What if the stories from myth about viking Gods were all true? That there really were Gods that ruled over our ancestors? What if the theories about us reaching a technological level only to obliterate ourselves are true? That for many cycles humans have developed computers, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence etc and been destroyed by our own creations or nature.
Too Human suggest that Norse Gods were in fact representatives of an advanced technological civilization. An elite ruling class tasked with the protection of ordinary people. Baldur, Thor, Odin, simply people evolved beyond baseline human by staggeringly advanced technology.
Who do these gods protect the humans from, goblins and elves who are the a.i. that ran amok, however there are two factions, the norn are benevloent a.i. who control a cyber world woven into the fabric of being by nano tech viruses inside every living or non living atom. they know far more than they are telling us about everything we see.
These God's fight the goblins and trolls on one side and amongst themselves on the other, over the direction of policy. Loki believes one ideology and Odin another. The clash will shake the world.
Baldur is introduced to us as he is rescued from Hel. Why is was there? The next time we see him he is stalking the Grendel in a bar that is part viking with huge tankards and the other part holographic strip club.
We find out Baldur's history in bits a pieces from his shattered memory. We get the sense that Baldur is not being told the full story of events about his wife or his recent history. We know that his wife is dead and Freya wishes to comfort him and become his wife, however, Baldur is distant with her. Loki is imprisoned and Baldur takes his army of men to hunt down the Grendel, a new species of machine threat.
The scene is set for a story with many twists. The problem is in the execution. The makers of Too human have had this story in their heads for too long. they have a huge library of information I would wager on the back story. The problem is none of it shows in the game. Most of what I know I had to piece together from many sources. Some of the clever parallels drawn I have read about in forums for game, not gleaned from the game itself.
Some plot points regarding death for example are not explained. Maybe this is due to the final revelations that will come in later games, however leaving the player wondering if there is a huge plot hole is not the best policy.
For example Baldur does not die, nor it seems does any of the a.i. helpers. The valkyries come and carry them away and bring them back seconds later. Conversely we are also told that Hel claims the corpses of the fallen and that In taking Baldur from Hel once he died the Aesir broke a pact leading to war.
Death seems to be a state of being here, alive you are free in midgard, dead you go to valhalla or Hel. I am getting irritated thinking about it, if the final reveal at the end of the trilogy is that Midgard is a virtual world and the characters are living in a matrix style world that they didn't know about I won't be happy. The game already plays with Baldur's perceptions once with him thinking he has left cyberspace back to reality and finding that he never left cyberspace. To fully confuse me at one point, one of the Aseir Gods is killed for good and doesn't come back again or get a valkyrie, why? I never saw any explanation.
The story has some points to make about technology being a double edged sword with manipulation of media fed to a character making him act against character. Never quite seeing the real world and worlds within worlds seems to be a heavy plot element.
The story feels episodic, however, it does have an introduction middle and resolution. It's just that one crisis has been resolved, only to make wider matters worse and the future look bleak for the Aseir. A large war is now now being waged on two sides, which look like they might unite in their hatred.
Baldur is a cold and an unlikeable hero, his treatment of his wife feels wrong. Thor is a horrible mix, a cybernetic superbeing, who drinks like an alcholic and seems terminally stupid. All the aseir seem cold and aloof, and not a bunch of people that feel like they need your support, I might actually start rooting for Loki and the Goblins.
On starting a game you are presented with 5 classes to choose from, which I don't like, there I have said it. It's fine to upgrade your character all you like, but to have to choose before you even know the game, which attributes you will like best is just stupid. I am not going to play any game that takes 15 hours five times over to see all the variances, no matter how interesting they are.
I think I have played only a handful of games more than once through in my life, games like Doom, Half life 1 and 2 and Mass effect. I have to really, really like a game to give it that much time. To suggest to me before playing that I might want to take five classes through a fifteen hour game is a little much. I want one character that all abilities are open to. I chose bioengineer at random. After all the stats meant little too me with know experience. Five times fifteen is seventyfive hours. If you want the full levels in each class that is doubled to 150 hours play time. Later on in the game you are given the choice of staying human or having technological implants, again the implications of these choice isn't clear enough and they are unchangeable.
The combat is fairly deep. As it should be being the main focus of the game. Using the right stick swings whatever weapon is equipped, swords, hammers, poles. The left and right triggers shoot pistols or fire grenades and bullets from rifles. If you are near an enemy and facing it you lock on, pushing the stick in the direction of the enemy strikes it or slides Baldur towards the enemy and strikes. Double tapping the stick will make Baldur deliver an uppercut which throws then enemy in the air where good timing with your guns will keep it in the air with the force of your firepower.
You can also lock onto various body parts of the larger enemies and shoot pieces off of them. Pointing both sticks in a direction at once sends a larger blast from your current weapon which is very useful.
Baldur has a Norn spider weapon on his back which performs special attacks depending on your class with a press of the Y button. The X button performs healing spells, at least on the bioengineer class. As you fight a combo meter fills and once full you can unleash an explosive type special attack called a finisher with the right button.
There are about seven types of enemy robot, all with their own attack patterns and combat strategies. They drop weapons and armour when they die and there are pillars dotted around which also unleash collectibles. Note must be made of the sheer amount of attackers, usually no less then seven at one attacking you for the most part of the game.
Some enemies explode or freeze or poison on contact, making their destruction a priority as they charge at you. The enemy simply run at you, or stand still and shoot bombs until you get close. No prizes for a.i. here.
Cyberspace takes the form of a well, where once you enter you are transported to a small area of virtual real estate where actions taken impact on doors and machinery in the real world. The cyber environments are forests and rivers which clash with the bleak frost ravaged world of Midgard which seems to be in the grip of an ice age caused by the Aseir themselves.
When you die a valkyrie comes down from above and lifts you up and vanishes with you. You then respwan a little further back from where you died. The enemies are left with the damage you dealt them and you simply have to wear them down. Each time you are respawned your current armour becomes damaged and less effective leading to a quicker and quicker death unless you change the armour.
There are four main levels, and they are huge. each one takes a good hour or two to complete. Between each level you return to a city where story cut scenes are triggered and you can wander around and buy armour and weapons at the shops.
There is a huge variety of weapons and armour. Swords, poles, hammers, pistols, rifles. Armor consists of helmet, gloves, chest piece, trousers and boots. Each item can be given upgrades in the form of runes making it more effective. Weapon blueprints can be found in cyberspace and then manufactured at a cost in the real world. Weapons collected can be sold to make money for newer models. The combinations are huge and you spend a lot of time juggling your inventory. Which is fun, however the menu's are a little more confusing than needs to be at first. A steep learning curve. Though I am sure if you have played similar games before it will be a breeze. If you haven't be prepared to spend a long time weighing up armor points, weapon damage stats and buying and selling endless lists of weapons. A best possible button would have made a lot of micro management redundant. Still a lot of people like this kind of thing. I have to say I do too, though I feel a bit nerdier for admitting it.
There are many large robots which could be considered bosses, well they are earlier in the game and then repeated on the later levels a lot. There is a fight with another Aseir called Hode, also a huge dog which belongs to Hel and Hel herself is the final boss. Her fight is long and protracted, chasing her through her Fortress.
The boss battles are wars of attrition really, there is never any doubt you will win, it's just how effectively you can manage it.
The levels have a feeling of grandeur, which is carried by scale alone, there is little opulence with basically big halls and tunnels. The characters are an interesting cross between viking and cybernetic futuristic. It has to be said that some armors make Baldur look a little daft. There is no real design to the levels, they are simply just big long corridors punctuated with the odd area open to the sky. The first one is meant to be something to do with barges that take away the dead to Hel, referenced by the odd moving coffin. The last Hel's fortress with it's undead hordes. The other two levels have themes, ice forest and the ship of the world serpent. In the end though there is little spectacle or of memory. The city is the best looking area and it is rather small.
The engine seems fine, however, there are various clipping issues, especially the valkyrie and the floor never seem quite well matched. The frame rates seem pretty good for the most part with a large number of enemies and explosions going on. There is slowdown but it isn't really that noticeable.
Sound is average, with theatrical music and good sound effects. Checkpoints are very regular and death only ever seems to send you back a small distance. Menus are a little cluttered, but that is excusable by the amount of information they contain.
I received 535 achievement points. I'm happy with that for one play-through. Again to get all the points they seem to be asking far too much of your time for one game.
Multiplayer is fun, I have worked through a few levels with strangers online. You never really get much of a sense of teamwork however, you tend to get attacked by a circle of enemies each and only come together when attacking the larger robots. I never take off any points or give them for multiplayer in my review scores. I do comment on multiplayer when I play it, however only a few games get much play from me online. Those I have to say tend to be the ones my friends play. I don't have anyone on my friends list playing this game and to be honest I don't really fancy hours on end with strangers one on one in this game. Same goes for Fable II to be honest, which is a shame that all my friends want to play is shooters like Bad Company, Rainbow Six and Call of Duty. I think it could be fun if you had a good rapport with someone who was enthusiastic to play Too Human.
The biggest problem i have with the game is the wisdom of leaving out weapons and abilities that need a game to be played through two times to unlock. If I walk into a restaurant I don't expect to be given a meal that is only three quarters compete only to be awarded the full meal on the second or third visit.
If you only buy one game every month then yes there is replay value here. You can happily run through the game ten times with the five classes and upgrade them all to the maximum. I am sure if you really liked this game then you could do that happily.
The problem I have is one of time. I am not rich, nor am I poor. I buy on average a game each week. I play some games for longer than others and I have a backlog of games sitting on my shelf that I have bought and never got around to playing yet. So with Too human completed I have Mercenaries 2, The Force Unleashed and some older games still sitting to waiting to play. I don't have the time, nor unfortunately the inclination to play Too Human over and over looking for the best from it. If I can't see it at it's best first time then I am sorry I am going to miss out on the best.
Scoring
Graphics 7
Gameplay 7
Story 7
Level Design 5
A.i. 5
Total 6.2
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