Behold: New Too Human previews hit

by Randy Nelson { Jul 1st 2008 at 6:00AM }

We're just two months out from the release of Too Human, a game that would have garnered its share of attention – though not nearly as much as it's getting for being in development 10 years across at least three platforms. The game (the first in a planned trilogy) is finally hitting on Xbox 360, and two of our blogosphere compatriots have offered up their thoughts on its current state in new previews. Read what MTV and Wired had to say after the break.

Source: 'Too Human' Xbox 360 Preview, In The Shadow of 'Metal Gear' – MTV
Source: Too Human in 10 hours – Wired

Gallery: Too Human

In his thoughts, MTV's Steven Totilo likens the game to Metal Gear Solid 4 – interesting since Silicon Knights president Dennis Dyack worked with Hideo Kojima on the GameCube remake of the original Metal Gear Solid. According to Totilo, like MGS4, Too Human has "been made to tell a significant story," but that "it's distinctly less ambitious than Metal Gear." The gameplay is "more pure" than MGS, he relates, stating that "[Too Human] is a story and gameplay game" and that "neither aspect [is] completely satisfying yet."

Totilo calls Too Human "a game about upgrading." Wired's Chris Kohler points out how players "will constantly be jumping into the pause menu to tweak [their character's] stats." Still, both previews indicate that most of Too Human is spent in combat, which MTV's preview says is "surprisingly reminiscent of the arcade." Both writers call the game out on its length, with Wired's Kohler revealing that he played through it in a mere 10 hours, something that is surprising given its lengthy development. "I was genuinely shocked when the credit roll began, as I felt sure there was so much more left," Kohler writes. Making the game's length tougher to digest, Kohler confirms that "the story of cybernetically enhanced Norse gods ends with a cliffhanger."

Summing up their impressions, MTV and Wired are decidedly on-the-fence. "Too Human has a lot of redeeming qualities, but it isn't for everyone," relates MTV's Totilo. Kohler, in his Wired piece, makes a point that the game ends with "not nearly enough payoff for all the story exposition," and "is an uneven 10 hours at best."

Too Human hits shelves on August 18 in North America. We'll round up its reviews, which Kohler expects will garner "a very wide range of scores," into one handy metareview then.

Tags: microsoftgamestudios, preview, silicon-knights, too-human

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Whiskey Jak @ Jul 1st 2008 6:34AM

Is there some kind of rue preventing Joystiq posters from linking Kotaku? McWhertor has a decent preview too. It's like you always make every effort to ignore them, which is kind of funny.

baby sea tuna @ Jul 1st 2008 6:38AM

Eff kotaku.

deaftly @ Jul 1st 2008 10:42AM

eff Gawker in general

Jack FANTASTIC @ Jul 1st 2008 6:27AM

Its Time for JACK FANTASTIC take on this whole silly thing you call "Too Human"

I predict this game is going crash and burn.
I am just saying 10 years in development... something doesn't seem right... HOPEFULLY I AM WRONG THOUGH

Trethan @ Jul 1st 2008 6:33AM

Ew. 10 hours? That means it's even shorter with co-op.

I don't pay $60 for a 10 hour game.

Ally @ Jul 1st 2008 6:59AM

10 years and we get 10 hours!

thats quite a shoddy effort

baby sea tuna @ Jul 1st 2008 7:17AM

"If you're so inclined, you can slam through Too Human's campaign in a little more than 10 hours"

As far as I know, this game is all about collection and loot drops and whatnot. It's probably possible to get to the level cap in WoW in a week or so, and yet for some strange reason, people keep playing it for years.

As much as I like to prejudge games, this is one that I'm gonna have to reserve my opinion on until it's up on my TV.

AK @ Jul 1st 2008 3:11PM

1 year of development time for every hour of gameplay isn't too bad...

They should have had some kind of preorder installment plan.
$6 a year, for ten years and the game would be paid off.

baby sea tuna @ Jul 1st 2008 6:37AM

Pretty. Hope gameplay can keep up.

markhill66 @ Jul 1st 2008 6:53AM

I'm not against a 10 hour game, but it better be a damn good 10 hours for $60 biscuits.

Lixie @ Jul 1st 2008 7:20AM

10 hours times 6 classes is 60 hours. Okay, that's a reach but I'm just trying to stay positive. They said this game was a part of trilogy. Someone needs to send Dyack the memo that a trilogy isn't just one game cut into thirds. Maybe Too Human 2 will be longer when it comes out in 2018.

Booxatron @ Jul 1st 2008 1:12PM

2018 = 10 more years of development = 10 more hours of gameplay!

MarkHawk @ Jul 1st 2008 7:24AM

How long did Call of Duty 4 take average players?
How long Orange Box Episode 1 or 2 take?
How long Gears of War take?
How long did PORTAL take?

Honestly it's about the time you spend with it and where that time takes you. I know everyone's experiences with games are different but you cant tell me that you as posters at Joystiq have never lost yourself in a game and just enjoyed the universe taken.

For me the games above did that. I Lost track of time and played. It's that first play through feeling. Letting a good story develop or let your mind wander in aowrld like portal. Gears of War wasn't story heavy but man did my head swim with possibility's and ideas of what all lead to this. (Felt I need to explain putting GOW on there)

Get lost, explore, and find fun.

MarkHawk @ Jul 1st 2008 7:24AM

Also not defending Too Human, just sometimes a good short story can be worth your money.

Lixie @ Jul 1st 2008 7:52AM

CoD4 had an extensive and deep multiplayer to add longevity, and to many the multiplayer was the game with the single player being a bonus. Same with Gears but to a lesser extent.

The Half-Life episodes and Portal were shorter than a full game but also sell individually for far cheaper than full game's $60 price tag.

FOXHOUND @ Jul 1st 2008 8:31AM

It's another tacked on reason(other than the "US dollar's worth")that companies get hesistant to release anything here.

While I don't blame people for being "cautious consumers", especially given the godforsaken $10-20 dollar increase in MSRP of games these days for the 7th gen consoles... I dislike that some don't care to give anything a chance based on petty reasons. Some of the best games of all time came from meager concepts that weren't 50+ hour epics. Once in awhile, rent... or even go on a limb and purchase that title you've got a second thought about(thanks to shoddy, biased, or "on-the-take" reviewers).

Originally, I also disliked the idea of "speed runs through games" because I knew some people might interpret that as "all some games have to offer" rather than a challenge to see the quickest time of completion. If these gamers bothered to explore that nook & cranny, they'd either find a side mission or even an easter egg worth the hunt. Or perhaps even a quicker route to complete the game.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 1st 2008 9:23AM

What you missed is the fact that Too Human is an RPG. 10 hours would be par for the course for the games that you listed, but for an RPG that's completely laughable.

That makes Mass Effect seem as long as Oblivion in comparison.

RC @ Jul 1st 2008 7:42AM

This is not getting positive previews. Looks like the 360 has it's Haze.

xFenixKnightx @ Jul 1st 2008 8:24AM

Its a shame you want it to fail since its not on your precious PS3. Anyway, I believe you are wrong. This game will not be your Lair/Haze.

tmacairjordan87 @ Jul 1st 2008 9:27AM

It's looking like it's going to fail hard. Maybe not 4.5 hard, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it averaging in the high 60s, low 70s range on metacritic. I haven't seen a positive preview about this game in a loooong time.

xFenixKnightx @ Jul 1st 2008 9:43AM

tmac aj

Gamespy and another site that I cant recall right now gave good previews but even with that I'm just down on the footage I saw this morning.

http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/too-human-part-1/885223p1.html

RC @ Jul 1st 2008 8:16AM

Haze 360 confirmed.

Mikeo @ Jul 1st 2008 8:28AM

Boring, redundant PSMGS fanboy confirmed.

FOXHOUND @ Jul 1st 2008 8:48AM

Mikeo---
I'd like to think TOO HUMAN still has enough dev time left to crank out something a bit more decent than HAZE. Either way, don't group him in with us "sensible" MGS-fans. :P

RC @ Jul 1st 2008 8:42AM

Doesn't have anything to do with what I want. I don't sit around hoping for games to be bad, but this game is getting terrible preveiws from everyone. It's gonna be terrible.

ScottG13 @ Jul 1st 2008 8:53AM

Hmmm...

Seems a bit short on length, but I love a good dungeon crawl. I'm on board, who's up for some co-op?

Too Bad @ Jul 1st 2008 8:55AM

This one just has "mess" written all over it.

After 10 years, it looks like they said, "Screw it. Let's just release it and move on."

riggs @ Jul 1st 2008 9:01AM

10 hours? definite rent.

xFenixKnightx @ Jul 1st 2008 9:12AM

Just finished seeing some footage on GT. Wow, I am not impressed :( I could've sworn I saw other footage where it looked great. The combat seems slugish and I don't know if its because I've been playing a lot of MGS4/Gears/NG2 lately but the graphics look dated, blurry and muddy. Two more months to polish I guess...

=/

Steven Kelso @ Jul 1st 2008 9:48AM

I really had high hopes for this game. Perhaps I'll pick it up when it's in the Bargain Bin.

Dwag @ Jul 1st 2008 11:59AM

Ya'll dudes are making it as if it got bad Previews and they still got time(not really)to polish everything and such. I assume it will get a 7.5 or at best an 8.0 at at lest a 7.0 at the lowest. This game is not Haze material and Lair wasn't a bad game just relied too much on a feature Sony copied from Nintendo but still I bet you if they re reviewed the game it would get a 7.5.

10 hours is a little short for an RPG but I'll rent cause I'm saving my money for that 80GB i've been waiting for.

utiow21 @ Jul 1st 2008 12:35PM

Okay, I think calling it the 360 Haze is a little harsh. Sure, it might be short for an RPG, but as an action game 10 hrs. is perfectly fair. Plus, I'm sure replayability is supposed to be a big factor.

That said, I don't fully support the game, and I still see a lot of potential problems that will prevent it from being great.

See here: http://vgamehaven.blogspot.com/2008/07/best-and-worst-of-too-human.html

Mike @ Jul 1st 2008 2:31PM

Indeed, Haze got much better reviews than Too Human....

I don't think Haze was ever called the wost game I have played in the last 5 years..

http://kotaku.com/5020989/too-human-this-has-to-be-the-worst-game-ive-played-in-the-last-5-years

Even worse, Eurogamer is a 360fanboy haven, so it must be REALLY bad...