Too Human or not Too Human, that's the question

Eric Neigher, a freelance writer, over at Flying Cross Chop asked me to blog about why I like the video game Too Human. I think it's really just his way of getting me to stop commenting on his blog 8).

Sadly, Too Human gets a bad rap for not meeting expectations set by its developers. In fact it received the Highest Profile Disappointment of the year award from Official Xbox Magazine, because it "didn't deliver after being in the making for the better part of a decade". While some need to hold a grudge, I'm more interested in what it is and that it is, than what it could have been or how long it took to come out.

What are the gameplay and controls like? Well let's see, it's a bit like Marvel Ultimate Alliance meets Diablo, meets Geometry Wars; where you use the right stick to control the focus of your attacks. Right Trigger fires ranged weapons like assault rifles, pistols and cannons. Click the right stick to reload. Rotating the Left Stick handles movement. Left Trigger fires a secondary ranged weapon (dual pistol, grenade launcher or cannon burst). Right bumper releases a devastating area of effect attack that can turn a bad situation into a pile of health and loot items. Press A to jump. The Y button deploys your friendly neighborhood spider, which depending on your class/tree choice can engage enemies in turret fire, shield from attacks, heal you and your comrade or one of the other 15 possible abilities. Pressing X unleashes your battle cry (similar to a spider but instant rather than duration) that also has 15 different possibilities, depending on your class/tree. Click the right and left stick together releases your sentient weapon that can destroy a tide of enemies in seconds. Press right and left stick up together to perform a fierce attack that gives melee weapons an extended range attack against far away enemies or high damage combo attack if the enemy is up in your face.

I'd like to point out that all of those controls make for an incredibly robust amount of combat options. And you'll need them for the diverse horde of mechanical misfits toys you will have to face throughout the game. Some enemies are more susceptible to a certain type of attack, others are more resistant. For example, if you engage a dark colored (polarity) enemy with gunfire, it will glow, which indicates a nasty explosion will occur when it dies; leading many a player to certain death, followed by cursing. So, the smart player either makes sure to be nowhere near them when they pop or avoid ranged attacks and take them down with melee. That would be what's called a strategy. Too Human encourages you to use a bunch of situational tactics but doesn't overwhelm you with them.

Know your enemy, know your class, and know your controls are the keys to keeping those annoying Valkyrie away. Anyone that's a detractor of Too Human takes time to wine about them. Why not, they have nothing better to do while the armor clad, winged vixen gathers up their mangled corpse and carries it off to Valhalla for resurrection. I was annoyed with them too at first, but you know after I learned how to play the game, they didn't show up nearly so much. My advice is if they're paying you a visit more often than you'd like, make good use of that time by thinking about what you did wrong and try to improve. Otherwise you're just going to keep making the same mistakes and that's not the games fault. Honestly, if you're a knucklehead that runs head on into a flood of fiery red glowing gremlins, flailing your sword about like a loony, you deserve a time out.

From what I can tell, the people that tend to enjoy Too Human the most are the ones that see past all of the "faults" and are just content to play the game as it is. I love the game, even with its rubbish story, glitches, repetitive levels and enemy types. But like an MMO, the level grind is really just a means to the end game; where you relentlessly search for the perfect epic weapons, runes, charms and armor that will improve your level 50 capped character.

Too Human may not be a lot of things, but not addictive isn't one of them. It's a game well suited for the OCD challenged. In fact if there is ever a need for a warning label that indicates risk of game addiction, Too Human should get one. Once fully equipped to your liking, the game may become a leaderboard competition with your friends, a quest to beef up the gamerscore or just a relaxing way to spend some time applying all of your honed skills like a carwash of zen.

"Wax On, Wax Off", -Mr. Miyagi San