Too Human, the new action-adventure game for the Xbox 360, has led a troubled life in development, and it shows in the game. The project, started in 1999 for the original PlayStation, has gone through 9 years of development, resting for a short time as a possible Gamecube title, before finally coming to rest on the Xbox 360. And for a project that has taken this long to be released, there were very high expectations, and I’m sad to say, many people will be disappointed by how the final product turned out.

From the beginning, the guys at Silicon Knights have put a lot of emphasis on the sheer scale and epic feel of the story, with the concept being a blend of Norse mythology and futuristic technology and environments. The player takes charge of Baldur, who in traditional Norse mythology is the second son of Odin, and is considered one of the fairest, most peaceful Gods. Why Baldur was chosen as the main character of such a game as Too Human, where combat prowess is everything, is beyond me, but in this futuristic telling of the Norse myths, Baldur is a powerful warrior in his own right. However, he is hesitant about further augmenting his strength with technology, and is considered "too human" by his fellow Gods. The story leads you through the human/Aesir(gods) war with sentient robots and Loki, who has turned against the Aesir, as he is known to do in Norse mythology.While the story is well-written, there is nothing truly special about it. All of the hype from Silicon Knights has led me to an even greater feeling of disappointment about the story, because at no point did I ever feel an epic sense of scope, or notice any "wow" factor. The story is good enough for a standard action-adventure game, but after 9 years of development, you’d think it’d be a little stronger than it is.

Another highly-hyped feature of Too Human was its combat system. I’m sad to say, it’s in no way deserving of this hype either. The combat is incredibly simple, with the left analog stick controlling your character’s movements, and the right controlling his attacks. While this could have been fun if implemented correctly, all it ends up being is "point stick in direction of enemy, keep pushing until enemy is dead, then point in direction of next enemy". This also leads to some serious camera problems, as there is no way to control it. There is no memorization of combos whatsoever, and this detracts from the feeling of really doing anything in combat. Enemy strength also grows at the same rate as character strength, which prevents the player from ever getting a feeling of serious power out of their attacks. The combat isn’t all bad, however, as the attack animations are a joy to watch, and the Ruiner attacks, which become available as you fill a combo gauge, show off the kind of power a God should have when they hit all nearby enemies.

While the graphics in Too Human aren’t exceptionally good for their time, they’re not bad either. For the sheer amount of enemies and effects that the game places on-screen during fights, the graphics handle remarkably well, with almost no noticeable slowdown or screen tears. The cutscenes aren’t the best to be seen in a modern game, but they’re still quite good. The main issue I had with the graphics were the bland environments, and crappy looking enemies. Although your character looks pretty good, more time really should have been put into looking the enemies and environments look a bit better.

One of the game’s high points is its music and voice acting. The music is one of the most epic parts of the game, with it truly getting you into the mood to kick some ass, and the voice acting is superb, with every character’s voice fitting well with their design. While there is the occasional sound bug that loops the voices of your fellow NPC soldiers, and the vocals occasionally cutting out during cut scenes, for the most part, the sound is just great.

The game’s best parts come when you’re playing through them with another person over Xbox Live. There’s nothing quite like knocking an enemy up into the air, and watching a friend jump up with them and proceed to completely destroy them with a series of combos. And if you don’t care about the story, co-op is the option for you, as it skips all the cutscenes and story parts. The customization option in Too Human also allow for no two characters to be exactly the same, with 5 classes, 2 alignment choices, and thousands of different armor and weapon layouts ensuring that you’ll never be playing through co-op with a clone of yourself. For a lover of MMO’s or games like Diablo, the customization is surely going to be a pleasing experience, due to the sheer amount of time you can sink into changing your characters stats and appearance. The one downside to the customization is that, due to enemies dropping better equipment every 2 minutes, you’re left feeling a bit empty, since all of your equipment is only a very temporary part of your character.    

When all of its flaws and all of its successes are laid out, Too Human is going to be a disappointment to most people. With a decent story and graphics and a boring combat system, the player can’t help but feel underwhelmed. Too Human’s saving graces for some are going to be its powerful sound, huge customization options, and fun co-op play. For the amount of time put into Too Human, it really should have been better than this.