Too Human Demo Impressions

After all the hype, hyperbole, and vitriol launched at Silicon Knight's latest game I was a little unsure as to what to expect when I booted the demo up. I knew going in that it had elements of Norse Mythology in its sci-fi story and setting and a gameplay philosophy that borrowed much from Diablo. What I played this afternoon ultimately confirmed these facts and left a middling impression.

First of all, I hate playing demos for games that are heavily story driven. Demos by their nature are constructed to give the user a broad overview of the game's style and gameplay mechanics. Too Human's demo is no different and launches you headlong into the story-line where you're riding along on some sort of gigantic hovership about to be dropped off into a combat zone. In the game you control Baldur, a God who is battling the "goblins" in an effort to save the humans. The bad-guys are referred to as "goblins" and "monsters" but they are obviously robotic organisms. It's a little off-putting at first to try and merge the concepts of science fiction and mythology butSilicon Knights has a done a good job of making the universe appear coherent. After the opening cut-scene ends, you are thrust straight into gameplay after seeing a splash page pop-up with all of you controls.

The controls were one aspect of Too Human that I immediately found to be quirky. You have no control over the camera when you are moving about the screen. Instead, the right analog stick is engaged for melee combat. When an enemy is in front of you, all you need do is press the right stick in their direction and your character will hurtle at them engaging in melee combat. This control scheme makes for a fun gameplay tactic of bouncing across the stage from one enemy to the next while hacking them to pieces. In some of the bigger battles in the demo I found the lack of an ability to rotate the camera problematic when I got surrounded by mechanical foes and had no quick way of changing my characters on screen orientation. You do have some degree of control over the camera's properties by pressing up and down on the D-Pad. Three modes are available to toggle through in the camera settings: Near, Normal, and Back. I found little difference in usability between the three modes and left the camera on normal for my playthrough.

In addittion to melee, there is also a shooting mechanic in Too Human as each character class has the ability to wield firearms. Using the left and right triggers fires whatever ranged weapon your character has equipped. There is an auto lock on that is engaged as you depress the trigger and move towards enemies. I found it frustrating not being able to tell which creature I was going to be targeting until I was expending ammo. Sometimes randomly I would begin firing and my character would turn around firing behind himself and I struggled to try and turn his fire around towards the enemies that were barreling towards me. My impression on game-play overall is that it is mostly fun, but the camera and wonky lock-on system will occasionally spoil things.

Graphics and sound are more or less average. Surround effects are put to good use but the gun sound effects and melee sound effects lacked any visceral punch. The voice acting was below average and very B-movie like. The acting wasn't bad enough to pull me out of the experience but it certainly didn't immerse me further into the game either. The grapnics are okay, there are a few areas where they truly shine and other areas that are less than inspired. Animation is stiff and awkward, especially the animation of Baldur sailing from one enemy to the next in combat, he appears to just glide across the ground and it looks a little silly.

Borrowing from games such as Diablo, there is a loot system in Too Human that allows you to get new armor and weapons and equip them. It is also possible to level your character up and assign skill points to different specialization trees. The menus for equipping loot and assigning skill points I found to be very bland and hard to navigate. Everything at first blush appeared to be a little too complex for its own good, especially for a game that is all about fast-paced combat. Eventually I got the hang of navigating the different menus and equipping items, but I still wish the interface were more streamlined.

I find it hard to predict if this demo is going to prove to be an accurate barometer of the final game's quality. I would like to experience the narrative of this title first-hand to see just how fleshed out this game's setting is. It's hard to get a feel in the demo for what the game is going to offer in terms of story but the setting is intriguing enough that I want to find out more. Despite the concerns I have about the title I plan on renting it and digging deeper into it. There is a chance that despite a few design nit-picks this game could have a lot of potential, especially when you factor in two player co-operative play.