crankyhobo
08-28-2008, 07:15 PM
Too Human has been in development for a long time, with many trials and debates and showcases and promises along the way which is clearly coloring reviewer perceptions. Reviews in my mind have been unjustly critical. Maybe reviewers are just trying to be the next 'zero punctuation', except they lack the accent and sense of humor to get away with it. Reviews should be taken with a grain of salt. Take halo3 for example, a largely average game with a weak storyline that introduced basically nothing innovative to the genre but with huge hype behind it gets almost perfect scores at most review sites. Too Human is much better than Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey.
Anyway, here's my take...
The bottom line is that it’s a fun game, rather like diablo2 except with a more interesting story, better cinematic cut scenes, with a faster-paced and more natural hack-n-slash mechanism that is easy to 'get' yet challenging to master. The mythology being twisted into a cybernetic futuristic world is entertaining and a welcome change to the popular 'preventing alien invasion' norm and the artwork both environmentally and character/item based is very well done.
Those susceptible to the 'wow-crack' leveling and loot finding system will be addicted at least until level 50. The armor sets and charms to collect and many classes and specializations to explore players will be occupied long after finishing the main storyline. The achievements are well thought-out with just the right difficulty and timing to keep players motivated.
However there are some pain-points. The audio is crappy and the camera is often frustrating and the 'cyberspace' areas (mostly optional) are very boring and tedious.
GAMEPLAY 9/10
The anti-button mashing approach to combat is easy to understand and use. Better players will master tactics, timing and advanced combat moves rather than twitch reflex. Combat scenes are fast paced and fun.
GRAPHICS 9/10
Close up detail on the armor sets is outstanding and the amount of item model styles is good. Environment and cut scene quality vary throughout the game from average to breathtaking. This game is pushing the hardware limitations on quality because if they had the up-close quality textures in the main frame it would be absolutely breathtaking
(side-rant: not to mention the lack of anti-aliasing, advanced graphics options and resolutions greater than “HD” 1080 like you would find in pc gaming but it’s hardly fair to compare console graphics to pc’s. Hopefully the next generation of systems will allow designers more freedom to improve graphics)
AUDIO 6/10
The chatter from your NPC characters during combat is annoying and childish though clearly supposed to be humorous. The background music is great in the first sequence then the style, timing and fit drops drastically for the rest of the game. The game lacks sound customization options and sound levels vary greatly between sound types - environment, voice, effects etc forcing you to constantly turn the volume up or down to compensate.
LONGEVITY 8/10
Playing though the campaign the second and third time is enjoyable due to the quantity, intelligence, difficulty and volume of monsters being increased with your level. Co-op play and item trading, charms, sets and trying different classes/alignments add a great deal to its longevity.
INNOVATION 9/10
The directional approach to movement and attacking is innovative and appreciated by those that don’t like RSI. Item coloring system and charms system are also innovative.
OVERALL 8.5/10
Anyway, here's my take...
The bottom line is that it’s a fun game, rather like diablo2 except with a more interesting story, better cinematic cut scenes, with a faster-paced and more natural hack-n-slash mechanism that is easy to 'get' yet challenging to master. The mythology being twisted into a cybernetic futuristic world is entertaining and a welcome change to the popular 'preventing alien invasion' norm and the artwork both environmentally and character/item based is very well done.
Those susceptible to the 'wow-crack' leveling and loot finding system will be addicted at least until level 50. The armor sets and charms to collect and many classes and specializations to explore players will be occupied long after finishing the main storyline. The achievements are well thought-out with just the right difficulty and timing to keep players motivated.
However there are some pain-points. The audio is crappy and the camera is often frustrating and the 'cyberspace' areas (mostly optional) are very boring and tedious.
GAMEPLAY 9/10
The anti-button mashing approach to combat is easy to understand and use. Better players will master tactics, timing and advanced combat moves rather than twitch reflex. Combat scenes are fast paced and fun.
GRAPHICS 9/10
Close up detail on the armor sets is outstanding and the amount of item model styles is good. Environment and cut scene quality vary throughout the game from average to breathtaking. This game is pushing the hardware limitations on quality because if they had the up-close quality textures in the main frame it would be absolutely breathtaking
(side-rant: not to mention the lack of anti-aliasing, advanced graphics options and resolutions greater than “HD” 1080 like you would find in pc gaming but it’s hardly fair to compare console graphics to pc’s. Hopefully the next generation of systems will allow designers more freedom to improve graphics)
AUDIO 6/10
The chatter from your NPC characters during combat is annoying and childish though clearly supposed to be humorous. The background music is great in the first sequence then the style, timing and fit drops drastically for the rest of the game. The game lacks sound customization options and sound levels vary greatly between sound types - environment, voice, effects etc forcing you to constantly turn the volume up or down to compensate.
LONGEVITY 8/10
Playing though the campaign the second and third time is enjoyable due to the quantity, intelligence, difficulty and volume of monsters being increased with your level. Co-op play and item trading, charms, sets and trying different classes/alignments add a great deal to its longevity.
INNOVATION 9/10
The directional approach to movement and attacking is innovative and appreciated by those that don’t like RSI. Item coloring system and charms system are also innovative.
OVERALL 8.5/10