Addicted to Too Human
And I think it might be too good for the cynics . . .
by TWODOGSz
©2008 Aaron Bertinetti
“`I’ve played the demo upwards of 10 hours. Not the full game. The demo! What makes that even more outrageous is the fact I hated or at least was indifferent to my first hour with it. But then on my second playthrough things started to click, and by my third somehow Silicon Knights had put a needle in my arm and I’ve been addicted ever since. And apparently I’m not the only one…
How?
Well I let the camera do its thing, decided Gears 2 would always look better and promptly discovered the incredible depth in the combat, loot and skills that were not obvious on my first viewing. Oh and I discovered all five classes. Yes the very old-school buggers at Silicon Knights decided you’d have to find the Easter Eggs in the demo to play all five!
You can find our Easter Egg guide here.
You can find Addicted to Too Human: Presentation & Story here.
But the purpose of this three-part article is to seek forgiveness for my earlier judgements in far greater detail. My failure was to judge a book by its cover, and by what misinformed others were saying, rather than by the contents within.
Too Human is like a bottle of fine wine! You could drink the glass and complain about some sediment, or you could drink the bottle and marvel at its unique full bodied flavour. We firmly recommend the “bottle approach” (3-4 playthroughs) before you make your mind up and, in my case, become thoroughly addicted (or drunk?).
So bear with me as I make my first two confessions and eat some very humble pie . . .
1: Surrendering the Camera.
There’s been a lot of talk about the camera, with some going so far to rather ridiculously declare it a game breaker. For the first hour I may have agreed, as I was completely and utterly confused. Every time I wanted to look at something I’d hit the right thumbstick as you do, which would immediately draw my weapon and then inevitably lead to another volley of verbal abuse at the imaginary Denis Dyack grinning ear to ear at me from my LCD. “What the hell? This is BS? Why can’t I control the bloody camera?”. But then it dawned on me…
The camera wasn’t the problem, it was me!
Conditioned to the third person genre, my first instinct is to use the right thumbstick as a free roam camera. But the Too Human control scheme is different, the camera isn’t poor, it’s just a massive shock to the gamer’s habitual system.
It’s not quite to the level of God of War’s own third person fixed camera, but it nonetheless offers an incredibly cinematic view of the action that is far more customisable to a player’s preference than its inspiration. Whilst my clear preference is for the zoomed out views (strategic and isometric), I can see some enjoying the more zoomed in angles with the slower Defender and Commando classes. And contrary to the claims of others, I’ve yet to have any Ninja Gaiden like experiences where the camera made me blind to the combat. When I’ve wanted to change the perspective a quick tap of LB has proved adequate.
My only remaining gripe is that when I don’t have my sword out, I can’t hold LB down and move the camera freely as I move around the epic levels. And I’d love to, not because it’d enhance gameplay as some claim but rather because I’d like to immerse myself in the Cyber-Norse art design and gawk at my character’s beautifully detailed armour and weapons.
But then I might be getting greedy. Diablo, God of War and Skate (I’ll explain later), never let me control a completely free roam camera either, and yet all were excellent titles in their own right and as such make any complaints here seem superficial. As it is the camera achieves what it sets out to do, providing a cinematic experience that allows the player to surrender camera control and focus on the surprisingly enjoyable combat.
2: Goodbye Point and Click, Hello Thumbsticks!
The best way to not understand Too Human’s combat, is to watch the gameplay videos. They give you an idea of the pace and hack & slash appearance of combat, but they in no way convey the depth and variation within the gameplay itself. Unfortunately, I like many others saw the DMC like moves and the sliding from one enemy to the next as a simple process of pushing the right thumbstick in the desired direction and letting the game do the rest. And given the lack of any real tutorial or instructions I did exactly that, as I imagine many others did, for the first hour. Not only was it repetitive, but it felt cumbersome, uninspired and required no more brain cells than Diablo’s point and click control scheme.
But then I discovered in the menus a tab labelled “advanced combat”…
It was like one minute I was playing Fight Night as a button masher, and then the next minute I’d been exposed to a wonderful world of complexity hidden in the right analogue stick, full of various jabs, hooks, uppercuts, parries and haymakers. In Too Human’s case that means slashes, slides, fierces, juggles and finishers along with a melee radius attack referred to as a ruiner.
In fact I’ve since read the manual and all up there’s 11 distinct melee moves a player can use in whatever combination they see fit, which far exceeds the melee combat of any dungeon crawler you care to mention. Add the fact that each melee weapon type (sword, staff, hammer) handles differently; you can fight in the air or on the ground; and it’s all subject to the impressively varied handling of the classes, from the featherweight Berserker to the heavyweight Defender; and the surprising level of depth behind one analogue stick becomes quickly apparent.
And yet that’s only the melee combat!
Baldur also happens to have a penchant for projectiles. There are two unique attacks in the form of automatic fire and more powerful secondary abilities (grenades, charged shots, missiles), which are given further meaningful depth by their weapon type (pistols or rifles) and ammunition (slug, plasma, laser). In fact it’s an awful lot of fun in an almost Smash TV fashion to just run and gun like it’s a third person shooter, and I can imagine many a player who enjoyed Mass Effect’s Soldier class doing exactly the same with the Commando class here.
The backbone of combat is the combo system.
The more advanced and linked your melee and projectile combat is, the higher and quicker your combo meter rises, which in turn not only boosts the XP you gain but allows you to use your special abilities. These abilities are unique for each of the five classes with each class getting to choose one each out of three spiders, three battlecries and a sentient (35 abilities all up). And it’s this core gameplay mechanic between building the combo meter using melee/projectile attacks and using the combo draining special abilities that keeps the combat interesting and engaging throughout. It also is at the heart of getting your hands on the most valuable loot that is often located in challenge arenas that require the more advanced techniques to succeed.
It no doubt takes a while to get used to and I’d recommend the Berserker as the easiest place to start. But if you give it some time and patience Too Human reveals itself to have a wonderful mix of the hard and fast arcade ethics of titles like Smash TV and Geometry Wars, with the deceptive complexity of similarly successful right thumbstick games such as Skate and Fight Night.
Personally I’m surprised to find that Too Human, let alone any title, could conceivably satisfy action gamers whilst also attracting the dungeon crawling crowd . . . But I welcome it with open arms!
For more information, check Addicted to Too Human: Presentation & Story, as well as this on the demo’s Easter Egg that unlocks all classes.
©2008 Aaron Bertinetti
Filed under: Gaming Videos, Microsoft Games, New Game Information, Xbox 360, Xbox 360 News | Tagged: "silicon knights too human demo video", "Silicon Knights Too Human", "Too Human All Classes open", "Unlock all classes too human demo", "Xbox 360 too human", too human
Man I feel the same way. 8/19 is too far away!
Yeah I had some significant doubts and was largely unconvinced about the gameplay until I spent some quality time with it.
And you’re a lucky bugger getting it on 8/19… because us poor Aussies and Europeans will be waiting till 8/29!
I’m happy you like the controls : )
This game does have its own uniqueness, and of course gamers will hate things they don’t understand.
The key aspects to “getting it” are pressing down on the d-pad until you see the “ISO” view appear on the screen. This absolutely provides for the most fluid game play experiance. Also, press right on the d-pad to bring up the unintrusive combat log.
I suspect this game will be slow out of the gate yet be a sure fire winner after the mouth breathing idiots who base their opinions on other’s see how this game really plays.
Why is no one mentioning the item decay? I think it’s not only great but that it could also support a micro transaction trading mechanism amongst players. When a looted item has 10k State (State equals the items condition) and an uber crafted item only has 2k I suspect there’s going to be a lot of trading going on.
I really like this game. It’s going to be the ONLY loot centric hack-n-slash game on the Xbox 360, and it’s about god damned time too!!
Dude… this game is freaking awesome !!! I’ve been playing the demo since it came out and it’s the only game that has dethrowned COD4…I have it paid off and waiting….See you on the BATTLEFIELD
Hmm, I guess I’ll have to give it another go, turned the demo off after 15mins thinking ‘this is sh*t’. I had the same problem with the camera/combat situation. I like my western RPG’s such as Fable, Oblivion and KOTOR and had high hopes for this but the demo put me off, as I’m sure it will have many, many people. Maybe they would have been better off not giving us a demo.
I’ll give give it a couple of hours now, bearing this report in mind and honestly hope I end up loving it too.
However I feel the damage may already be done for most gamers in that you shouldn’t have to spend hours playing a demo to get a feeling for it, ten minutes should be enough. I guess thats why you don’t get many RPG demos.
Thanks for the heads up though, I’ll give it a proper going over now.
Crab.
Great article. I honestly only heard about the game via a preview video late last year, and I thought it looked like a neat RPG from the Legacy of Kain team, so I put 5 bucks down at my GameStop.
I never heard about its 10 year development cycle or all the mixed press it got, so I wasn’t really expecting anything at all – not a horrid mess nor a gameplay revolutionizing masterpiece.
When the demo finally popped up on Silver, I gave it a shot, and had a good time with it… Then I tried all the classes, got used to all the nuances of control, and I’ve played the demo a good 15 times since then.
I think most people into this game are in the same boat. With no preconceived notions about the game, you get extremely impressed. But if you’re influenced by all the ridiculous claims that the camera is horribly obtrusive and its a terrible God of War wannabe (I even saw someone claiming it was a Baldur’s Gate ripoff), well, no matter what the game is, a close-minded opinion is a close-minded opinion. Nice article, man.
Thanks for the kind words guys.
I think you all make very valid points about “getting it” and the time that takes. I suspect it will do a lot better at retail than some are expecting, but that word of mouth generated by the demo, articles like this, and you guys telling your friends to have another shot will ensure this game has a very long tail.
It certainly isn’t perfect, but much like my wine analogy, when you take it as a whole those imperfections largely become insignificant and you realise how unique an offering Too Human is on consoles.
Oh and apparently the Aussie release date is 8/21, unlike the poor Europeans who’ll have to wait till 8/29.
Cheers.
I, having played Overlord on the 360, was able to quickly analyze how the camera worked seeing as how it used some of the same configuration with the right thumbstick constructed for something other than the angle of the camera.
In Overlord, moving only the right thumbstick allowed you to move your minions like chess pieces on a board while the camera would stay behind your character and do its best to provide the most beneficial view. This motion was tricky at first for many players who just started the game, and indeed, Codemasters did explain that the controls would be different from what we gamers are naturally attune to.
Overlord also had a key feature which I wished SK had decided to use where while holding the left/right button and then moving the right thumbstick, I was able to instantly alter my view of the area around me even if my minions were being controlled. This way I wouldn’t have to wait for Baldur to automatically sheathe his sword if I wanted to see something.
As for your review of the demo; amazing job!
What really tripped me up on my first play-through (and from the sounds of it, it has done the same to manyy other gamers), was the apparent lack of depth in the combat systems.
Melee felt like I was just ‘prompting’ Baldur where to attack next (a backseat-driver-esque-experience), without me actually playing the game.
Similarly, the ranged combat felt far too simple: on the bridge (during the demo), with a decent rifle or set of pistols, it is entirely possible to take out every goblin that charges at you (obviously not the two assult goblins or the elite), by simply holding down the triggers.
After pushing through two playthroughs of this simple and boring combat (I did two because I was hyped for this game, and was convinced I must has missed something awesome in my first), I deleted the demo from my 360, and was about to ring my local EB to cancle my pre-order.
‘[name]! Check this out!’ my brother called from his room. I put the phonedown, walked in, and was immeditley gobsmacked. A level 7 beserker was running around on the LCD hooked to his 360, fierce attacks, 2in1’s, ruiniers and juggles flying around the screen. After pausing the game he calmly showed me the ‘Advanced Combat’ tab.
I immedietly re-downloaded the demo, and have since playing it a further 20+ times, with all classes.
This could be a major problem for Silicon Knights, as people without brothers to find the ‘Advanced Combat’ tab for them are immediatly put off.
Interestingly though, I never had a single problem with the camera… *shrug*
Watching youtube’s gameplay videos gives you excat insight of what happened… ppl are just dumb enough to not evolve with a new control scheme and just try to force their will upon it.
Too human will deliver, and excel in sells. The guy who did this review is just another example of an irresponsable journalist paying its deeds. It would have been amazing, for a change, that you would actually PLAYED THE DEMO several times and INVESTIGATE a lil’ bit about the game (hello google) and deliver a proper Demo review…. instead of this “fix”.
Journalist like you are hurting the industry, thinking they just can go online and write whatever they feel like.
Hope you learned from this experience and start making contributions more frequently. Hear denis dyak 1up post cast…. he explains that the ethics beneath the internet is the key for a succesful and less damageing human development.
The article states, “I’d like to…gawk at my character’s beautifully detailed armour and weapons.”
You can! Just click on the right button in-game (when not in combat), and the camera will do a close-up, cinematic sweep of your character, spinning around him slowly from top to bottom to show off his armour.
Sorry, meant right stick in my previous post, not right button.
Did you say 29/8 Twodogsz?!
Damn it, I was hoping I could get it for my birthday which is 27/8. It seems I’ll be waiting 2 more days for my present =(
@ JustAncet,
Not sure who you are directing your comments at, because if it’s at the writer of this article, then you sir need to take your own advice and READ the article.
The author has played the demo several times and has invested over 10 hours of game play in it. And while his first playthrough left him feeling so-so about the game, it wasn’t until he played it further and got to understand the new controls that he became aware of the games intricacies and uniqueness.
In fact, we’ve had feed back from Denis Dyack that he infact is enjoying the article, so unless you know Denis personally and can speak for him, I’d suggest you learn to read the ENTIRE article/s and then make comments.
The author actually LOVES the game and can’t wait to get it. But does know that there are flaws in it, just like ANY game made. To suggest Too Human is “perfect” and without fault is absurd.
JustAncet
Did you post on the wrong site? lol
I played the game for 10+hrs and addressed all of your concerns, by admitting that I hated what I first saw and played before I got used to it and subsequently loved it.
I suggest you take your own advice and research/read things better.
This game sucks ass; it’s save system doesn’t work; if you leave the gave even after saving, it starts you from the very beginning of the level (or last fountain); what’s the point of using the save feature? The detection is the worst I’ve ever played, the camera system was written by a retarded 9-year old on crack; whoever wrote the camera system should promptly go out and kill them self as violently as possible.
10 years for this POS!? This game was a complete and total waste of time; it should have been scrapped 10 years; SK, your idiots and your programmers are morons; go drink bleach and set your ass on fire for stealing money over hype.
Have a nice day.