| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Xbox 360 | 0.50 |
| Overall | 0.50 |
|
Upon finishing Too Human I found myself stupefied, unable to put into words what I felt for the game. I commented that perhaps the only review I could put together would involve a tractor, a shotgun and two gallons of gasoline, and encouraged by members of the VGpress community I did just that link. Enough has been written about the long-development time of Silicon Knights' 2008 action-rpg, and the controversy surrounding the defense of the game by the developer's head, Denis Dyack, so in this review I'll stick just to the game itself. Much of the criticism of the game came perhaps from a mis-understanding of what it it. Though is is an action game, and the camera is set in the view of the third person, it is not a third-person action game. It is an action-rpg, much like any of the games from Snowblind (Champions of Norrath, Baldur's Gate II: Dark Alliance), except instead of a top-down isometric view the camera is behind the character. Keeping that in mind, the unimaginative and repetitive level design is slightly more acceptable. Poor level design in those other games is made acceptable by the top-down camera. It is easy from that perspective to quickly assess your path and navigate large amounts of space, not so with the use of camera here. As with those other games, there is much loot to be had, and you can upgrade your equipment and armor endlessly. You can return to the hub world to repair, upgrade or buy new armor and weapons (if you have the money to do so, which you won't). The story concept of Too Human is quite good, despite what at first seems like a ludicrous premise. It certainly is better than most in the genre, and it would have been interesting to have seen a sequel to see what happens with the story, if the many problems in the game were resolved. The dialogue however is usually laughably bad. The difficulty level of the game is quite uneven. You will die often, even though there is no penalty for the death (kind of). For example, if you and your party are engaged in a boss battle and you die when you return to the battle any damage you have made will still be there. In fact, there will be further damage from what your party has done while you were gone. Where did you go you ask? Every time you die you leave the game for a forced 22 second cut-scene. No loading is done during this time, Dyack said in an interview that this was solely a creative choice. As noted, you will die often, particularly late in the game when the levels get longer and your equipment is damaged (with no way to repair or replace them). This choice, which totaled up to 2 hours of play time in my 15 hour play-through absolutely killed the game for me. It should be noted that all time while you are in the game is counted in the game clock, in length this game provides about 7 hours of play. The uneven difficulty, combined with the monotonous level design (long space-halls), made for a broken and dull experience made painfully long by removing the player from the game to observe his failings over and over again. I hope that Silicon Knights can come back from this fiasco, and take solace in the lyrics of Billy Joel's, "You're Only Human" : You're having a hard time and lately you don't feel so good You're getting a bad reputation in your neighborhood It's alright, it's alright, sometimes that's what it takes You're only human, you're allowed to make your share of mistakes You better believe there will be times in your life When you'll be feeling like a stumbling fool So take it from me you'll learn more from your accidents Than anything that you could ever learn at school Don't forget your second wind Sooner of later you'll get your second wind |
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Posted by aspro Mon, 06 Dec 2010 21:10:38
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