I recently played and reviewed Silicon Knights’ long-in-development Too Human, and the review process ended up being one of the more laborious examinations in recent memory. A great deal of consideration went into my assessment of the title, and along with that came a fairly large text file of notes about the game.
A la Kyle Stallock (from whom I shamelessly stole this idea), I give you my pre-review scribblings about Too Human. Enjoy.
like a moovie. some of the best direction and cinematography i’ve seen in a while.
the graphics are not amazing in a technical sense, but the cinematography, artistic direction, and environment design make up for that
miss the whole backstory unless you let the title screen play out. maybe a bad choice
camera shows you what the devs want. crafted experience. wonderful angles make this an epic experience. a static-yet-mobile camera similar to eternal darkness
controls are good. take some orientation. shooting is like smash tv or…uh…commando. also somewhat like eternal darkness
the game doesn’t tutor the player much. help available if sought.
spend lots of time in inventory, changing weapons/armor as you get new. auto-salvage can prevent this to a degree
weapon sets give bonus bonuses
dying is a momentary lapse in the action. consequences=weapon degradation
a vast amount of equipment customization. charms, runes, colors, sets,
there is no way to heal oneself, aside from picking up random health drops (or playing as a bioengineer). class distinctions
catching bits of conversation as you explore helps explain the belief structure of the society and the political situation in too human
the game is divided up into missions that baldr embarks on as the story unfolds. each is introduced via a healthy dose of cinematic narrative and backstory. retrospective flash-back segments and explanations reveal…
past missions can be re-played outside of the main storyline of the campaign mode
5 classes, each with differents strengths/weaknesses, skills, proficiencies, equipment, etc
some enemies must be dealt with in specific ways. i.e. explosive enemies must be attacked from afar to avoid getting caught in their explosive death throw. alternatively, a player can use a melee juggle to launch them into the air and have them explode far away. gun-resistant, etc
bosses are visually diverse, but some employ similar attack strategies
party is sorta useless, or at least invisible. you hear them more than you see them. always seem to show up at the path to the next area.
pacing is up and down. the game is abnormally death-inducing……for a no-defense berserker.
the excellent dual-world setup should be taken advantage of more. it tapers off
thor
baldr
loki
grendel
aesir
hod
odin
hel
nidhogg
ragnarok
niestzche – human, all too human…hunting monsters
