Too Human, too ambitious?

Microsoft's Too Human might be a bit too ambitious for its own good.

Too Human

(Microsoft, Xbox 360, M)

Xbox 360 exclusive,

Too Human

sounds too good to be true. It's about humanity's relationship with technology.

And being reportedly years in the making and much-hyped, it's a wonder if this title can live up to the high expectations.

Some will get bored playing whilst others will love it.

The mix of sci-fi and mythology in the storyline is an appealing factor and something new. Indeed, the co-op trailer looks awesome:

You play as Baldur, an Aesir god protecting and helping mankind in its war against machines over the ice-encrusted earth.

These gods are bionically-enhanced using cybernetic implants to boost their abilities and create whole new ones. The game features a cyberspace faery land allowing unlocks and special weapon and armour enhancement items and plays a pivotal role in the storyline.

The first of the four missions involves hunting down a rogue machine more brutal than the others and composed of unique synthetics of a curious nature.

Along the way you get your beat on the big machines and take down hordes of goblins. Close combat is especially enjoyable and full of action as you'd aspect but first up you must choose your play style - and if you get it wrong you can't change it.

Choosing a cybernetic berserker character may not have been the best decision for bulky Baldur, and often health became a problem though the endless ability to upgrade armour and health percentile was a help. Going with the Bio Engineer is a must for anyone who wants to keep his health topped up or you'll fall into endless cycles of Valkyrie rebirths.

But after the initial blast of melee action, the pace becomes too often slow, full of the same three enemy types (Goblin, Dark Elves and Trolls) - yes, you seem to die a lot and your items gradually lose functionality as you do so, but you can save anywhere. From this point the game soon involved heated squabbling among the gods but you have to wait to about the end of 13 hours gameplay before the story really opens up and shows a bit of promise - and then, being a trilogy, its a 'to be continued'!

However it needs to be noted the promised story only slowly materialises above the hack 'n' slash of fighting off machines and spider-like Dark Elves. If this was a game to make you think, it doesn't happen, where there's a fork in the path you end up only being able to take the one path anyway and miss out on your bonus salvage - all important for making a 'blueprint' of a weapon or piece of armour into a usable item. This is a redeeming quality as without health replenishment you must strengthen your characters defences and this can only improve so much.

The graphics are very impressive - as with the soldier banter and bass-filled sound effects. The odd momentary pause and alarming speed up of gameplay is a little disturbing but not as much so as the wavy status bar. Like a good third-person RPG such as

Diablo

, there's plenty of combos and options for Rune combinations and stuff to acquire, but you end up with so many items, you wonder why. It's easy to overlook these oddities considering the enormous detail in the picturesque environments, the immaculate hallways and the quality of the dialogue. I think there is a good mix between the Borg from Star Trek Deep Space Nine and the Nordic legends.

Overall the expectations were not met. The first part may be a fun bash but it soon becomes tiresome scratching around with a jerky (yet adjustable) camera. The big problem is the lack of emotional attachment to the characters which will have to be built on in the sequels, and this carries over into the story and also the game. I love a good hack 'n' slash adventure and without the vast array of weapons and customisation this would have been a big letdown.

Let's hope developer

Silicon Knights

(Eternal Darkness) does a better job for part two.

MadGamer rating: 7.5/10