Too Human

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Too Human
Developer(s)	Silicon Knights
Publisher(s)	Microsoft Game Studios
Designer(s)	Denis Dyack
Composer(s)	Steve Henifin
Engine	Silicon Knights Engine(modified Unreal Engine 3) with Havok Physics[1]
Native resolution	720p
Platform(s)	Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA August 19, 2008[2] EU August 29, 2008[2]
Genre(s)	Action RPG Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, Online Multiplayer, Online co-op
Rating(s)	ESRB: T PEGI: 16+
Media	DVD-DL
Input methods	Gamepad

Too Human is an action-RPG video game developed by Canadian developer Silicon Knights and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360 console. The game released in North America on August 19, 2008 and later in Europe on August 29, 2008.

The game is noted for being in development hell for almost ten years, originally being planned as a four-disc action-adventure game for the PlayStation in 1999. Development later went into the Nintendo GameCube in 2000 before eventually selling the rights to Microsoft in 2005. It was then announced to be released for the Xbox 360 where it eventually became a finished product. Too Human had a massive development budget of 80 million dollars that was funded by Microsoft.^[3]

As part of a planned game trilogy, the story is a science-fictional futuristic retelling of Norse Mythology where the Æsir, Norse Gods who are actually cybernetic-enhanced humans protecting mankind from the onslaught of Loki’s army of machines, with the player taking the role of the Norse God Baldur, who is less cybernetic than the other Gods, thus being “too human”. The game incorporates elements of hack and slash and action-adventures with heavy emphasis on role-playing gameplay elements such as gathering items, upgrading equipment and choosing character classes and alignments.

Contents 1 Gameplay 1.1 Online and multiplayer 2 Story 3 Development history 3.1 Xbox 360 development 3.2 Unreal Engine dispute 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Too Human is an action/adventure role playing game, incorporating various gameplay elements from both genres, along with aspects of dungeon crawler and third-person shooters. The player takes control of the lead character Baldur in a third-person perspective with the camera distance being adjustable, even controllable during some in-game cinematics to involve the player in the story further.^[4] Camera control is limited to player, with the choice to readjust the camera back to its default third-person view being the primary following the player and swinging when the player does the same, similar to an auto targeting system.^[4] This is because the right analog stick is used for melee combat, instead of traditional camera control, with certain attacks and combos being executed by pushing the stick in the direction of the target with follow up stick movements applying further attacks with projectile attacks only using an auto lock-on system.^[4] Attacks can be combined to execute attacks such as performing combos on enemies in mid-air, attack slides and juggling foes in the air with projectile weapon attacks.^[5] Another aspect of combat are "Ruiner" attacks, powerful abilities that can indirectly affect surrounding enemies and can be mixed with other attacks to perform finishing strikes.^[6]

The RPG elements of the game come in the form of advanced character customization. At the beginning of the game, the player is given the choice between five different classes; Berserker, Champion, Defender, Commando and Bio Engineer, with each having an advantage over another. For example, the Berserker being combat focused, Bio Engineer having advanced healing abilities and the champion being a balanced all rounder.^[7] During the game, players can collect various items that they can equip and use. There are fifteen variations of weapon classes such as pistols, heavy lasers, duel and two-handed combat weapons, armor for different body parts, and "charms" that allow players to use powerful Ruiner abilities.^[8] Many items can also be bought and customized by color and effectiveness — using collectable runes — in-between levels back at the Æsir’s base of Asgard.^[8]

As players progress through the game, they can level up by slaying foes and achieving high combos, allowing access to more efficient items and skills; these items and skills can be used in the game’s Skill Tree mechanic, where points earned with every level up are applied to improve stats and unlock new abilities unique to each different character class.^[9] In the early stages of the game, the player can choose between two alignments; Cybernetic and Human, both of which are. The Cybernetic alignment allows use of certain weapons like heavy lasers and further cybernetic upgrades, while the Human alignment emphasizes quick movement and improved combos.^[9]

[edit] Online and multiplayer

Along with the single player campaign, Too Human features a cooperative multiplayer component that can be played over Xbox Live. Hosts can support only a second player with a “drop-in, drop out” system. This allows players to join games hosted in levels they have yet to complete, as long as the host has, allowing high and low level players to join games suited for either.^[10] Players can also use characters from their single player games and earn experience, levels, and items online that can later be used offline. Cooperative multiplayer also features the option to trade items with other human players regardless of their level.^[10]

[edit] Story

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In Too Human, the player takes on the role of Baldur (voiced by Crispin Freeman), one of the Æsir. The Norse gods are cybernetically enhanced humans. Baldur, son of Odin, is one of these gods, and it is his duty to protect the human race from an onslaught of an advancing machine presence determined to eradicate all human life.

The story chronicles the ongoing struggle between cybernetic Norse gods, the invading machine presence, and mortal men. The story features many Norse gods and characters from Norse mythology including Thor, Loki, Odin, Tyr, Heimdall (Michael Gough), Freya, Hel, and Mimir. Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, acts as a gateway to an alternate world known as Cyberspace that is accessed through the advanced technology of the human gods. The gods use cybernetic implants to supplement their own abilities, thus becoming more machine like. Conversely, the advancing machine army harvests human blood and limbs in order to become more human.During the story, the player learns that he is really deceased and was brought back from Hellheim in order to live up to his "true potential".Loki, the god of mischief is the antagonist and due to being neglected and a large sum of cybernetic implants, he has gone insane and has arranged for the attack on Val'halla as well as the death of Baldur. The Norse gods view Baldur as being insufficiently enhanced, thus "too human "^[11]

[edit] Development history

Too Human was first announced in 1999 to be released on the original Sony PlayStation with a first teaser showings during E3 that same year.^[12] Unlike its eventual format on the Xbox 360 as a single disc, the game was to be released across four CD-ROMs bundled together (a similar format to that of Final Fantasy VIII released in 1999). Also, unlike the finished product, the plot, while involving the theme of human cybernetic enhancements, was to be set in the distant future of 2450 AD instead of the alternate science fiction take on Norse Mythology.^[12]

Development halted when Nintendo announced an exclusive partnership with Silicon Knights, and the game was moved to the Nintendo GameCube in 2000. Prototyping for the game took place on the GameCube, but the staff at Silicon Knights soon devoted their efforts towards two other releases, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem and Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, with further news over Too Human becoming mute, without any indication of future development being announced until five years later in 2005.^[13]

[edit] Xbox 360 development

Development once again shifted to the Xbox 360 when Silicon Knights announced a partnership with Microsoft in May 2005, which included plans to develop Too Human into a trilogy.^[14] Despite initial development on the console, the game did not meet its original planned release date for “a 2006 holiday,” with development continuing for an additional two years.^[14]

As well as releasing many other promotional videos^[15] Silicon Knights was also involved in the making of a fictional documentary titled, The Goblin Man of Norway.^[16] The film was reported to be produced by the "Norwegian Film Committee," and is in three parts, with each part being released sequentially. The first part — Excavation — relates the discovery of a high technology mechanical man possibly tens of thousands of years old found encased in a glacier. The second part, titled Examination, contains pictures of the discovery as well as a stone found nearby with a message of doom or 'curse' runically inscribed. The third part, Exhibition, shows the release of the find to the public and includes reactions from various people as to the impact the technology could have on society.^[17]

The demo was released on Xbox Live on July 14, 2008 as part of the Microsoft "Bringing it Home" E3 Marketplace content. The demo includes the Champion class, and gameplay is restricted to part of a single level with cutscenes included, which is only playable in single player. The demo also featured an easter egg where the Commando and Berserker classes become playable by setting the console date to 2009. Later, as of July 25, 2008 the Beserker became available for the demo without any clock modification, as did the Commando class later on August 11, 2008. On July 31, 2008 Microsoft announced that the Too Human demo exceeded 900,000 downloads. It said the demo has "been downloaded more than any other action demo on Xbox LIVE Marketplace in its first week of availability and [had] been one of the top played titles on Xbox LIVE overall."^[18]

[edit] Unreal Engine dispute

The game was originally being developed using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 but was later developed using an internal engine^{[citation needed]}. On July 19, 2007, Silicon Knights sued Epic Games due to "breach of contract", including "inadequacies" of Epic’s support, service, and cooperation with Silicon Knights concerning Unreal Engine 3.^[19][20] On August 9, 2007, Epic Games counter-sued Silicon Knights, claiming that it was using its engine as it pleased without any cost. If Epic wins the case, Silicon Knights will be forced to pay in excess of $650,000.^[21]

[edit] Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 68/100[23] Metacritic 65/100[22] MobyGames 67/100[24]
Review scores Publication Score 1UP.com C-[25] Computer and Video Games 6.8/10[26] Edge 6/10[27] Eurogamer 6/10[28] Game Informer 6.75/10[29] GamePro [30] GameSpot 5.5/10[31] GameSpy [32] GameTrailers 6.5/10[33] IGN 7.8/10[34] Official Xbox Magazine 6.5/10[35] X-Play [36]

Upon the game’s release, Too Human received a mediocre to fair reception from critics with an average review score of 69% at Game Rankings,^[37] 70% at GameStats^[38] and 65 out of 100 at Metacritic.^[39]

The game’s concept of mixing science fiction with Norse mythology was praised by critics with X-Play saying while it "sounds like a stretch", "on the whole, it works" where "the art direction manages to seamlessly blend the grandeur we think of with this mythology and make it come alive again with a healthy dose of futurism."^[40] GamerNode called it "a highly captivating beginning to an epic and meaningful tale about the ills of transhumanism."^[41] IGN found it to do "a great job of keeping you engrossed in the game". It found the game’s audio to be its stronger part of it, calling the music and voice acting "top-notch".^[42] Graphically, GameSpot was most impressed with the environments that "feature excellent detail and lighting, with towering statues lording over the proceedings and shafts of light spilling onto mounds of snow." However it did note "each setting seems much like the last", with "stiff combat and facial animations [that] become more and more noticeable",^[43] a point Game Revolution echoed by stating "the game begins strongly with some stunning art design throughout the first level" before becoming too familiar.^[44] GamerNode noted, "Too Human's graphical presentation is not jaw-dropping in a technical sense, but the cinematography, artistic direction, and environment design work together to present players with awe-inspiring scenes, conveying a sense of magnitude that ties directly into the game's plot."^[41]

Response to the game’s unconventional use of the right analog stick for combat was mixed, with some critics like GamePro finding it to make the game more "slick",^[45] while Game Trailers called it "broken", linking it to button mashing, or as it called a "stick masher".^[46] While Game Informer liked the idea, the change, it felt, made other aspects of the game worse, notably the camera control and lock-on system for projectile weaponry.^[47]

A common criticism was directed at the death sequence where a Valkyrie collects the player’s body as being too long. Official Xbox Magazine called it a “sheer annoyance”,^[48] with other critics like TeamXbox jokingly wondering the game’s total play time if the sequence was skippable.^[49] Official Xbox Magazine UK however, while finding it "frustrating" felt that it prevented players from abusing the respawn system as result.^[50] Eurogamer however felt the game’s biggest problem was its relatively short length for its genre.^[51] As with other critics,^[48][50][44] 1UP found the addition of cooperative multiplayer made the game more entertaining.^[52] While agreeing, Edge Magazine concluded “The irony is that many of Too Human’s problems wouldn’t exist if another pair of human players were allowed to enter the fold (as was originally intended)”, referencing the previous feature of four player multiplayer being absent in the finished product. GameDaily called Too Human the "Underperformer of the Year" saying, "we expected the years of development time to turn out something better than this."^[53]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Too Human Website