Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Too Human review

Count me among the philistines who just didn't get Silicon Knight's opus, Too Human. I sometimes wonder what's the point of crafting such a complex system of weapons, armor, and status upgrades if you're going to make navigating and understanding that system flat-out impossible. It's not a game devoid of any pleasures, but I can't imagine ever touching it again now that nobody's paying me to. And it was hell of presumptuous to herald the awesomeness of the Too Human trilogy without making the first game justify two more.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for saving me from a unjustified $60 hole in my wallet...

Unknown said...

It's strange. I totally understand everyone's complaints with the game. The story goes nowhere, the menu system is aggravating, the camera makes one curse, and the number of cheap deaths makes me want to throw the controller.

However, I can't seem to stop playing the game. For whatever reason, the kill, grab loot, upgrade, kill again cycle has me hooked. After beating the campaign once, I just skip all the cutscenes. Trying the different classes has made for some interesting learning experiences, and for the most part I can get Baldur to do what I want now. I'd argue that there is more depth in the combat than seems at first glance, but part of the reason for that is that the game tells you NOTHING but the most basic controls. You have to finish the first level to get access to vital information in the game that isn't even in the manual. I've yet to find an explanation for some of the status bonuses on various pieces of loot. +8% Rupture means what exactly?

The game absolutely could have used another 6 months of polish. Yet, I love what we have now, despite how much it tries to make me hate it.

Daniel Purvis said...

Glad to see your review up. It would appear as though you've given it a much fairer treatment than I did. However, we've nailed exactly the same points. And, unsurprisingly, given it the same score of 2/5 stars.

I also totally agree with Beanland. I actually liked picking up loot and decking out Baldur. I was able to manipulate my attacks and penetrated the sophisticated realm of melee combos, projectile juggling, air combos and ruiner attacks, yet, I was ready to cease playing nonetheless.

What also surprised me was just how complex the inventory system and yet, Runes were useless because the best loot already had full slots and the charms were even more useless because even once a charm was unlocked, it's effects were completely unnoticeable.

I think that Too Human would have benefitted more had the Charms been removed, the runes had a more functional use and a better handling of the targetting system.

Also, get rid of those bloody Valkyries and reduce the time spent walking around aimlessly in Cyberspace.

I'm very, very surprised to see the game getting scored as high as 8 in reviews that barely touch on what will end up pissing most of the players off.

Mitch Krpata said...

Was there even any way to sort the inventory? I know it was salvaging things for me automatically, but it seemed like there was no real order to what it was displaying after I'd picked up and salvaged a bunch of loot.

I certainly can't argue strenuously with people who like the game in spite of its faults. I just have a hard time overlooking issues with user experience in most cases. I did have some fun with this game.

Geeky Chef said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Geeky Chef said...

Everywhere I've read has given Too Human lukewarm reviews, so I'm gonna save myself the disappointment and the cash. Silicon Knights should be spending their time making another Eternal Darkness.

Daniel Purvis said...

Just for the record, no. There was absolutely no way to sort your inventory, you could only set it to manually salvage. In addition, there was no way at all to automatically or bulk salvage items once they'd already been collected in your inventory.