Top 10: Ways to make Too Human 2 amazing

By Wesley Yin-Poole - 20/08/2008 - 5:21am GMT

OK, we're sure it's not going to be called Too Human 2, that would just be silly. But we do know it is coming, and that's because Too Human, Silicon Knights' 360 exclusive dungeon crawler, is planned as a trilogy. Given the hype, we couldn't help but feel that the first game was disappointing, despite it retaining a healthy addictive quality. But there are plenty of flaws in Denis Dyack's loot hunting game, which leaves us plenty to get our hands dirty with our Top 10: Ways to make Too Human 2 amazing. There's a lot we like about Too Human, but there's also a lot we don't. And we've got a few ideas to help sort that out.

10. Optimise!

With nearly 10 years to make it we're not sure how Too Human ended up feeling rushed, but it does. The game is full of technical issues and suffers dramatically from drops in frame rate. It's noticeable in single-player, especially when goblins fire multiple rockets on your position and the game struggles to cope with the explosion effects. But in two-player it's even more pronounced. For the next game we want a properly optimised experience, that runs at least in 30 frames per second at all times. This is especially important if we're going to have four-player-co-op (see number three).

9. Fix the damn camera!

Because Baldur's attacks are controlled with the right thumb stick you have almost zero control over the camera. While it does have its moments - usually when you're walking along a platform and Silicon Knights demands you take notice of a huge statue or an impressive vista - when the going gets tough and you have scores of goblins and dark elves on your arse the camera suffers from random bouts of mentalism. It won't get stuck, it just doesn't show you exactly what you want at all times. Fingers crossed Dyack and co spend some time fixing what is one of the most important features in any third-person action game.

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Don't forget those lovely trolls that had instant status effect ray guns. I found they were OK except in Ice Forest where, if your luck was out, you'd get a slow status effect troll slowing you down, one ri...

- FantasyMeister

FantasyMeister wrote at 14:01 on 20 August 2008

I'll let you know my thoughts when I get my mitts on the full game on the 29th!

Could you expand on 'technical issues' though? I just saw framerate mentioned specifically but the wording infers there's a few more.

I'm not sure about combat tweaking, demo seemed fine to me, I've seen double-tap left stick as a suggestion for sprinting though. Pretty sure 'less loot' could be optimised by changing your salvage settings but if you're like me you'll want to see everything that drops :)

Totally agree with the puzzles, they felt a little contrived in the demo, maybe some combat puzzles where you have to shoot things in a certain order to unlock something? Just an idea, beats walking up to something and pressing A.

I'm sure a lot of the suggestions here could be addressed via DLC later on, I'm pretty sure new classes, arenas, areas, mobs, 4-player co-op etc have all been mentioned as possible downloads, they just have to wait for the right timing.

Nice article though, cheers :)
MrMadison wrote at 23:44 on 21 August 2008

Only 3 enemy types...Goblins, Trolls, Dark Elves eh?

so ummm...what is that thing in the picture on page 4 of this article?
wyp100 wrote at 07:20 on 22 August 2008

@ MrMadison

There are only three base enemy types, from which there are a number of variants. This excludes bosses of course.
James wrote at 16:17 on 25 August 2008

Dying should be more costly. I never worry about dying in this game because it doesn't make a lick of difference. Other than the camera, Too Human is exactly what the doctor ordered. I dig it. I know some others don't, but I don't care. Nothin's better than smashing 3 enemies in the air all at once, finishing them off one at a time in mid air then decending with two pistols in hand firing at the next victim. Beat the game in 14 hours, level 29. Champion, focused on speed, juggling and pistols.
toohumangamer wrote at 22:10 on 29 September 2008

u know they didnt have 10 years..they had a couple years before they had some lawsuit issues and postponed production..they werent just working on it for ten years...plus this is only one out of three games..they're just working out the story they want to, and as for the enemies, there trolls, goblins, elves, there are also undead and with so many varients of each, its not that big of a problem...i do agree with you on the loot tho..there's too much but nothing that really makes me not like the game. Don't just dis the game cus u dont like it that much and make excuses for 10 faws
toohumangamer wrote at 22:11 on 29 September 2008

flaws*
TheEgineer wrote at 01:53 on 20 October 2008

The thing that i noticed the most was that death happens way too often then you have to wait for the valkarie with arthritis to take five minutes to pick you up and go up into the sky where nothing happens and you appear at the otherside of the level and take another five minutes to run all the way back to the action

Incase you haven't guessed, I hate dying.
FantasyMeister wrote at 07:27 on 20 October 2008

Now that I've pumped 150 hours into the game, I can come back and comment :)

Taking each point individually:

Optimisation - Framerate was fine for me, at least it never impacted my gameplay, so I think this is just being majorly picky. They could fix the issue of falling through the map into nothingness, that happened to me once in 150 hours of gameplay. Or jumping into the air only to land on top of an enemy and hanging there until he gets out from under your feet, which happened maybe 10 times in 150 hours.

Fix the camera! - Worked fine for me. It's more an issue of players having to relearn to trust an AI camera and to get used to the fact that the right stick doesn't control it. It it's any help, once you know that the camera always, always tries to point towards the biggest threat onscreen then you know where you should be going.

Tweaking combat - I don't think you can ask for more once you realise that every single class has it's own Human Ruiner version, every single weapon type has it's own fierce attack and there are over 100 additional effects you can get with charms. If you went through the game with just a Cybernetic Berserker to level 30 then I could understand, but once you've knocked around with other variations you'll be seriously spoilt for choice.

Making Cyberspace better - I agree with the variations on puzzles, they could have been a bit more cerebral like the one where you have to push twice then lift to free the World Serpent on level 3. I can't complain about the graphics for cyberspace, nor the invisible walls, although being a god and not being able to run through a bush was forgettable.

More Varied Enemies - Again, I'm thinking this is picky. As you gain level you come up against elite versions of regular goblins, trolls, darkelves, spiders and undeads, all of which have melee and ranged abilities, and those abilities are further complicated by whether or not your up against a light or dark polarity version. Garm is probably one of the most exciting boss fights we've had in action rpgs for a long long time, and being unfortunately to get 3 elite status effect trolls onscreen at the same time was a major challenge.

Better Animations - I couldn't fault them.

More classes - I agree with more classes, but not because the current ones all play the same, for me they all played completely differently e.g. Bio Engineer has to time his Heal Abilities practically perfectly so has to rely on his combo a lot more than, say, my Commando who only had to use up a combo when things got really hairy. Go co-op with a Berserker and fly around with a level 6 combo and this'll be completely different to a Defender, and Champion spends more time in the air than anything else, practically the complete opposite of my Commando.

Four Player Co-op - Yes please. Having said that it's a bit cosmetic now due to the duping problem. You can go online, hook up with the right person and a few trades later never really have to go online again because you've now got everything you could ever want. I'm one of the crazy minority that hunted all my own gear, unfortunately there's quite a few others who, in the equipment stakes, managed in 5 minutes what it took me 150 hours to do.

Less Loot - More loot please! At level 50 it's so rare that you get an upgrade! Would have been nice for them to add a bit more variety to endgame in this respect other than 5 or 6 charm variations, level 3 runes and a couple of armor sets. (Elite set and customisable Aesir sets).

Answer the Question! - If they had, they wouldn't have needed a trilogy.

Overall I loved every minute of the game, which makes it a lot easier for me to ignore the nitty gritty of the mechanics, I just got immersed in the experience. I'll admit that there has to be something majorly wrong with Too Human's presentation because so many others didn't get the same experience from the game, I suspect this could be nailed with a much more indepth tutorial rather than just throwing out a demo and hoping people can figure it out for themselves.

Regarding the other common complaint of multiple deaths - once you've gone through the game on one class you'll know roughly what to expect. On my second runthrough on Commando my deaths were much less frequent, and I honestly don't think my level 50 Bioengineer has ever died, he was the last class I levelled. It's all about building up a combo and then using the correct ability at the correct time, which only comes with practice.

Finally, if you want my personal thoughts on the game, I did a mini typo-filled review for it on Amazon.co.uk which can be found here. (I scored it 9.5/10).

Slightly off-topic I find it odd that as human beings we can all agree that a rose is beautiful, but as gamers we can't always see the same beauty in games.
Kenny wrote at 22:28 on 21 October 2008

i totally disagree with the class issues.....the champion is not a melee class and berserkers and defenders play styles are so diffferent that the statment is hilarious....and commandos rape everything and bio is prolly the best character in the game.
Phil wrote at 16:40 on 22 November 2008

The death scenes are horrible, they should either eliminate the Valkries picking you up or make the whole process a lot faster, the only thing worse than dying in the heat of battle is having to wait for some stupid chick to slowly come down, pick you up, and then ascend.
Switchwind wrote at 23:32 on 26 November 2008

There are 4 main types of enemy if you are going to be entirely accurate, a fifth if you count the Spiders, and each often have various sub-classes themselfs.

Goblins are split into Bombardiers and Melee based, with the odd Goblin Boss who looks like a Murloc (Hey it had to be said) with a magic stick.

Dark elfs have three splits, Melee focused (A group of these can be a pain since they take forever to stand back up after being knocked down) Range focused, who have Gatling-like weaponry, and Snipers who are essentially melee's with a laser mounted on their shoulder.

Trolls are split into Smashers and Bombardiers, Smashers smash an Area around them and Bombardiers fire delayed bombs that...well...go boom i guess. Trolls can be mounted and killed rather easily once you get the hang of it, though a group of them + goblin bombardiers is a nightmare.

Undead are possably the most versatile, with subclasses such as Melee, Ranged, Suicide bombers (Ya, really) and then all the various "Elite" level variants. Too much to cover so i'll just say "Fun challenge"

Spiders are, so far, my nemesis of classes, they come in one variant, always elite (sometimes moreso elite meaning you need different tactics to kill them) and will attack from range until you get close enough and then they chase you slamming the ground.

Overall not much pissed me off about the game. I like the combat system, the camera never got in my way, the graphics were nice, it didnt lag and i saw the death scenes as a chance to try and analyse what exactly i messed up.

My only nag is a backround "lore" thing, lets just say some of the "backround" matches well, but cringed a fair bit while doing mission 2.
FantasyMeister wrote at 23:37 on 26 November 2008

Don't forget those lovely trolls that had instant status effect ray guns. I found they were OK except in Ice Forest where, if your luck was out, you'd get a slow status effect troll slowing you down, one right next to it smashing you with a hammer to freeze you in place and another in the background giggling as he hit you with bombs that set you on fire.

Ice Forest was just plain nasty sometimes...