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Not Human Enough?

August 27th, 2008

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…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 12:01 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

JoePunchface
August 27th, 2008 at 2:05 pm

Another underrated joke today, the title of this blog. Funny.

Mike
August 27th, 2008 at 3:18 pm

Aren’t you a huge fan of this game? I thought for sure you’d jump in with some rebuttal.

Chris B.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:14 pm

I’ll tell you what is really a crappy button mashing game…Ninety Nine Nights. CRAP! I rented it the other day just to see what it was like. I played it that night and didn’t pick it up again until I returned it to Blockbuster.

Coughman
August 27th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

im really getting my hopes up for 2 games this year: “Brutal Legend” and “Left 4 Dead”
other than that im simply optomistic

Mike
August 27th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

I’ll have to check those out, coughman — I haven’t heard of either of them! Hows that for being in-tune with the gaming scene? I really dug FF12, and I was really looking forward to “Blue Dragon” but I never got a chance to play it — was it any good?

JoePunchface
August 28th, 2008 at 8:02 am

It may be quite some time before Brutal Legend hits shelves. I’m not terribly interested in that, but Left 4 Dead looks like it will be a blast.

I HATE the FF games, sorry Mike, they do nothing for me. I know nothing on Blue Dragon.

I am a fan of Too Human, but I don’t know what to dispute with your comments, you just don’t like the game. Like I’ve said, the only thing I really disagree on is it being a simplistic button masher. To me a button masher is something like Marvel Alliance, where everyone gets in to a room and just starts literally mashing their A button until everyone is dead. Too Human has more finesse than that. Is it a computer RPG where you can map actions to any key on your keyboard, no, but for a console dungeon crawler it is WAY more involving than just about any other game in the same vein. But, that is just me. I dig it. I just wish I had more time to play it.

Mike
August 28th, 2008 at 9:27 am

I’ll disagree with your Marvel Alliance critique — although its possible to go through the game the way you described, you don’t HAVE to. I really enjoyed the process of leveling up everybody’s abilities, and using the different powers. It’s not much more complicated than you described, and yes, for the most part, different characters abilities were essentially different animations for the same thing, but there was still a little bit more to it than than pressing the “a” button until you win — which is what the LOTR games were for me. Plus, I just liked getting to play as all my favorite superheroes. I’m a sucker for that — and in that vein, I never got to play that Justice League game that was supposed to be like X-Men Legends, was it any good?