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Microsoft Game Studios has been relatively small compared to other first party publishers
when it comes to the number of titles they produce. Yeah, they have Halo, Gears and Fable,
but the other games aren’t always big names when compared to say, Sony, a company that
produced a great number of exclusives for their system last year. Even so, Microsoft
has published lots of unique games that really try a lot of different things, good and bad.
This is a game that fits that “unique” description, although it’s really just unique
in its take on a few different styles. It’s Too Human, developed by Silicon Knights.
Too Human is an action-RPG that feels kind of like Mass Effect meets Devil May Cry. The
story revolves around a weird take on the Norse gods with you taking the role of Baldur.
You’ll have a few different classes to choose from, such as the melee focused Champion,
each designed to fit your style of play. Now, when I said that it feels like Mass Effect
meets Devil May Cry, I mean that the tone feels like Mass Effect, even though this does
have a supernatural element. You’ll definitely remember the supernatural element, as the
game will make you watch this weird thing come down and take you away every time you
die. Now, as far as combat is concerned, this is
very similar to Devil May Cry. It’s a mix of shooting distant enemies and hacking and
slashing at closer ones, all while dodging attacks from both groups. You’ll have a
number of weapons at your disposal, and different items will drop from defeated enemies. The
system is very fluid, and the transition from shooting to slashing is very easy. My issue
with the combat though, is that the game uses the right stick to execute melee attacks.
Ok, it shouldn’t be a problem, but the attacks never seem to go in the direction I push.
In addition, because the camera can’t be controlled by the right stick, your only choice
is to use a button to re-center it, and you’ll need to do that constantly. This doesn’t
even work all the time, as the game will sometimes face the camera straight at you instead of
putting it behind you. It’s rare for a current-gen system’s game to have a camera actually
be this frustrating, but Too Human manages to do it.
The one thing with the camera that the game does manage to do well though, are cinematic
shots. For example, the game may look like it’s entering a cut scene, but if you pull
the triggers to fire, you’ll end up firing at one of the enemies shown as if you were
still in complete control. This lets you set up your own cool set-pieces, almost as if
you’re directing the Too Human movie. Out of all of the ideas tried out in Too Human,
this is by far the best. It does take a little while to get used to, though. Don’t feel
embarrassed if you’re wondering why the cut-scene is taking so long at first. The
game doesn’t really tell you what’s going on.
I was actually fairly let down by Too Human’s visuals. The game is a few years old, and
faces look O.K., but everything else seems very bland. Environments are generic, enemies
look really uninspired, and attacks lack that final level of polish.
Too Human will definitely please big fans of the action-RPG genre, and most of its concepts
work really well. It’s problems, however, are from a technical standpoint. The frustrating
camera and right stick system really keep this from being a must have title, and if
a sequel ever gets made, this is really where the effort needs to be focused.