My Take on Too Human (Detailed Impressions Included)

[xman]

Darc Requiem said:

I finished Too Human last night. After playing through the game in its entirety, I have come to the conclusion that the game isn't as awful as the 5.5 review from Gamespot implies. By the same token, I don't the game is as good as the IGN or Gamepro reviews imply scores imply. Actually the IGN review is dead on for the most part, its very detailed gives the pros and cons of the game. I think the score was a bit high though. I think 7.0 would have been more appropriate.

Too Humans controls are excellent in some ways and less than stellar in others.The camera for the most part isn't the horrible game breaking distraction that some imply, the right analog based attack system is actually well implemented. Unless you've played Rise to Honor on PS2, it takes a while to get used to the idea. Once you do the melee combat is not only fun but inputs are very accurate. The ranged combat is a mixed bag. Its functional but it has few issues. The two issues I've found were that its harder than it should be to lock on to a single target in a horde of enemies. Certain enemies have an explosive or freezing effect that they cause upon death. If you spot one of them in horde of enemies its a good practice to take them out and use that effect to your advantage. The problem is there is no real way to quickly target them. The best solution I found was to drop my current target and try to reacquire another or to turn Baldur's aim via the right analog and hope he picks it up. The second issue is more of annoyance that anything. Baldur will hold his target even if the enemy is dead. It makes it so the player has to be cognoscente of their foes hit points. Otherwise you will be pumping valuable ammo into a corpse. 

Graphically Too Human is a nice looking game for the most part. The environments are massive and very detailed. The last area of the game in particular is a sight to see. The texture of good quality in general although I found of the cyberspace textures to lack the details of the others. The character models are uneven. My friend was watching me play the game and he pointed out how the "attractive" Norn's face has obvious angles in the model. The facial animations work well and the lip sync is accurate. I did find the hair for the player models to be a little underwhelming on a few of the models, Freya comes to mind.

From an audio standpoint, Too Human was very good overall. The voice overs are adequate. The music and sound effects were good. Too Human's soundtrack fits the games setting but isn't memorable. There are exceptions, the ominous sound effect that is attached to every rare blueprint you find for instance. There were a few issues though. The NPCs that accompany you on your missions will repeat the same phrase over and over. With Wolves under Baldur's command it is noticeable but understandable, It gets a bit grating when you are on the mission with Thor. He will repeatedly tell Loki to challenge him face to face and Loki repeats the same response back.

Overall I was satisfied with Too Human. After all the delays and the issues with the Unreal Engine, etc. I never though the game would see release. If you like a Diablo esque game with tons of loot and a unique twist on Norse mythology, you will most likely enjoy this game.

Rating*
7.0/10

*I have yet to play on-line so, that is why I neglected to mention anything related to on-line play.

Well written review