Too Human

So Tony rented Too Human at Blockbuster yesterday. We took it to the Xbox and, well...we found out the reviews were actually too kind instead of too harsh. After two hours of gameplay both of us were incredibly underwhelmed with Silicone Knights latest game. The graphics are definitely made for the last generation with bloom effects. Baldur (the main character and the one you control) is ugly (even though in legend he's a looker) but beautifully voiced by Crispin Freeman.

The gameplay is unintuitive. Complete bollocks. You basically mash the right analog stick to make stuff happen or twist it around. Very annoying. Trigger buttons are for your useless guns. The camera is fond of looking at the floor instead of enemies. Your companions are useless. During prompts to jump on enemies backs it then refuses to tell you what to do next, and button-mashing results in nothing. Tony finally got frustrated enough to let me have a go, and I randomly twisted the sticks until something happened. The first boss fight against Grndl (ha ha ha...) yielded the last straw as it was ridiculously unbalanced against you. When you "die" you get an unskippable cutscene of a Valkyrie reviving you and then you continue the boss fight. After two of these we were done. Also the retarded level trees, constant upgrades (literally, more time is spent deciding what weapons and equipment is better than actually playing the game) and useless character classes were just annoying. Thanks for nothing, Silicone Knights.

The game is a resounding "meh". Tony's mad he spent the eight bucks on it at Blockbuster, much less those poor bastards who were duped into buying it for the sixty dollars required. Pretty much just wishing Silicone Knights had abandoned this project for Eternal Darkness 2: Electric Bugaloo.

Anime Trade

So last night my favorite patient came and we traded anime. I aquired This Beautiful Yet Ugly World along with a few other titles I can't remember off the top of my head. I ended up lending out not much anime (he's already seen everything I own now) except for Gotham Knight and now the two Hellboy animated movies. Which are awesome. I also borrowed a lot of OSTs to burn. Heeheeheehee...

Apparently Too Human isn't worth buying but may be good for a rent. And the search for awesome games to bury one's self into continues. Where oh where is the next Kingdom Hearts? Shouldn't they be done with making it by now? Or would it be on an entirely new engine? Probably, now that I think about it. Oh Square Enix...quit making actual Final Fantasy games and give the public what it desperately craves: more Disney.

Other game franchises I'd like more of you say? Okami would be a great start. Barely anyone played it as it came out at the end of the last generation but by God, that was a diamond among garbage. Just the graphics alone were worth the price. It was cell-shaded to look like Japanese wood prints and whimsical coloring. Restoring the earth instead of destroying it? Being a wolf goddess? The ability to bark at people and chase your own tail and dig random holes? Drawing your powers on the screen to change your environment or do battle with wind/water/fire/cutting/etc.? This was the most fun I'd ever had with my PS2. And the game worked on so many levels. Excellent characterization and gameplay with a unique plot. Sure the ordinary battles were a little repetative, but easily excusable. Even the loading screens were a mini-game! This was impossible not to love. More please.

Gotta get to work. More at a later date.

All in all...

All in all, while fighting games are indeed very fun, the best games are still those with fleshed out characters (and hopefully a plot to go with them). While Namco tries its best to give their fighting games a story (and as odd and confusing as they can get at times...), in the end no one is playing them for the story. The graphics and styles are a lot of fun, though. Soul Calibur IV is still the best fighting game around, though. And I do love the characters (especially couples: Hilde/Sigfried, Xianghua/Kilik, and Seong Mi-na/Yun-Seong).

I'm looking forward to Too Human. Tony's afraid he's psyched himself out and that he's not heard any early reviews. I kinda wanted to smack him for it, but he's so darn cute...