Too Human Hands-On

July 28th, 2006, 10:11 Posted By: shadowprophet

Via ign

We test drive the latest from Silicon Knights.
by Charles Onyett
We got another chance to sit down with Denis Dyack and Silicon Knights to see their latest labor, Too Human . This time, we actually got to go hands-on with the title, getting a sense for how the frantic combat system plays out. Though initially the battle system felt a little awkward, we quickly got used to the viewpoints the game presented the battles from, and were killing robotic trolls and goblins with little trouble. The reason it's initially disorienting is there's no camera control. The perspective of battle is dictated entirely by the game and adjusts depending on who you happen to be targeting. From the bits we played, the game was good at determining workable yet dramatic angles.



In place of one of the analog sticks controlling the camera, players will control Baldur's direction of movement and, strangely enough, attacks. By pressing forward, back, and to the sides on the right analog stick, different attacks can be performed that correspond to the direction. It was simple enough to control, but quickly became more complicated as Silicon Knights explained some of the combination maneuvers. For instance, double-tapping in a direction launches enemies into the air, combining attack directions with movement directions performs a wide variety of moves, and you can combine jumping and shooting your firearms into the mix. Your dual pistols can either be aimed at a single target, or splayed out to simultaneously hit multiple surrounding targets. While airborne after a jump, you'll remain airborne as long as you're making contact with an enemy. With longer range weapons like the staff, which was used in the crystalline Ice Forest stage, it's possible to remain airborne for extremely long periods of time. According to Denis Dyack, some testers for the game can even get through entire levels without hitting the ground. You'll also get plenty of upgraded weapons and armor beyond what we've mentioned, including mass driver guns, sticks, akimbo swords, maces, and shields.

This would be more manageable with the numbers of enemies planned to be onscreen at once in the final version of the game. Currently at around 50 percent complete, Too Human had around eight enemies at most onscreen at once. When the game ships for the holiday 2006 season, Dyack said there's supposed to be between 50 and 100 foes swarming around Baldur on a regular basis. Though it wasn't present in the demo , enemies are also supposed to attack with squad tactics and strategic formations to further complicate issues. Depending on which type of enemy you're fighting, you'll find each has different resistances and weaknesses. To help dispatch foes more quickly, super attacks become available after you've downed enough foes. When these moves become available, your weapon will glow a distinct color, either red, yellow, or blue, which corresponds to the Y, B, and X button colors. This feeds into Too Human's goal of letting gamers play without the interference of a HUD.

To keep the game's single player campaign interesting, we were shown how every play through involves different circumstances. For instance, walking into an expansive metallic corridor pulsing with electric light yielded two different results on two different occasions. The first time through we simply battled a number of robotic foes, whereas the second time a cutscene occurred where large fragments of the environment broke off of the ceiling and crashed into a wall below. To keep things as engaging as possible, Baldur is controllable in every in-game custscene. If the camera shifts to highlight the appearance of a new enemy, a hulking troll for instance, you can still move around offscreen, and even target and fire at the enemy. Though load times were fairly lengthy in the build being shown, the final game is planned to have no load times whatsoever.

Near the end of the Hall of Heroes level we were able to access the Cyberspace realm, which is a stark contrast to the mechanically infected landscapes of most environments. In Cyberspace, Baldur can run around pastoral environments, full of lush greenery, grass, and trees. This realm of natural elements acts as a sort of library for the game's universe, containing information vital to the histories of futures of Too Human's mechanical worlds. The most impressive environment was definitely the Ice Forest level, which features towering spires of ice ringed with crackling purple electrical vines amidst a vast, seemingly subterranean cavern. The fusion of natural and technological elements was no more obvious than the electrical roots that permeated the Hall of Heroes. They cut across the generally straight edged metallic environment for an interesting visual effect.

The game still needs some work. Framerates weren't very stable, and the combat and hit detection felt imprecise at points. Still, the elements to be included in the final version sound very promising. In combination with the already impressive environments, the added swarms of enemies and unique combat options could make Too Human one of the better titles. We'll have more as soon as we can.

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