Too Human's generic foundation, flawed execution and incoherent story all add up to frustration and mediocrity
The game is very reminiscent of Diablo, which no doubt is where it tries hardest for its allure. You play as Baldur, a cybernetic Norse God. If you have no clue as to who Odin or Thor are, you will easily be lost within the story of this game. Digging heavily into Norse mythology, the game doesn't try very hard to familiarize the player with its characters or background, leaving the player with nothing much to go on but the dialogue. Alienating the player within the first hour of the game is a very bad decision as it distances any connections that should be built with the characters. Games such as Mass Effect have much bigger worlds and more complex character interactions and yet it manages quite well to relay all that information to the player, making them feel a part of the world. To greatly simplify the plot, you are on a mission to destroy an impending machine race, which is threatening to destroy the human world, as you are a god, and charged with their protection. It could have been an interesting and unique story, but it ends up only becoming exciting towards the end of the game and by then you don't really care.
Just like the story, there are many chances that the developers Silicon Knights missed in order to make a truly great game. Case and point: The combat. You control Baldur through the four missions in the game (The game is incredibly short and can be beaten within one sitting, especially if you skip the massive cut scenes) using the thumb-stick and for combat you spin around the right thumb-stick, which acts as Baldur's weapon. It is a good idea to not have to resort to button mashing, but it isn't all that different anyways as you can merely run into the middle of a mob and start flailing away. The combat is actually quite satisfying, when it is working properly. When you are fighting the easier enemies, you will whip from enemy to enemy, dealing out massive combos and damage, which is rather exciting to watch. You can also power up your character with spells that do damage to enemies all around you in succession with your melee strikes, making some combinations very rewarding to pull off. Unfortunately, good luck doing such combinations on the tougher enemies. Later on, enemies are granted shields and ranged attacks, which will drain your health and render your attacks defenceless to an almost unfair degree. And then you die. Dying is a part of all games, but none have handled it as poorly or as tediously as Too Human. As usual, your armour and weapons go by durability, meaning the more you use them, the closer they become to breaking. When you die, they come a lot closer to breaking then just using them as well as your combo meter being reset so you can't use some spells. These are the least of your concerns however. When you die, an angel comes down to bring you up to Valhalla (Norse Heaven) in a beautiful array of lights and orchestral music. This is great, for the first few times you watch it. This sequence takes around twenty seconds in its entirety with no option to skip. That's right, no skipping. You die a lot in this game (especially later on) so having to watch this same animation over and over completely disconnects you from combat and just as you are getting into the groove again, you will die and have to watch it all over again. Another reoccuring annoyance is that the only way to obtain your health back is through enemies randomly dropping health tablets. Due to its randomness, you could be seeing health dropping when you don't need it, yet it not drop at all when you are in dire need. Wouldn't it make more sense if the game could generate health according to how close to death you are? Strange design choices like this plague almost every aspect of the game.
Another grand feature in the game that is implemented poorly is the co-op system. You and a friend can take your Baldur's into any level and begin teaming up on the hordes of repetitive and uninspired enemies. Sounds good on paper, but the way Too Human does it makes it almost unplayable. If you and your friend happen to be of the same level, then you will have some relative fun killing with each other. However, if you or your friend is of a higher level, the enemies match that higher player's level, rendering the lower player completely defenceless and utterly useless. So basically, if you plan to play with a friend, make sure that you play only with them and don't level up without each other, or you wont be in each other's company for very long.
One good aspect of the game is the loot collection. You will constantly be bombarded with new, interesting weapons and armour that can be upgraded with runes, which add greater statistics to your equipment. The loot is split up into the rarity of items and it is always a treat when you hear the sound of your character picking up a particularly valuable piece of equipment. Some of the weapons and armour truly make your Baldur look like a god, while others are rather anti-climatic. Sometimes you will find better or more rare items than the ones you are using, only to find out they don't look as appealing as the one you are currently using, making you feel as though you should just stay with what you have got. Another flaw within the game is that some weapons and armours can only be made through blueprints. It is a double-edged sword when a blueprint drops for a rare item, as you now technically have access to it, but you must spend the money you have accumulated through the level on it. If you don't have enough, you must keep killing until you do and sometimes by the time you have saved up enough money, you are already too high a level to bother wearing it or have found something of greater use. These problems are remedied later on in the game when you can wear or afford basically anything, but lower and mid-level characters will feel as though they are being trapped in a corner and are forced to wear what they can find.
There are areas in the game in which you access Cyberspace Wells. These are both to continue the story as well as grant you new abilities for your character. These sections are usually rather short and they too are not safe from the games flaws. They can be seen as a welcome change to the usual drab environment you accessed it from, as they are lush with greenery and clear blue skies. However, most Wells demand that you complete obvious puzzles, that seem to have been thrown in for the sake of slowing down the player and make the game seem longer. The whole game reeks of an unfinished title, which is odd considering its development time. You would think that if the game was that long in the shop that they would at least tweak the four whole levels to perfection, instead of just being satisfied with mediocrity.
The production values in the game are passable. The graphics look good on the gods and in the cut scenes, but the enemies are so repetitive in design and dull in execution, that it just feels that you are killing colours and shapes more than machines. Most of the environments are equally forgettable, with a few standing out as rather epic in scope. The voice acting is decent, but sometimes characters will seem way too serious and others will seem strangely calm. The unevenness evident in the voice acting also translates to the ally soldiers that accompany you on missions (do not be fooled, they are useless in combat and die very quickly) as they will deliver the same shouts of battle or lines of wit so many times that you will have their lines memorized by the end of each mission. There are also clipping problems, audio cutouts and a lot of bugs and glitches (such as some cut scenes not starting properly or enemies attacking you when none are clearly on screen) that is so weird to see in a title that was hyped so greatly.
Too Human is the definition of a sub-par game. Everything the game has to offer comes at a price. Yes there is a unique story and setting, but it isn't fleshed out. Yes there is co-op and neat combat, but it doesn't work properly. It is ultimately a failure at what it tries to achieve and ends up feeling completely flat and unforgettable in its execution. Perhaps if you really love collecting loot and levelling up your character you may find some enjoyment out of this title, but for casual gamers new to the genre, this is no way to be introduced.