Too Human
Silicon Knights
Xbox 360
3 stars (out of 5)
Review by Simon Kemp
Too Human is an odd one.
It's been in development for nearly 10 years and is the first of a planned trilogy of games for the Xbox 360 from developer Silicon Knights.
It's billed as a sort of God of War meets Dungeons and Dragons action, role playing, combat romp through a modern version of Norse mythology.
Sounds interesting eh?
And then the problems start.
Most games give you an introduction to the characters and a bit of a plot, then leave you to carry on.
Too Human just, well, leaves you.
There is a long introduction, which starts in what appears to be a Viking pub then switches to a mountain hideaway and by then, well, I'd lost track.
By the time I took control of my character he'd just got off a massive spaceship with his army and I was, if I'm honest, completely confused.
I'd gathered that I was some sort of god who was supposed to be protecting the mortals from a mechanical army, but I'd also been told by a man with electric sunglasses to look for a big robot dog which had lost a leg in a fight in the pub. I think.
Honestly, after 10 years you'd have thought they could have got it to make some kind of sense.
The confusion carries on to the gameplay - although billed as a cross between genres, Too Human plays like a standard hack and slash fighter with a few upgrades thrown in that you can use if you like.
The controls take a bit of getting used to as well; the right stick, instead of controlling the camera as in a lot of games, controls the hero's sword arm - press it right and he moves right and takes a swing at the nearest enemy - you get the idea.
It works quite well, but you do sometimes find yourself getting frustrated with the automatic camera and the fact that sometimes your hero shoots off in a direction of, seemingly, his own choosing and attacks a wall.
Early on in the game, you get to choose whether you want to follow a cybernetic or human path through the story - both have strengths and weaknesses in armour and weapon types - and it is pretty much a personal choice, It doesn't make the game any easier or harder.
Whichever route you take, you will be able to tweak your character's design, weapons and armour using the very easy to use interface, as well as switching between some of the numerous swords and guns - you collect them from your defeated enemies.
The weapons are split into two distinct types; close combat and ranged, and whereas the ranged weapons are effective but a bit awkward, close combat is where the real action is.
Unfortunately, a lot of people won't bother with a lot of the upgrades as there is (as in a couple of recent games) only a small penalty for dying - you have to watch an unskippable cutscene of a Valkyrie coming to pick you up and drop you off which gets a bit tedious after seeing it for the umpteenth time.
But, after that you just carry on hacking.
Now, after saying all that, I have to admit I actually quite enjoy playing Too Human.
I'm not sure why, as it doesn't stand out in any particular areas.
The graphics and sound are all good but not ground-breaking, some of the areas are too large and seem a little unfinished and the story is completely unfathomable.
But it does have a strangely addictive quality that kept me coming back.
I reckon it could be the fact that it's not too difficult and it's easy to just pick up and play.
It's sort of the gaming equivalent of a Steven Segal movie - you enjoy it on a Sunday afternoon because it's fun and you don't need to strain your brain watching it.
As I mentioned at the beginning, Too Human is the first of a trilogy, hopefully the developers will have a clearer idea of what they want to achieve next and maybe work on the story a little . . . at least tell me what the robot dog was doing in the pub!
