One-Weekend-Long Game Review: Too Human for X360
Too Human is a Diablo-like RPG (and I use that term as the video game industry uses it - to wit, the central character has stats and traits which increase over time in a user-defined manner) for the 360. It's developed by Silicon Knights, the same people who did the truly awesome game for Gamecube called Eternal Darkness. It's been more or less "meh"ed by the gaming media, and I wanted to post my thoughts for those considering this as an option.
First, as my wife will attest with some lamentation, it did indeed hold my attention for long periods of time this weekend. So it's got some visceral grab to it - you do indeed want to keep playing it. Of the usual $60 retail price, I'd estimate that I right now have that down to about $5 an hour, and if I play it another weekend, I'll have the cost-per-hour of entertainment below $3.50, which is where you tend to beat most first-run movies. You die a bit from time to time, but the curve of the game falls well below frustration threshold.
Second, it's over too fast. It's only got four acts, and Act 1 is pretty much just the tutorial/demo with some gravy. It's explicitly ended as a sequel-embryo, with the game's major enemy escaping and some foreshadowing that you'll fight big-ass giants in Game 2. (Though I think they'd better think on the title to the sequel - Too Human Two is gonna be called 2 Legit 2 Quit, and Two Too Human is just too too awful.) But Acts 2, 3 and 4 are roughly the same length, and each one will probably take a four-hour game session. Not awful.
Third, it definitely shows its Diablo roots. It's the same menu system for five classes, and the gear is definitely the same style, with Runes fitting into items and items having several different levels of rarity and set items also in the mix. But they've added some things here and there, like runes that fit into runes. (Not sure what that does, though, as you can't look at a rune-with-runes and see it display the powers of all the encapsulated runes.) They have replaced all D2's "slightly" and "moderately" with "3%" and "9%". They also have the ability to turn on a HUD-based DPS counter, so for you WoW folks, it's got you covered. (I suspect that this interface is just as derivative of WoW as D2X, but hey - I'm going with what I know.)
Fourth, combat is a hoot - but it lacks a big differential in style for the five classes. I played the gun class (commando) from start to finish, and now I'm doing the close-in fighter (berserker). The gun class is a lot of distancing and holding down the trigger with sweeps of the R stick, and the melee class is a trippy run-and-punch style that keeps you flying across the board. But I've already seen that you have to fight the Act 2 boss (Hoder, referred to here as Hod) exactly the same way (and worse yet, you CAN'T melee him during the setup fights), and I don't think the three other classes (tank, generalist and healer) are going to feel all that functionally different from the scrapper. And the 'alignments' (to wit, whether or not you get all cybered up) are mere add-ons to these two combat styles. If you're going to go run-and-gun, the cyber route gives you the best guns. If you're going to play pinball with goblins, the Human route gives you the best combos. So for five classes and two alignments, I think the game feels a lot less diversified than it wants to be.
Fifth, it is NOT a game that particularly demands co-op. It is designed for it, and rewards it (with two achievements specifically designed for it, but one of those I already have by accident). But especially for the gun class, it is eminently soloable. Heck, when I loaded my commando in a second game, he soloed Act 1 without dying at all. (A slight letdown for us D2X fans is that there is no Normal-Hell-Nightmare divisions - you can play as much as you want whereever you want, and the buggies just get level-bumped accordingly. (I note, however, that WITHOUT those distinctions, you more or less just feel like you're grinding when you load up a character who's finished the storyline already.)
Sixth, the writing isn't exactly stellar, but it isn't 'laughable' as I've seen some commentators describe. It's serviceable, but with only two or three surprises and two of those foreshadowed enough to not be surprises at all. So while the concept is neat (super-modern Viking gods beating up robots), it's not explored all that uniquely. (I would particularly advise TH2 developers to more fully explore how the world got from us to them, as it is more or less explicitly set in the far future with the we-can't-build-the-uber-tech-any-more-bad-future spin.) Many of the characters are cardboard, but some are a bit deeper. It will be honestly interesting to see how TH2 spins the ending for the main character (since it is indeed a bit creepy to realize that you've been dead).
Overall, here's my final reviews:
If you like D2X, it's well worth a $5 rental for a long weekend. Pick your favorite class and alignment, and finish the game storyline once. You'll rack up around 400 Achievement points, and you'll see most everything the game has to offer.
If you liked D2X so much that you ran out of people who wanted all your spare Stones of Jordan, this has the loot tables and customization you've been dreaming of, and it's stapled to a combat system that is a little more in-depth than the point-and-click you knew before. Some enemies require hit location targeting, and you can even knock a few enemies off bridges to their doom. (Easier said than done, though.)
If you like Eternal Darkness, please buy this game so that Silicon Knights can get through the TH2 and TH3 games they're talking about and get BACK to making ED2. (It seems more in line to say NOT to buy TH1 so that they give up on TH2 and 3 and just start ED2, but that risks killing the game studio as well.)
It's not a compelling reason to buy a 360 (just get Titan Quest if you're jonesing for D2.5X), but if you own a 360, it's worth at least some attention.
I'm Jeff Bailey, and this is what's in my head. Contents may have settled during shipping.
First, as my wife will attest with some lamentation, it did indeed hold my attention for long periods of time this weekend. So it's got some visceral grab to it - you do indeed want to keep playing it. Of the usual $60 retail price, I'd estimate that I right now have that down to about $5 an hour, and if I play it another weekend, I'll have the cost-per-hour of entertainment below $3.50, which is where you tend to beat most first-run movies. You die a bit from time to time, but the curve of the game falls well below frustration threshold.
Second, it's over too fast. It's only got four acts, and Act 1 is pretty much just the tutorial/demo with some gravy. It's explicitly ended as a sequel-embryo, with the game's major enemy escaping and some foreshadowing that you'll fight big-ass giants in Game 2. (Though I think they'd better think on the title to the sequel - Too Human Two is gonna be called 2 Legit 2 Quit, and Two Too Human is just too too awful.) But Acts 2, 3 and 4 are roughly the same length, and each one will probably take a four-hour game session. Not awful.
Third, it definitely shows its Diablo roots. It's the same menu system for five classes, and the gear is definitely the same style, with Runes fitting into items and items having several different levels of rarity and set items also in the mix. But they've added some things here and there, like runes that fit into runes. (Not sure what that does, though, as you can't look at a rune-with-runes and see it display the powers of all the encapsulated runes.) They have replaced all D2's "slightly" and "moderately" with "3%" and "9%". They also have the ability to turn on a HUD-based DPS counter, so for you WoW folks, it's got you covered. (I suspect that this interface is just as derivative of WoW as D2X, but hey - I'm going with what I know.)
Fourth, combat is a hoot - but it lacks a big differential in style for the five classes. I played the gun class (commando) from start to finish, and now I'm doing the close-in fighter (berserker). The gun class is a lot of distancing and holding down the trigger with sweeps of the R stick, and the melee class is a trippy run-and-punch style that keeps you flying across the board. But I've already seen that you have to fight the Act 2 boss (Hoder, referred to here as Hod) exactly the same way (and worse yet, you CAN'T melee him during the setup fights), and I don't think the three other classes (tank, generalist and healer) are going to feel all that functionally different from the scrapper. And the 'alignments' (to wit, whether or not you get all cybered up) are mere add-ons to these two combat styles. If you're going to go run-and-gun, the cyber route gives you the best guns. If you're going to play pinball with goblins, the Human route gives you the best combos. So for five classes and two alignments, I think the game feels a lot less diversified than it wants to be.
Fifth, it is NOT a game that particularly demands co-op. It is designed for it, and rewards it (with two achievements specifically designed for it, but one of those I already have by accident). But especially for the gun class, it is eminently soloable. Heck, when I loaded my commando in a second game, he soloed Act 1 without dying at all. (A slight letdown for us D2X fans is that there is no Normal-Hell-Nightmare divisions - you can play as much as you want whereever you want, and the buggies just get level-bumped accordingly. (I note, however, that WITHOUT those distinctions, you more or less just feel like you're grinding when you load up a character who's finished the storyline already.)
Sixth, the writing isn't exactly stellar, but it isn't 'laughable' as I've seen some commentators describe. It's serviceable, but with only two or three surprises and two of those foreshadowed enough to not be surprises at all. So while the concept is neat (super-modern Viking gods beating up robots), it's not explored all that uniquely. (I would particularly advise TH2 developers to more fully explore how the world got from us to them, as it is more or less explicitly set in the far future with the we-can't-build-the-uber-tech-any-more-bad-future spin.) Many of the characters are cardboard, but some are a bit deeper. It will be honestly interesting to see how TH2 spins the ending for the main character (since it is indeed a bit creepy to realize that you've been dead).
Overall, here's my final reviews:
If you like D2X, it's well worth a $5 rental for a long weekend. Pick your favorite class and alignment, and finish the game storyline once. You'll rack up around 400 Achievement points, and you'll see most everything the game has to offer.
If you liked D2X so much that you ran out of people who wanted all your spare Stones of Jordan, this has the loot tables and customization you've been dreaming of, and it's stapled to a combat system that is a little more in-depth than the point-and-click you knew before. Some enemies require hit location targeting, and you can even knock a few enemies off bridges to their doom. (Easier said than done, though.)
If you like Eternal Darkness, please buy this game so that Silicon Knights can get through the TH2 and TH3 games they're talking about and get BACK to making ED2. (It seems more in line to say NOT to buy TH1 so that they give up on TH2 and 3 and just start ED2, but that risks killing the game studio as well.)
It's not a compelling reason to buy a 360 (just get Titan Quest if you're jonesing for D2.5X), but if you own a 360, it's worth at least some attention.
I'm Jeff Bailey, and this is what's in my head. Contents may have settled during shipping.