Monday, January 26, 2009

Too Human Thoughts

Well, I picked this up for cheap at boxing day, and... wow. What to say about this game.

It does some things right, and can feel quite good at times. And then there is the time when you just dont have a fucking clue what the devs were thinking. 

Death has no penalty other than a durability hit. Oh also the death animation is like 1 minute long and bores the shit out of you. So the biggest penalty is that death wastes your time. Pretty much. I mean and the sad thing is alot of the times I died I wasnt sure what I did wrong. I simply went up against enemies that were vastly stronger than me, but the thing is enemies autoscale in level to match your level, so you cant exactly level up to ease through the game. So Grinding is useless except to get more loot.

And dear god is there alot of loot. If there is one thing they got TOO right in the game it is the loot system, you get a lot of loot and you can customize it quite effectively. Tragically the game is only about 10 hours long which means that most of it is utterly pointless. 

The combat itself is all over the place, its typically mindlessly easy with little challenge thrown at you. Unless you suddenly face the tough enemies which means you'll just have to slowly chip away at the hp of some uber guy who is beyond you

The story, well its basically Norse mythology given a super high tech bend. Which worked for me, but kinda meant I knew what was coming. Further it seems like they went to alot of effort for a lot of the things in game but maybe they should have spent that time getting the combat to actually flow. 

The RPG stuff is basically non-existent, you apparently have stats, but you dont control them, but are told they increase with each level. Also you can apparently boost your dexterity and strength with items but are never given a clue as how that actually benefits you. You do get skill points to put into various passives and a few actives skills, but basically they dont matter. My ability to root enemies to the ground was never apparent to me, nor was richochetting bullets. So basically I had skills that did stuff that I was unclear if they actually worked.

Overall I did enjoy the game. The combat is fairly fun, if simple and annoying at the same time, and the presentation of the story worked for me. But then I did not pay $60 for it. So that certainly helps my opinion of it. If I had paid $60 I would not be happy. 
The real shame is the game ends basically setting up the sequel, which I'm quite certain is not happening. Certainly not anytime soon. 

So there you have it. Too Human is a game that is all over the place and may or may not be worth your time. Yea, thats all I got.
Wait, wait. Do you like Diablo? Yes. Did you like Dungeon Siege? No. Titan Quest? No.
Basically if you adore hack 'n slash rpgs then there is a good chance that you'll enjoy Too Human, if you like Diablo because of its polish and didnt enjoy Dungeon Siege or Titan Quest because they werent quite Diablo-calibre, then i'd stay away from Too Human.

Yay. Ciao.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Canadia strikes me as unpatriotic

Okay so here we go, its a little late I know, but here are some of the games in '09 that I'm looking forward to playing.

Dawn of War II. 

You say that the base building is gone so that I might worry entirely about tactics of the battlefield ala Total War? I will make love with your orcish hordes. Also shit bleeds and dies horrifically to sweeten the deal. 

Empire: Total War

Uh, I'm a history major who loves war. So this is kind of a no brainer. The ability to conquer the globe, and finally have control over naval battles in a Total War game is awe inspiring.

Starcraft II

Starcraft got me into PC gaming, I'm not about to leave it now. Plus, all the custom maps will be awesome. tower defense has come along way since starcraft.


Resident Evil 5

RE4 remains on my top 5 games of all time (which I feel could be one of my future posts), and since this is basically that game with a new story and an actual Co-Op gameplay how can it not (Answer? It better not!)

Madworld

Brutally Violent Wii Controls. Meh, hopefully it'll be good. The all black and white and red asthetic might get annoying but it certainly is catching.

Fire Emblem DS

I want this game right now. I'd import if it wouldn't cost me over $100. But all the places with decent prices are sold out. Bummer. Oh well hopefully North America gets it in a month or two.

And that's pretty much it. There are some more titles that I am curious about, like Star Ocean 4, Killzone 2, Street Fighter 4, and that game with jack black by the guy who made Full Throttle, yeah that one too. 

Oh and I would have put Diablo 3 on the list if I felt it was going to come out in '09. But come on people, this is Blizzard we are talking about here. We'll be lucky to see it in 2010. And if I'm wrong then I'll be the first to eat those words.