Too Human

Too Human has been mired in controversy: in development in some capacity for 10 years, it’s received notoriously poor evaluations based on early builds which have haunted developer Silicon Knights for years. And in the midst of it all, late in development, Silicon Knights launches a lawsuit against Epic regarding Unreal Engine III, the same engine used to develop Too Human.

With such a history, it pre-emptively frames Too Human unflatteringly. Setting aside all of the drama, the game is just a game after all, and on its merits alone, is a very odd one at that. Too Human is part RPG, part Diablo, part action-adventure, part shooter, and part Devil May Cry, all set in a sci-fi interpretation of Norse Mythology. There’s a lot going on here.

Set in a world suffering from a perpetual, nuclear holocaust induced “Thimble” winter, humanity is protected by a group of “gods” whose powers are not ordained by an actual God, but through cybernetic implementation and grand technology. You, as god Baldur, fight to preserve mankind against an unrelenting army of machines that live in the uninhabitable frozen wastelands.

It’s a fascinating concept. Unfortunately, the story is a fascinating disaster. Boring, emotionally vacant, and, worse yet, utterly convoluted, Too Human’s story ranks up amongst the worst I’ve ever experienced in any medium. Any promise from the concept and deftly handled cinematics is completed wasted on the whole.
You’re given no context, no set-up, no explanation regarding the setting, the plot, and the characters. While leaving the universe to its own devices is fine, throwing the viewer into a set of circumstances and relationships that have no meaning and make no sense is, itself, nonsensical. Add to the fact that Baldur may be the dumbest, most dense lead character in the history of videogames, and you end up with little to ground you in this bewildering mess.

The story is a massive disappointment given its potential and Silicon Knights’ history of solid, mature storytelling.

Any positive lasting impression of Too Human is going to have to rest on its gameplay. Third person combat is split between weaponized melee combat and ranged projectile attacks. Different character classes will basically emphasize one or the other, with some quirks in between. This core combat in Too Human is actually handled quite well.

Switching from slashing away at your enemies to blasting them from afar is about as seamlessly handled as you could hope for. Moreover, the control scheme is decently implemented with the right stick operating as your melee weapon while the triggers operate your pistols or rifle. To attack an enemy within range, you simply push the right stick in their direction. Baldur glides across the stage to strike, and as the combination of successful attacks mount, he moves more quickly and for longer distances as he launches himself any which way dispatching foes.

While this first appears awkward and the animation quite stiff, in practice this pinball wizard combat is very satisfying and entertaining. Baldur is also capable of launching enemies into the air, jumping to juggle them with attacks suspended above, returning to the ground below for more combat, then switching to ranged shooting and back again if you so wish. It works well when the game is cooperating, there is an acceptable amount of variety, and is ultimately, dare I say, addictive.

But, as I’d mentioned, that’s when it’s working.

When it isn’t working you’re left aghast at just how sloppy it can become. The worst culprits are the more advanced enemies which rely not on advanced techniques, but cheap attacks that render you pathetically, frustratingly impotent.

Many attacks are simply unavoidable and most knock Baldur on his ass, leaving you watching a painfully canned animation of his recovery. There isn’t anything worse than realizing that there’s nothing you can do to avoid death, so you simply stand there hacking away and getting knocked down until death comes. This is very poor design.

Ironically, the very characters in Too Human seem aware of this: you’ll occasionally hear a human squad-mate let slip “So much for artificial intelligence”. Indeed.

Luckily for Too Human there are aspects of the game that aren’t particularly screwy. Experience points are earned through combat. Enough of these will level-up Baldur which grants him skill points. Skill points, in turn, can be applied to a logically laid out “skill tree”. This skill tree has paths one can follow with skills cascading in increasing sophistication further down the tree.

Many of these skills have real tangible consequences in battle, and aren’t as esoteric or only back-end relevant as increasing, say, your “luck”. The skills unlock powerful ruiners which are stage clearing special attacks, spider abilities which are small robotic companions, and a sentient weapon attack that unleashes your weapon to do the fighting for you.

One particular spider skill deploys as an anti-missile turret, another deploys as a land mine, each offering some measure of strategy and usefulness. Moreover, deploying your sentient weapon is not only very helpful, but an entertaining sight as it flies about taking the fight to your enemies. As well as offering the satisfaction of progression on the back-end, these skills spice up real time combat that otherwise becomes tedious after time.

And yes, tedium does often set in. Ironically, this is due only in part to the actual combat; the core mechanics, despite some awful enemy encounters, are sound and entertaining. Rather, the pacing of Too Human is drawn out in unbearably long levels stretching out over hours of play.

Only four levels comprise the majority of Too Human, but this isn’t to say they’re short on content. There’s a lot there, actually. But there isn’t a lot to like. You’ll feel as though you’ve trudged through the same bland and uninteresting environment for far longer than you should have, fighting the same damn enemies and their frustrating ring leaders too many times over, in bland and uncreative encounters. There is the weakest of attempts to mix things up by offering cyberspace treks visualized as lush forest areas and grasslands, but these too feel vacant and lonely.

Each of Too Human’s levels should have been split in two. They should have been more distinct from one to the other. And they should have featured more frequent and less obtuse story elements to flesh out the universe and the actual plot. With this tighter focus, it is conceivable combat could have also been improved, more fresh and unique in smaller more focused dollops, and, thusly, the game would have flowed massively better than it does in its current, ungainly form.

At the very least, it would have helped if Too Human were a good looking game. While beautifully detailed in certain, isolated respects, Too Human is visually underwhelming. Some character and facial detail is remarkable and attractive, as are a few of the environments. But most of the game ranges from merely competent all the way down to ugly. Variety, again, would have been a big help, but the levels all feature the same dark, Norse steel and technology motif repeated over and over again.

Too Human certainly attempts to be grand, but the camera angles do not allow an appreciation of what is attractive, be those things few and far between. You do not have right stick control over the camera and it is set at a distance, which is fine and good for gameplay and functional sight-lines, but not for appreciating any attempts at appealing aesthetics.

That said, you’ll be spending a lot of time in the menu system anyhow, pouring over Baldur’s equipment. The most touted feature of Too Human is its loot system. Simply put, equipment is constantly looted from enemies, special challenges, and obelisks scattered about levels. Equipment is plentiful in many forms, including multiple melee weapons, projectile weapons, and armour pieces. Each has its own distinct set of properties, some special while others more mundane.

The menu system does an admirable job of organizing loot and displaying it in such a way that makes comparison of attributes a breeze. If you’re not certain whether a newly acquire helmet is better or worse than the one currently donned, you can easily compare the two in many different respects. Some pieces of equipment are quite rare, while others will repeat themselves often. As you level-up, the equipment dropped also gradually increases in stature and power.

Complexity and further depth is introduced with supplemental runes that imbue compatible objects with special abilities or attribute boosters, the ability to cash in equipment, to use that currency to build upon blueprints of equipment, and so on and so forth. There is much to dig into, and even for this reviewer who does not fancy himself this type of gamer, I found it compelling and worth the time invested.

Equipment also features prominently into Too Human’s online co-op play. Online co-op is co-op as you’d expect it, two players fighting together in levels with enhanced difficulty sans story elements. But players are also able to swap their equipment with each other. This very clever feature works well as a significant portion of your equipment is outside of your character class to begin with, and may find a home with your friend and vice versa. Although I have my doubts as to the “randomness” and “uniqueness” of equipment the further I play and the more I see repeated, this bartering system is a unique attraction giving co-op play distinct appeal.