E308: Too Human screens, character art

Posted Jul 15th 2008 5:49PM by Xav de Matos
Filed under: E3

In development for nearly a decade, Too Human is an action-RPG from Canadian developer Silicon Knights. Its story revolves around an alternate reality where Norse mythology and cybernetics govern the world. As Baldur, son of Odin, players are tasked with fighting off a mechanized horde of invaders hellbent on destroying the human species. Sounds cool right? Well, you don't have to rely on our "back of the box" style description because you can play Too Human right now! The demo, as we've mentioned before, is on Xbox Live right now. Give it a shot. Expect a special X3F Demo Impressions video of the Too Human Demo soon. In the meantime, check out our galleries of screenshots and character art from E3 2008.

Gallery: E308: Too Human (Screenshots)

Gallery: E308: Too Human (Art)

Tags: e3-08, e3-2008, e308, silicon-knights, too-human

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

7-15-2008 @ 5:53PM

Tony said...

I enjoyed the demo. Kind of one of those greater than the sum of its parts games. Some of it looks terrible (some of it looks good), the menus can be confusing, some of the sword fighting doesn't really have any "power" to it... etc. But at the same time, I did play it all the way through and looked forward to getting new loot and trying out new skills.

Maybe a renter.

7-15-2008 @ 6:00PM

francisco said...

i played the demo and i was dessapointed >.> looking forward for gow 2 and endwars only

7-15-2008 @ 6:27PM

JW said...

Your english makes me sad :(

7-15-2008 @ 6:25PM

ryan said...

the demo really wasn't that fun to me. i'm a big fan of dungeon crawlers like Diablo2 and action games alike, but this game felt like neither.

above all the story, graphics and sound, i have to enjoy what my character does and how the gameplay feels.

and with Too Human it just feels busted. :/

7-15-2008 @ 6:41PM

kdubbb said...

I really enjoyed the demo, although I admit it took about 30 minutes or so before I "got" it. That might be a turn off for some who are looking for something that will instantly grab them (say, the gameplay of Gears).

At first the combat and overall game play doesn't seem to very tight. There isn't a lot of visual feedback in the melee system when hitting enemies, and Baldur just doens't seem to do what you want him to do.

After playing for about 30 minutes, however, and throwing out previous thoughts of how I thought an action game would play, I "got" it. Not only was I zipping around, smashing enemies, throwing them into the air, shooting down missiles, lasering/pistoling/grenading enemies, but I was thoroughly enjoying what obviously is a very deep story and a very engaging and addictive loot driven equipment and skill system.

I still don't quite understand the runes and charms (I can't wait to read the manual for this game), but man I was having a blast getting new stuff, trying it on, comparing two items, crafting new awesome dragon shock armors.

It's a very deep game, below its surface, and most importantly... it was fun. I wasn't sure I was having fun right away, but it's one of those games where you don't realize 2 or 3 hours just went by (I spent 2 hours on my first play through alone), but man those 2 or 3 hours were great.

It's obviously not for everyone, and there is some break-in time, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. Definite pick-up for me.

7-15-2008 @ 10:38PM

Mythor said...

To use the runes your item has to explicitly say it has an empty slot available. I thought it only needed the little bubble beside the item but it turns out that just means it already has runes fitted, usually.
If an item says it has an empty rune slot you hit X (I think, it says in the UI) to insert a rune, then pick from the ones you've found and plug it in.

The Charms you have to equip into one of your two charm slots, then complete whatever the counter is on the Charm. Most are "kill X of Y" to enable them. Once you finish whatever you're asked to do, you get the effect listed on the charm.

And I agree, there's a whole lot of depth there, but it's a game you've got to persevere with beyond the usual 10-15 minutes. And I suspect you'll continue learning new things to do well past the hour mark. I'm still trying to work out how one of my swords was shooting energy bursts at range. :)

7-16-2008 @ 1:44AM

kdubbb said...

Cool, thanks for the info Mythor. But why can you insert Runes into Charms? And I see that each Charm only takes certain Runes.

Although I'll admit that the melee action could be more ... intense? I'm really enjoying the gunplay in this game, quite awesome IMO for a RPG like this. From pistols to rifes, slugs, lasers, grenades, etc.

7-16-2008 @ 11:46PM

xX FearHAVOK Xx said...

i didnt even know you could craft stuff in the demo.
i played through it 3 times the first day and i never got any.. blueprints? i dont know what they're called.

7-17-2008 @ 2:30AM

kdubbb said...

I got the blueprints from those shrine-thingies (akin to loot-crates in a regular RPG). They were in these "challenge" rooms, for example a couple of them asked you to take down a number of goblins in under 30 or 40 seconds.

All the blueprints I got were part of a "Dragon Shock" armor set. You don't need anything extra to craft the items, just the blueprints themselves.

7-15-2008 @ 6:44PM

aingold said...

I was totally underwhelmed with the demo. May pick it up on gamefly or if I find it in the super-used bargain bin, but definitely not something I'm going to want to buy right off the bat.

7-15-2008 @ 6:48PM

B said...

Overall I enjoyed the demo.. it's just that the lip syncing, some of the character models and the UI and menus just aren't polished enough for a game that has been in development for 10 years.

Also.. some things aren't explained thoroughly... Like I didn't know you can aim for specific body parts on bigger enemies..

7-15-2008 @ 7:20PM

LongshotX said...

The Screenshots look so much better than the actual game.

7-15-2008 @ 7:31PM

Xav de Matos said...

To be fair. These screens look better than the preview code we've played. Hopefully the final build has more polish.

7-15-2008 @ 7:21PM

LongshotX said...

The Screenshots look so much better than the actual game.

7-15-2008 @ 7:30PM

AoE said...

I'm so glad the demo came out, now I know for certain to avoid this trash. Granted the art direction is nice. Dialogue was laughably bad however, as was the animation, as were the models, as was the combat, as was the camera... camera should be mentioned twice for how shitty it was.

Way to back up all your shit-talking Dyack!

7-15-2008 @ 7:40PM

kdubbb said...

Not sure if you noticed (or if it helps you at all), but there's an option to switch camera modes. You can zoom the camera back quite a bit farther with the other modes. Although less cinematic, switching to "Iso" mode gives the best angle for ease of attacking... its akin to playing it with Diablo's camera.

I was fighting the camera as well, but eventually got used to it, even the standard mode.

7-15-2008 @ 8:38PM

AoE said...

Oh I wasn't fighting the camera, I've played enough Capcom PS1 games in my day that I know how to work around a shitty camera. My gripe is that they're using a camera like this at all. I guess I would have been okay with it if the right-thumbstick swordplay didn't royally suck... but it did, so I'd rather have my right thumbstick back for camera control.

7-15-2008 @ 7:44PM

KrazyKoala said...

Most people probably noticed but still just so everyone knows, if you want to get the most out of the demo then don't forget to upgrade your character through the pause menu!

On first play I didn't consider it because I assumed a demo would be limited, but the demo is way better when you upgrade and get some decent weapons.

7-15-2008 @ 8:40PM

AoE said...

you mean you missed the "press start to upgrade" text that floats on your screen until you press start? you ARE one Krazy Koala!

7-15-2008 @ 8:35PM

itsburnsie said...

I was actually really impressed with the demo... but what worries me about the final retail version is the length.

10 hours or so... cliffhanger ending? Let's be honest, with the amount of negative press this game is getting it has a good chance of selling poorly... which means we may never get the other two games in the "Too Human Trilogy."

Why would you develop a game for 10 years and make it a cliffhanger? Oh Dennis... you're a crazy, crazy man.

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