Posted By: Ryan Murtha Posted On: 07/14/08 (Viewed 196 times)
Too Human
Published By: Microsoft Game Publishers Developed By: Silicon Knights Release Date: 08/19/08 Genre: Sci-Fi Action Adventure Players: 1; 4 online ESRB Rating: T more product info »
The road to Silicon Knights’ action-hack ‘n’ slash-RPG, Too Human’s release has been an arduous one indeed. The game actually began its life in development nearly 10 years ago, originally slated to appear on the first Playstation as a 4-disc behemoth of a game. While it’s obviously no longer a PS game, Silicon Knights hasn’t yet given up on its aspirations of making Too Human a massive epic, as Too Human is just the first game of a planned trilogy.
Mixing Norse mythology with cybernetics, Too Human is the story of war between man, machines, and gods. In a nutshell, the machine side wants the human side dead, and as the cyber-god Baldur, you have to protect the humans. The plot seems pretty out there, for sure, but it makes for one fascinating tale. But don’t think Too Human attends the Xenosaga School of Long Winded and Drawn Out Storytelling – Too Human is very generous with its servings of action and combat; it’s more akin to something like Phantasy Star Online. Levels consist mostly of you smacking down droves of robo-jerks and collecting their spoils. To draw more comparisons, you’ll be spending a lot of time decking out your character with gnarly armor and weapons, like you would in games like Fable or Oblivion, all the while leveling up and gaining experience. You have the choice of 5 different character classes and obviously, they’ll each have their own specialties and abilities. Berserkers and Commandos specialize in attacking, close and long range respectively. Defenders…well, defend – they can take a lot of damage or they can distract the enemy while the other player can attack it from behind. Champions are a good mix of both attacking and defense, a more balanced class. Finally, there are the Bioengineers, which you can think of as a healer or support class.
Within each character class, there is a “skill tree”, and each skill tree has 3 branching paths that lead to even more different abilities and skills, so finding your preferred style of play shouldn’t be too difficult. However, if you are playing co-op mode with a friend, it might be a good idea to – duh – cooperate with your teammate, as in pick a character class and skill tree path that compliments the other’s well. Once a certain path is selected, you can’t choose another path, unless you take off all the experience points from your previously selected path and reallocate them. Of course, this works the same way in the single-player campaign. It should be mentioned that co-op is exclusively played online and furthermore, only has room for 2 players. Enemies are placed in different areas from the single-player game and to make up for the second player, there are also more of them. Taking these guys on isn’t a hard concept to grasp, though it is a little different. Instead of hammering on an attack button, you’ll be using the right analog stick to attack; simply push the stick in the direction of the enemy and your guy will swing away with his weapon. Your characters will also be able to release a sort of summoning attack – glowing, ghostly beings that unleash devastating assaults of their own, wiping out multiple foes at once.
Seeing as a lot of the game takes place in cyberspace, your summons aren’t the only things that glow. A lot of the game’s visual effects and aesthetics involve shiny, shimmering surfaces, but it’s not something that feels overdone – it definitely used where appropriate. Another locale appears to be some kind of ancient ruin or cavern, dimly lit and befittingly bleak with cracked stone walls and statues. It’s all perfectly suited for a plot that appears to take on a decidedly darker tone.
Yeah, we might’ve had to wait for almost a decade, but Too Human’s release date – August 19 – is just about upon us. Will it have been worth the wait? Only time will tell, but Silicon Knights’ outspoken head honcho, Denis Dyack certainly seems to think so. Just ask NeoGAF.
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