Gods among menus

Too Human

Developer: Silicon Knights

Publisher: Microsoft

Platform: Xbox 360

Price: $59.99 (Shop.Ars)

Rating: Teen

As a game ten years in the making—one that was originally conceived as a PlayStation title when Sony's inaugural gray box was only just beginning to hit its stride—Too Human has the misfortune of being a long-awaited title from a studio that doesn't make many games. I say "misfortune," because hype and expectation will be the only things that hurt the otherwise enjoyable experience that the game offers. So much is expected of this title, one of the first big guns in Microsoft's holiday line-up, that it's almost impossible for this modest game to live up to everything some gamers will want from it.

This was only exacerbated by the amount of drama surrounding the title. The game's director, Denis Dyack, who spoke to Ars at length about his game, caused quite a stir when he publicly defended his game on a popular internet message board. Combined with the hardships that the team has overcome working on a project so long in the making and less-than-positive early previews of the title, Too Human is sadly coming out of the gate with the weight of the world on its shoulders—something that will undoubtedly reflect how some will react to it.

Too Human is the first in a trilogy of titles from Canadian developer Silicon Knights. The company is best known for its three preceding titles: Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes, Eternal Darkness, and Legacy of Kain. All of these titles were first and foremost cinematic experiences, and Too Human is no different. Though the game is certainly an action-oriented affair, with tons of dungeon-crawling, loot-grabbing, and exploration to be had, the story of the title is perhaps the most interesting part—at least, it's meant to be.

Norse Mythology 101

A rarity in Western games, Too Human draws largely on Norse mythology for its backdrop. Whereas most gamers would be instantly familiar with the likes of Zeus, Hades, and other members of the Greek pantheon, Norse myth is not as readily related to. And while this Norse part of Too Human shines as wholly unique and involving as a result, it may only really engage someone who's already familiar with the mythology.

You see, Too Human doesn't explicitly spell out every relationship in the Norse mythos. And, like Greek myth, those relationships are fundamental to understanding how and why figures interact with one another. To spare the history lesson, suffice to say that Too Human uses what the team may have taken for granted as common knowledge but that may elude the unstudied gamer: the gamer who doesn't understand the relationship between Freya and Baldur in the greater scheme of things, or doesn't understand the importance of the World Tree with relation to the mythical world the characters inhabit and with Odin, whose watchful ravens could easily be misconstrued as the work of Loki.

As a result, to some it may seem as though the narrative of the game has plot holes and, indeed, this may very well be the case. Having a strong background in this branch of mythology, I was able to follow along intently, but not every gamer may be able to do so. Because of the fast pace of the narrative, it's quite possible that the finer details may wind up getting lost on the average player, for whom the story otherwise ultimately boils down to a case of petty revenge.



The unique interpretation of Norse mythology makes Too Human a stand-out RPG title.

Frankly, that's a shame. It would have been really nice if a text primer on the mythos was included just to get the uninformed up to speed because this particular interpretation of Norse myth is actually quite compelling. Technology and religion blend seamlessly to create a science-fiction retelling of one particular plot arc of the mythos admirably; gamers who dig Halo will likely eat this game up without truly understanding what's going on behind the scenes. The juxtaposition of a mythology rooted in fantasy with contemporary mores and plausible technology works really well. There is still some return to fantasy, such as when the player dips into a dream-like state to visit the Faye, who represent the remaining religion in an otherwise God-less world, but for the most part the fantasy is surprisingly grounded.

While you will certainly enjoy the story more with that historical backing, what is there is good on its own merits. This is an RPG, after all, and you'll find a healthy portion of cut-scenes, melodrama, narration, and brooding overtones to go along with the hack-and-slash action. Particular themes in the story are quite compelling. In the world of Too Human, gamers assume the role of Baldur, who is quite simply a God. But these particular gods blend and mesh with humanity in a way that's not often seen in fantasy. Baldur and his brothers are mortal, and they are as flawed with human emotion, which creates an interesting dynamic as the humans who fight and die for the gods begin to learn that those who they've held on a pedestal aren't quite as flawless as they may seem.

These kind of undertones, in addition to the final event at the game's closing, are clearly the ties with which the next game will continue. And the teaser for the next game is certainly huge, as it were, but it's a good one—especially for any fans of Shadow of the Colussus. The ending isn't a cliffhanger, per say, but it certainly leaves judicious amounts of room left for the second and third titles that will follow.

Too Human's narrative is not flawless, though. As I mentioned, at times the story can seem a little disjointed, as everything isn't exactly spelled out explicitly. The pacing of some sequences can also be a bit strange at certain points in the story, which can make the narrative hard to follow, and the transition between action and story-telling is awkward in places, most notably in the flashback sequences.And some of the dialogue can come off as corny—especially the lines uttered by the human Wolf soldiers who follow Baldur into battle for the majority of the game.

What's important to take away from this is that Too Human is a game that's meant to be replayed: the story is only one piece, and to have it succinctly told and concluded is for the better. On my first play-through, I beat the game opening cut-scene to ending credits in 13:31:28. Most of that time was spent plundering through the story without much derivation from the beaten story path. There really isn't any needless filler in the game; there is no time when you don't have a clear goal should you chose to pass on exploring. You're never forced to grind or explore tedious areas if you don't want to. And when you get tired of hearing the Aesir wax poetic, you can continue to kick ass and gather loot for quite some time. There's at least a hundred hours of gameplay with just this first installment of the trilogy—that is, if you actually like the gameplay engine.

Kicking enemies in the Fenrir

At its core, Too Human is like just about any other dungeon-crawler out there. Most of the time, you'll be wading through creatures and collecting loot in dungeons, maxing out your stats with rare crafted armor, various socketed enhancements, and even color dyes, and gaining experience and skill points to strengthen your character. The game has all of the ingredients to fuel a never-ending quest for items, and the fact that you can, at any time, jump into a game with a friend and play together makes for an addictive experiences the likes of which hasn't been very common on the Xbox 360. It's a welcome change from the norm in terms of retail releases for the platform.

From the outset, there's quite a bit of customization to be had for the player character. There are five classes in the game, each offering some variation of either melee proficiency or ranged proficiency. All characters are able to wield nearly every weapon type, so class decisions are generally a reflection of what kind of special skills you want your character to posses. The Berserker and Champion classes are the basic melee warriors, with abilities focused on dealing more damage and stringing together longer combos. The Commando is the de facto ranger character. The Defender is the damage-soaking class—not necessarily the most versatile, but tough to knock down and the only class capable of using a shield. And lastly, the Bio Engineer is the token healing class that can only heal effectively by stringing together long combos. Whichever you chose, though, you'll find yourself perfectly capable of besting what the game dishes out.



Combat can get mighty hectic, with bigger battles having dozens upon dozens of mobs.

Each class has its own skill tree that players can use to produce various builds of any of the given classes. Skills points are rewarded with each level-up, and these are used to traverse the trees. Early on in the game, a story point also requires players to chose between being a human or a cybernetic, which adds another two branches to the main skill tree. Together, that means there are 10 different permutations of possible player character with, generally speaking, three main build-types per permutation for a total of, again generally speaking, 30 possible characters. At the outset, many of the classes play the same, but once you have deepened both your faction tree and your class tree, the way that each class plays is markedly different. I feared explosions and spammed heals as a Bio Engineer on my first play-through, only to enjoy the luxury of near-invincibility and ice powers as a Defender on the second play-through. Of course, points can be spread as the player wishes, so the actual range of possibilities is much more vast, and the player can also redistribute points for a cost.

Player levels max out at 50 in this first part of the triology, and after my first play-through I was only at level 28 for a single class. Maxing out every class to fifty alone will take quite some time, let alone all the different builds. So there's quite a bit of gameplay to be had, especially considering that each of the game's four multi-hour dungeons can be replayed at any time when visiting the main hub town, either in single player or multiplayer, and progress in the main campaign isn't interrupted by switching out: you're free to go replay dungeons or play online and then return to the campaign with all that you've gained.