I’ve done some video game references in the past, especially early on in the strip, but you may have noticed that my gaming references have gotten less-specific with time. Thats because I’m really not the gamer I once was. In my old age, I feel a little bit left out of the most recent generation of consoles, and I’m not in touch with the gaming industry like I once was (all that really means is that my free subscription to ‘game informer’ I got from ‘game stop’ ran out).

But thanks to a great roommate, I have access to a 360, and for the first time in a while, I really got sucked into the hype for a game. I followed the pre-release news buzz, I was going to gaming sites and really just letting the hype overtake me. That game was “Too Human.”

Now that I’ve played for about 10 hours worth, I have to say I’m pretty disappointed. It wasn’t a bad game to me, it just wasn’t a very good one either.  I found it to be yet another kinda clunky button-masher to add to the pile. Granted, while a game like “Gauntlet” has extreme sentimental value, I’m not really attached to the genre–the whole gameplay style really. What interests me most about gaming these days is using them as a storytelling medium (hence my love for turn-based linear RPGs).

In this regard, Too Human’s story was also pretty lacking to me. The setting was very interesting, I like the cybernetic Norse mythology angle, but it never seemed to be anything more than a neat setting, instead of a compelling narrative.

It is good for some mindless, after-work chill-out time, though. I can flip it on and press buttons until things die for like 45 minutes, and then I’m good and ready to start working on comics. And maybe thats what a good video game should do — provide some entertaining distraction and a brief moment of rest before we keep going on with life. If thats the case, then it has definitely succeeded.

But I probably won’t pick up the sequels…