Starting as an N64 game, being ported to Gamecube, then Xbox, and now 360...I dunno. Most other games like this would be considered vaporware, *cough* Duke Nukem, but I have faith in Silicon Knights to actually finish it. They have a lot of cool ideas, and I like how they're approaching combat, but I dunno maybe its too ambitious? I guess they've finally got the hardware to realise thier goal tho.

On the subject of this game, things have only got worse, with Silicon Knights sueing Epic for delaying the Unreal Engine 3 too much, forcing Silicon to make thier own engine, delaying this game even further. Eugh.

I'm still not entirely sure if Too Human is going to be a slam dunk, but after a demo at the Game Developers Conference one thing is clear: Silicon Knights' Xbox 360 title has some serious technical chops.

"Take a good look at this loading screen," said director Denis Dyack as he started up the game from the title screen. "It's the only time you'll see it during the demo." By the time he was finished with the sentence, the near-final version of Too Human was off and running, and not once did we see a load screen for the first 30 minutes of the game, even as it jumped from environment to environment.

Silicon Knights' writers are master storytellers above all, and their Too Human tech is there to serve this purpose. The first half-hour of the game zips back and forth between gameplay and cut-scenes and expository flashbacks, each taking place in different, wide-open, detailed environments, and not one transition brought with it a halt in the pacing.

Too Human, due out sometime later this year from Microsoft for Xbox 360, is best described a cross between God of War's cinematic, epic action sequences and loot-grinding RPGs like Diablo. On the one hand, you've got these wonderful cut scenes telling a story of Norse mythology in a cybernetic age, where robotic Valkyries take departed souls to Valhalla on golden metal wings. While Silicon Knights still doesn't want to spill many story details, what I saw thus far has me hooked.

And on the other, you've got the massive menu screens full of "epic loot" and skill trees. While you are constantly finding new armors, weapons and runes to give them stat boosts, the menu system used to swap them out is pretty intuitive -- if complex. You can scroll through all your various types of stuff and compare it to what you're currently wearing and see if you want to swap it out. Armor does degrade, so eventually you'll want to put on something new because you won't have the protection anymore.

Since all the cut scenes are in real time, main character Baldur's gear will always reflect what you're wearing -- even if the armor is degrading and flashing red, that'll show up in the cinematics.

You can choose from five character classes at the start, all of which are rated on hit points, melee, ballistics, armor and skills. The Champion is good with both firearms and melee, critical strikes and air combat. He's the well-rounded choice of first-time players, for sure.

The Commando is best with firearms, explosives and the "spider," a device you get early in the game that allows you to deploy a variety of attacks. The Bioengineer is a healer who uses nanotechnology to heal and fight. (He gets "mana fuel" from killing enemies, which allows him to use these powers.)

The Berserker has low HP, but excels in melee combat and can dual-wield. His best defense is a constant offense. And the Defender is a tank who wears a Cylon-style helmet and is the only class that cannot get knocked down by enemy missiles.


One of the key areas in which Silicon Knights and I agree is that a gamer should never have to control the camera in a game like this. While you do in fact have some limited camera control -- you can recenter it behind you by hitting the left shoulder button -- the camera is for the most part best left to its own devices, as it will automatically move to give you the best views of the action. Playing the game, I found that it was mostly good at it, although there were a few times when I had to slap the L button to get my bearings.

You can use the D-pad to adjust the camera's position in relation to the action. If you want it zoomed up tight, that's fine; if you want it zoomed far out looking like Diablo, that is also appropriate. I found I liked it zoomed out, as there are a lot of enemies at times. In fact, the battle system is based on juggling a whole bunch of foes at once -- between 50 and 70 at times, says Dyack.

Melee attacks are done by holding the right analog stick in the direction of the enemy you want to hit, and Baldur will automatically slide there, zooming right along the floor up to them. The game's producer at Microsoft described the optimal strategy as "playing pingpong" -- you want to slide up to an enemy and attack it, then slide to an enemy behind you and attack it, and bounce back and forth. Longer slides let you build up your combo meter, which makes you attack enemies faster. But once you build the meter up enough, you can spend some of it on a supermove that crushes all the enemies around you. It's an interesting trade-off, because while it kills everything, it palpably slows you down back to the slowest combat speed.

You can just jam straight through the levels, but there are also "challenge rooms" that you can enter and try to wipe out a group of enemies in a certain time (two minutes in the room we played). If you succeed, you get to bash open a breakable object full of loot; if you fail, you're booted out and you can never try again.

Another way you can have fun while grinding enemies is to do miniquests that you can see in the menu screen. To get a few more runes to upgrade your weapons, for example, you can kill six trolls by mounting them. Trolls in Too Human are giant walking mechs, of course. To kill them you can shoot or bash out their armor, then press A when you are near them to jump on them. This initiates the "troll-surfing" portion of the game, where you will push the analog stick back and forth to balance on the troll, then slam the right stick to smash his head in.

Anyway, all this is surely only a tiny slice of Too Human. Did I have a good time? I am not exactly an RPG person. I do not grind epic mobs for loot, or mob epic loots for grind, or any of that. But Too Human was certainly fun, and the story is definitely intriguing, and if anybody can have me looting epic grinds, it's Silicon Knights.

Gameplayer posts “mixed” thoughts on Too Human

June 20th, 2008 @ 09:17

Uh oh. Aussie site Gameplayer’s posted hands-on impressions of Too Human, and the words really don’t augur well.

“With PS3 owners smarter at the debacle which was Haze, could X360 fans have a similar embarrassment on the horizon with Too Human?”

The site played the action-RPG at an Australian Microsoft event, and while quick to point out that it’s too early to tell for definite what’s going on, one of the three writers involved in the piece was “left with very mixed opinions of the game.”

“Unfortunately the demo wasn’t all plasma pistols and meat paste; the graphics seen in the preview were a touch jaggy and inconsistent in places, especially with regards to facial detail in the cut-scenes,” the journo added.

“Also, the much touted ‘A.I controlled camera system’ (your right analogue handles melee now, remember) seems to be actively working for your Machine Presence enemies. There were a few times when I disengaged from a swarm of foes (to execute an admittedly pansy, yet totally tactical, retreat) and then it wouldn’t swing back around behind me when I chose to re-engage them with my ranged weapons. Frustrating, to say the least.”

Whoops. Another of the writers was more blunt.

“A lot of folks at the hands-on session last night commented that Too Human looks like a ‘poor man’s Mass Effect.’ Not in so many words — there was a lot of swearing thrown in, too. But there was a strong feeling that even if it wasn’t actually a rip-off, it looked like a rip-off — and that the game would suffer for it.”

Come in, Mr Dyack. Your time is up.

Poor Denis Dyack. Too Human's not even out yet, and already, the knives are out. None sharper than this one: over on the Eurogamer boards, one of the site's mods - a chap who claims to be a journo - says his Too Human review NDA is "against [his] human rights". He also says "this has to be the worst game I've played in the last 5 years", citing everything from the game's animation to its supposedly repetitive combat. This follows on from a few hands-on impressions hitting yesterday that range from the wary to the downbeat to the cautiously damning. None of which are the final word. But all of which will nevertheless be taken as final gospel/reviews by the impressionable and trollish (despite the potential that one is a complete fabrication), which should make a fascinating case study in the construction of internet preconceptions for some student, somewhere.

I'm suprised there isn't more discussing going on about this game. The concept and story looks pretty interesting, although having the watched the trailer I find the graphics quality a bit questionable for a next-gen game ie. slightly poor. However, the story looks good enuogh that I'm going to buy it anyway, I dig all things norse. I've spent the whole weekend playing Viking battle for asgard and VP2 XD

A new video of Too Human dropped on GameTrailers today. With the release of the game (finally) only a week away, we figured we'd give it one last look before we dig our claws into the real thing. The video in question covers the game's combo system. While anyone who wants to has had a chance to test it out for themselves with the Too Human demo, the video shows off the kinds of stunts Baldur can pull off at higher levels. Watch the video and see him zipping everywhere at once in a seemingly never ending string of attacks, even taking some time to land some spiffy air combos. Have a look and start counting the days.

The demo is now available to silver members. I highly doubt it will fall as hard as Haze. I see the game in the 6.5-7.5 range on gamerankings/metacritic(at least that is what the demo impression gave me). Cool game concept with some flaws.