Too Human

[Wrestlevania]

Right, so it's arrived - finally. And after 4hrs solo adventuring I'm a little conflicted.

On the one hand the story's well paced, it looks fantastic - with well-realised, likeable characters - and has some eye-bogglingly complex level scenery (so far). The combat is also, generally, to my tastes, with the RPG elements making a noticeable difference that aren't a tacked-on "dress up my dolly" system of meaningless aesthetics.

On the other hand, I'm struggling with some of the game mechanics. I would imagine most people interested have now read in reviews that the unskippable, 30-second death animation is somewhat frustrating after the 3rd time of seeing it. But it's more the way in which death can occur that's causing me the most hassle.

In short, it's the inventory system. Naturally, in an RPG, when dozens of creatures have spent the last hour pounding on your armour, it tends to get damaged. You can see the state of your armour in the inventory screen, but as a tiny bit of indeterminate (though labelled) number fraction.

But there are two serious problems with the current implementation: firstly, each piece of armour's condition is listed on that piece of armour (i.e. helmet, breastplate, grieves, etc.) on each item's individual description, not as an overall figure--not that I could see anyway. Secondly, there's no in-game armour condition display - except that when a piece of armour finally breaks, it very dimly pulses red on your character. And if it was already painted red in the first place, well...

Basically, I got into a meaty, exciting skirmish with lots and lots of baddies (and no slow down!) last night but couldn't understand why I was suddenly dying very quickly when I hadn't in similar circumstances before. An on-screen armour damage indicator, like we've seen dozens of times before, would easily solve this and improve the RPG aspect I think.

"Dear Mr Dyack..."

[elmuerte]

You just don't understand the brilliance of the design of the armor damage system.

[Wrestlevania]

Having played it for another couple of hours last night, I've decided upon a pithy gameplay description for those still not sure how Too Human actually plays: Diablo 3000.

(...except with fewer varieties of baddies and not the inherent Derek Smart-ness that my Battlecruiser 3000-sounding pith might suggest.)

/me waits for Derek Smart to cruise in here, via his notorious vanity searches in Google

Crafting is good though, like Diablo, and means you get a huge number of armour and weapon varieties--the vast majority with rune (aka buff) sockets. I've also unlocked some of the super-rare armour and weaponry already too, which is a bonus.

On the downside, I've also opened up more of cyberspace in the game. Which is basically one giant hedge maze with some incidental obstructions here and there (fallen tree, missing bridge, or typically a closed heavy door). You gain powers to move these obstructions in linear fashion as the game progresses.

You naturally come across new portals into different parts of cyberspace as you play through missions, wherein you'll find more rare pickups as well as new 'puzzles' (the aforementioned obstructions). You'll also occasionally unlock a new power to use in cyberspace, which will then allow you to move a certain type of object which you couldn't before. Which is where the (rather weak) 'puzzle' element comes in.

Having been rude about cyberspace, the three NORNS - computer-generated AIs - which inhabit cyberspace and serve as prophets and mystics are quite engaging and bounce the story along well. The mix of story-telling between real world characters and the NORNS is certainly interesting, particularly as the former takes place in a gritty techno-future, whereas the latter is set in a blindingly idyllic ethereal forest.

Still enjoying myself, having just completed the second mission. The boss fight at the end was a bit by the numbers and old school. Essentially, it amounted to: "shoot these pieces of scenery to force the boss down to the next level of this structure until he gets to the bottom. Then fight one on one until he's dead."

Overall, Too Human is turning out to be a completely linear action-RPG. But there's somewhat of an earnest quality to the whole thing and the story's certainly entertaining in and of itself alone. But then I love the mindlessness of beat/slash 'em ups, so you might think differently.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Wrestlevania