. Not to mention the truckloads of Downloadable content I expect Microsoft and Silicon Knights to pump down the pipe. As far as those who claim this game to be strictly for loot lovers and stat-stackers, I strongly disagree. The action elements in this game are richer than any hack-and-slasher I have ever played, you just have to learn how to exploit your options instead of treating it like every other hack-and-slasher or shooter you have played. This game is both, and the controls have been implemented admirably. Once you learn the controls and buff your character appropriately, the enemies off screen will not matter. A god knows where all the enemies are before he hits the fray and need only attack in its general direction and the camera will adjust accordingly. I am beginning to really like the camera because it is smarter than I am, or at least as far as the game is concerned. So in conclusion, I can't find any real complaints about my experience with Too Human 42 hours in, but I am looking at it with an open consideration of all that it has accomplished. I strongly recommend Too Human to anyone who has ever liked action, shooter, or Role Playing games, but warn them that it will require some attention to learn. If this is too much to ask, do not fret. There is always the Wii.
Thank you for reading and hope to see you online.