Below The Summit -- Silent Hill: Homecoming Review

Coming into this sixth installment in the Silent Hill series, expectations were low, but hopes were high. The second consecutive outsourcing of the franchise--this time to Double Helix Games, a development studio famous for nothing--was sure to eclipse Climax Studios' decidedly mediocre Silent Hill: Origins, but could it restore the standard of quality set forth by Konami's original tetralogy?

No, this is not the triumphant return to form that fans have hoped for, but at least it represents a metaphorical foothold on progress after the disappointing misstep of the last title. Silent Hill: Homecoming delivers an interesting, albeit late-developing and initially incohesive tale constructed within the familiar framework of the titular town's cultish lore.

The game's primary downfall is that in trying to create a more action-oriented experience, the developers diluted the heavy atmosphere and psychologically disruptive themes typical of the series, and weakened the methods by which those elements are delivered to the audience. This leaves players moving mostly unchallenged--in a mental sense--through a relatively fast-paced (and quickly completed) action/horror title, rather than engrossing them in what has made past Silent Hill games great. Players progress from hall to dark hall, room to dark room, and building to dark building laying enemies to rest and solving menial puzzles.

It's clear that with Homecoming, Double Helix was influenced by the Resident Evil series' successful shift from traditional survival horror into the realm of action gameplay, but the player-controlled 3D camera implemented in this game only serves to deaden the atmosphere that would have been possible using the semi-static perspectives the series is known for. Instead of absorbing exactly what these types of games are made for, players are forced to spend the entire game fighting with a awkward camera just to see straight. It isn't even possible to invert the vertical axis, an option that should never be omitted.

Combat in Homecoming is an improvement over past Silent Hill games, although truly favorable combat mechanics are still a long way off. The game gives players weak, strong, and charge-up attacks with melee weapons and implements an over-the-shoulder view and targeting reticle when guns are drawn. Players can also make protagonist Alex Shepherd dodge enemy attacks with a quick tap of the B button, rounding out what is a much tighter combat setup than the series has ever seen.

Homecoming also marks the first time a dialogue system has been included in a Silent Hill game. Theses are very simple, two-option choices that are presented during only a few conversations throughout the game, but they still add a layer of interactivity to the story, and even dictate which of the game's five ending sequences the player will see.

All of the cut scenes in Homecoming are very well-directed. In addition to the clean graphics and impressive dynamic lighting, the camera angles used in these clips heighten the dramatic effects of every shot. Graphically, this is the best in the series. The characters' facial animations are exceptional, and effects such as the film grain camera and the real-time transition to "otherworld" improve the game's overall presentation. The signature industrial, static-filled soundtrack is back; true to the franchise and still heart-pounding.

Measured against the standards set by previous games in the series, Silent Hill: Homecoming rests near the lower regions of the proverbial totem pole. Judged independently, however, this game still provides much of what survival horror fans are looking for, including a decently deranged plot, occult themes, and a full cast of sick and twisted monsters. It may not be the most cerebral or frightening option, but it will still satisfy that horror fix.

One Word Review | Okami

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at Nerdology (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Sumisprawl

SimEverything -- Spore Review

If legendary game designer Will Wright sat down one day with the intention of figuring out which of his games he liked best, only to realize that he just couldn't choose a single aspect of virtual existence he most enjoyed tinkering with, then Spore might very possibly have become the order of the day. Instead of choosing just one, Will Wright would simply sim everything.

Spore is a genre-blending evolutionary and social simulation that lets players have a hand in the evolution of species from their multicellular beginnings all the way up through galactic conquest. As cells develop into creatures, interact with other species, form tribes, build civilizations, and expand empires, the mechanics of the game also evolve, becoming more complex with each phase.

The cell phase operates like an advanced version of Pac Man. Players' microbial creations gradually grow in size and complexity as they consume food and collect parts from the environment and/or the remains of other organisms. Mating opens up an editor where those parts can be used to create more successful designs for new generations of creatures, eventually stepping out of the tide pool and onto dry land.

The creature phase moves into a fully three-dimensional environment and introduces social interaction into players' list of options. Taking a friendly or aggressive stance when coming into contact with another species dictates the goals the game sets for dealing with that group. Both killing and befriending other species earn DNA points and new body parts that help the creature to evolve. Searching the environment also yields rewards to be used in the mating/editing portion of this phase.

Once a species develops enough mental capacity to organize into cooperative social communities, the tribal phase begins. Here, the tribe's goal is to defeat or ally with neighboring tribes and be the first to achieve a civilized culture. This phase is the first to bring simple real-time strategy elements into the game, allowing players to outfit their natives with stat-boosting apparel and equip them with special tools earned by successfully interfacing with competing tribes. With each conquest or alliance, a new building can be placed in the village. Each of these provides a weapon, musical instrument, or food gathering tool to assist the tribesmen.

Successfully micro-managing a tribal village allows a civilization to flourish. In the civilization phase, players focus on global conquest, administrating multiple cities' economic, military, and religious affairs. The urban landscape must be developed in such a way that population, production, and happiness are all maximized, maintaining a steady flow of income from the planet's natural resource, spice. This is achieved by placing residential, industrial, and entertainment buildings in an effective way and then protecting the safety of the city with turrets and military vehicles. Vehicles also serve as the religious and economic links to other cities, converting or allying with them to support the civilization's cause. As in the real world, waging war is not the only answer; there are a number of paths to prosperity. Regardless of the imperialistic strategy a player employs, the goal is to unify the entire planet under the home city's rule, and then venture into the final frontier.

The space phase is the final phase, and also the most complex and expansive portion of Spore. This is the only phase that does not have predefined win conditions, but is instead set up as a galactic sandbox with open-ended opportunities to accept and complete missions, earn money, expand the empire, colonize planets, encounter alien species, establish trade, form alliances, go to war, hunt for treasure, and explore, explore, explore. There are over 50,000 planets in the Spore galaxy, all of which are accessible to the player. The many social, combat, colonization, collecting, and terraforming tools that players earn by achieving certain milestones add even more options to the dynamic space phase. To quote Will Wright himself, Spore becomes a "massively single-player game" by the time players reach the end.

So is this five-in-one gaming experience any good, or is it nothing more than a novel idea turned into reality?

Spore is great fun. At each step of the way, there is something new to play with, learn about, experiment with, and eventually master. Each small portion of the larger product appeals to gamers in different ways, and all of those parts manage to remain interesting in their own right. The editing features, as evidenced by the success of the stand-alone Creature Creator and the endless stream of user-generated content that populates the game's "Sporepedia," are enough to keep players inventing and tweaking microbes, animals, buildings, vehicles, and even the celestial bodies themselves for hours on end. Spore has so many tools and parts to work with that creativity is rarely stifled.

Another very important part of Spore's design is that it slowly guides players through progressively more complex levels of videogame mechanics, effectively making itself an analogy for the thematic content it delivers. The later the stage of evolution, the more advanced the gameplay strategy, each phase building upon the last in terms of required skill sets. Spore manages to satisfy the needs of seasoned veterans with its vast selection of options, yet remains accessible to any gamer by gently acquainting them with the gameplay environment. I see many first-time gamers getting their start with Spore, and many long-time gamers becoming obsessed with the sheer magnitude of the final phase.

Spore is yet another wonderful creation from the mind of designer Will Wright. While it may not achieve the level of gaming utopia that many had predicted prior to its release, the final product is still a very enjoyable, engaging, and complete package. With just a little more depth and polish, it would be more than just an evolutionary sim--it'd be a revolutionary one.

The Downloadable Wayback Machine -- Mega Man 9 Review

To everyone who thought the 8-bit era died out over 15 years ago, Capcom and the Blue Bomber have just made a compelling argument to the contrary. Mega Man 9 has arrived on all three current generation consoles' respective download services, emulating and doing justice to the classic Mega Man style we've come to know and love.

Mega Man 9 picks up right where Mega Man 6 (the last NES entry in the series) left off in terms of both gameplay and audio/visual presentation. Capcom has even gone so far as to create a promotional Mega Man 9 box art image in the traditionally abysmal style the series is known for. The end product is a game that feels as authentically 80s as one could hope for, maintaining the integrity and enjoyment of that challenging era of gaming, while still appealing to the modern gaming crowd.

The plot is simple; eight evil robots are wreaking havoc, so of course Dr. Wily is the prime suspect. The mad doctor goes on television to simultaneously absolve himself of any guilt and accuse the benevolent Dr. Light of this treachery. It's Mega Man's job to destroy the fiendish machines, save the world, and clear Dr. Light's good name.

Just like its predecessors, Mega Man 9 initially gives players very few tools to work with. Mega Man can run, jump, and shoot, and one must learn to be patient and incredibly precise with these abilities in order to successfully traverse the game's highly hazardous stages. Many jumps require perfect planning and execution to avoid Mega Man's early demise, and his enemies always seem to be positioned to do the most harm possible.

In terms of level design, Mega Man 9 has again stayed very true to the Mega Man games of old, but also includes a number of platform elements that keep things interesting as players progress from the first stage to the last. Still, these additions fit so seamlessly into the Mega Man framework that veterans will feel like they are visiting an old friend. The only gripe here is that certain types and combinations of enemies tend to repeat more often than one might prefer.

At the end of each physically trying stage, players are faced with a super-powered boss robot and rewarded for their subsequent victory with that enemy's special weapon. Defeating these hunks of junk is usually incredibly difficult with the Mega Buster cannon alone, but by using the various boss weapons to exploit each robot's weakness, success becomes far more attainable. It's like an eight-way game of rock, paper, scissors, except the player is completely ignorant of those relationships at the outset and must figure out the proper way to proceed on their own.

Mega Man 9 is yet another in a string of Capcom-authored love letters to old-school gamers, and this one is especially mushy. The game's difficulty may lead some to categorize it as "tough love," but at the end of the day, the game encapsulates everything that made the franchise great in the late 80s and early 90s and recycles it for the current generation. With a $10 price tag and add-on content already becoming available, Mega Man 9 is a worthy addition to any gamer's digital library.

One Word Review | Mega Man 9

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at Nerdology (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Re-childing

How Does The DSi Like Them Apples?

It is something to be expected by now: Nintendo releases a handheld product once, twice, three times and more, introducing a smaller form factor, more appealing design, and updated hardware and software features with each iteration.

The ever-popular Nintendo DS is the latest machine to get the upgrade treatment, as Nintendo has announced that the un-creatively named DSi will be hitting the Japanese market in less than a month.

The company seems to be at least slightly afraid of the potential threat that Apple's iPhone poses at it begins to round up support for its open software platform with a number of downloadable application and games, so the Big N has decided to also offer a download service and infinitely expandable memory. The DSi will come equipped with a built-in browser and "DSiWare" download service that works on a points system much like WiiWare. Combine that with a GBA slot-replacing (yes, GBA backwards compatibility has gotten the axe) SD card reader, and the DSi is ready to step into the digital content delivery arena.

Some experts have been supporting the idea that the iPhone could be the next big thing in handheld gaming, considering its high-powered graphics, input, and communications technology, so opening up new avenues for game development on the DSi is certainly a smart move for Nintendo. They've even decided to award DSi purchasers with incentive points that are good until March 2010, in an effort to jump-start everyone's digital shopping.

Other new features listed on the DSi's spec sheet include a smaller shell, larger screen (now 3.5 inches, up from 3), integrated 640x480 pixel camera (and portrait-morphing software), mp3 playback, and an audio recorder with pitch and speed adjustment options.

The evolutionary DSi will hit Japan--where it will more than likely be instantly SOLD OUT--on November 1st at a retail price of 18,900 yen, or about $180. I have to admit that I kinda want one. Then again, when was the last time I downloaded a WiiWare game? (Hint: never)

Tap, Zzz, Tap, Zzz -- Digimon World Championship Review

Anyone who is familiar with the digital pets such as Tamagotchi or Gigapet should already have a fairly clear understanding of the gameplay involved in Bandai Namco 's Digimon Wolrd Championship for the Nintendo DS. In fact, the Digimon product began as a rival to the Tamagotchi and has since "digivolved" to the videogame medium.

Because the Digimon franchise focuses raising and training digital monsters, players will find that the Digimon World Championship experience is more about maintenance and management than actual gameplay. Most of one's time with this game will involve moving Digimon from cage to cage in an effort to boost certain stats or give the little buggers a bit of rest, dropping food in their faces to prevent starvation, cleaning up waste with a broom and dustpan tool, applying bandages, administering medicine, etc.

The clock is always ticking in Digimon World Championship, and a schedule of events lets players know on which days special Digimon title matches will be held. It's important to pay attention and have the creatures healthy and well-rested (with full HP) before registering for a match, and to be sure not to miss events altogether.

Building a stable of Digimon allows the player to compete in battles with other, CPU-controlled monsters for ranks, titles, and money. Unfortunately, Digimon combat is apparently a spectator sport, because the player has no control over anything once a match begins. Every battle's outcome is based on the attributes of the Digimon in the arena, and each conflict plays out like a mini bumper car session on the DS screen. The game features a multiplayer battle mode too, but again, it simply pits one player's trained monsters against another's. Money earned through victory in any of these battles can be used to buy new stat-boosting cages, items to take care of Digimon, or tools to hunt for more of them.

Of everything there is to be done in Digimon World Championship, it is the hunting portion of the game that requires the most input from the player. Here, the task is to shoot, lasso, and capture whichever wild Digimon one's little heart desires. The tamer (that's what us players are called) heads to an area on the map where a number of Digimon bounce around through the grass, between trees and rocks, in and out of caves, etc. By using the stylus to poke, draw circles around, and drag these critters, a player can increase his or her army of warrior-pets.

Digimon World Championship, while not much of a hands-on gaming experience, is a great step up from the digital pets of old, and would be a good choice for the youngest of gamer demographics. Other than that, the game lacks any real gameplay value and is more a time-consuming and minimally enjoyable chore.

Little To Discover -- Infinite Undiscovery Review

An impressive resume goes only so far. Such is the case for developer tri-Ace, whose list of prior accomplishments includes games in the critically acclaimed Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean series. History aside, the Japanese company's newest creation, Infinite Undiscovery, sets off fireworks with neither its plot nor its action-oriented gameplay style.

While the premise of the story itself is intriguing--a league of liberators fighting an oppressive and militaristic order that seeks to chain the moon to the earth--the delivery of that tale is under-stimulating and struggles to immerse the player in the game world. The full cast of characters is diverse and imaginative, but these fictional individuals fail to come to life through the game's underwhelming writing and acting.

Players assume the role of Capell, a fragile flute player who is imprisoned due to his striking resemblance to the leader of the revolutionaries, and must embark on a journey full of new companions (17 of whom become partially playable party members), enemies, and places to be liberated from the massive moon-chains.

The gameplay is not what one would expect from a traditional JRPG, but is an entirely real-time, action-based setup. Melee attacks, spells, "connect" abilities, item usage, inventory management, etc. all take place without pausing the events of the game world. All enemies appear in the surrounding environment, with battles arising seamlessly (and frequently) as players travel, loosely guided, from location to location.

There is much to do during combat in Infinite Undiscovery. Simple and strong melee attacks are performed and strung together with the A and B buttons, flute songs that produce a variety of special effects are played with the X button, and connect abilities are chosen with the right bumper and initiated with the X and Y buttons. Skills can be combined and set to activate by holding either the A or B button, and restorative actions can be requested from party members using the Y button.

Here, again, the concept is more appealing than the final design, because the game's combat mechanics prove to be more clunky and awkward than one might hope. When mounting a hand-to-hand offense, for example, players will find that Capell makes all too many unnecessary pauses, leaving himself open to enemy attacks. Striking the enemy while simultaneously avoiding the incoming assault becomes more clumsy than it should and would be, had the controls been tightened up prior to release. Infinite Undiscovery is in a gameplay no-man's-land that falls somewhere between the responsiveness of a true action game and the methodical pace of a traditional RPG; it is just out of reach of those "safe zones" at either end of the spectrum, and it suffers as a result.

The game's camera doesn't help matters at all. Much of the time, the closely trailing camera makes it impossible to see the action, and can get so caught up between walls, characters, and other obstacles that the player will find him- or herself fighting just as much to see the opposition as with the foes themselves.

Graphically, Infinite Undiscovery is fairly mediocre, with a number of showy effects that are ultimately more about flash (frame rate-dropping flash) than any sort of detail or aesthetic value. Environments and characters are colorful, but again, there is nothing beautiful about these aspects of the game's visuals. As for audio, most of the characters' voice acting is of straight-to-DVD movie quality, and sound effects and musical score are nothing to get excited about.

Infinite Undiscovery will serve RPG junkies well. It has all of the story elements of a fantasy tale, weapons, items, and character improvement to satisfy those needs, but for the less fanatical RPG players out there, or anyone who seeks a more complete and refined gameplay experience, there are most certainly better ways to spend your time and money.

One Word Review | Killer7

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at Nerdology (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Psychowarped

Rumble | N64 Versus Dreamcast

The Game Crush Rumble is stepping away from comics and fighting games today, and into the realm of the ever-waging console wars. The classic rivalry of Nintendo vs. Sega lives on, as Google Trends host a battle between Sega's final console and its Nintendo-made counterpart--two beloved systems with cultish fan following.

Let the battle begin:

As was often the case over the years, Nintendo has kept a few steps ahead of Sega in this matchup. The N64 has clearly laid the Dreamcast to rest today.

Here And There -- Penumbra: Requiem Review

Penumbra: Requiem is Frictional Games' expansion of their stellar first-person adventure game from earlier this year, Penumbra: Black Plague. While Requiem is an immediate continuation thereof, it appears to draw almost equally as much design influence from Valve Software's critical darling, Portal. Unfortunately for gamers, Requiem doesn't quite live up to the standard set by either of those titles.

Requiem picks up where Black Plague left off, in the minutes after the game's final scene. The team has shifted focus this time around from a story-driven adventure to a segmented first-person puzzle game, where players are placed inside a series of loosely tied, fundamentally different environments, with the sole purpose of reaching each successive level exit and moving another step closer to the game's authoritative resolution.

Within each stage, players use the game's physics engine to manipulate objects in the virtual world and solve the many puzzles that lie before them. Rather than a targeting reticle, as in first-person shooters, Requiem features a hand icon that is used to take hold of cranks, levers, doors, drawers, ladders, ropes, boxes, etc., and players must make the appropriate gestures while clutching said items in order to accomplish their goals. This unique approach to environment interaction is still very functional and still very enjoyable, but many of the puzzles seem somewhat contrived.

The puzzles in Requiem have taken a step away from the practical and intuitive setup of Black Plague towards more arbitrary solutions and a small dose of trial-and-error gameplay. Operating random levers and cranks or rolling an electric ball through a series of chutes are a few that come to mind. There is little consequence or motivation for the player's actions other than to gather the "keys" that open the portal to the next relatively disjointed arena, and there is no crescendo in difficulty as the game progresses.

That's not to say that the core gameplay isn't enjoyable. Requiem features strong platforming elements along with the puzzle mechanics, and players will find themselves jump across many sets of static and moving platforms, navigating narrow ledges, and using boxes and other objects to create paths up, over, around, and through all sorts of obstacles. What they won't find are enemies, and consequently, weapons of any sort. The game is a non-combative affair.

Like other puzzle games, Requiem is very light on plot. Voice-overs by a few characters from the Penumbra series sprinkle esoteric philosophy and references to previous games, but without a fleshed-out storyline acting as a point of reference for many of the themes involved (or without having played the game's predecessors), much of the monologue becomes superfluous. Players are likely to simply focus on the game's puzzles and trudge forward for the three to four hours of gameplay Requiem offers.

With Penumbra: Requiem, Frictional Games has taken parts of the Portal design philosophy, coated the product in the Penumbra series skin, and injected their own unique style of gameplay to make a sort of mixed-breed game that's fun, but ultimately less captivating than its predecessor. For $10 by itself or $20 bundled with Black Plague (required to play Requiem), however, this expansion to the Penumbra series is still worth picking up.

One Word Review | Too Human

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at Nerdology (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Transcendesign

Rumble | Mortal Kombat Versus Capcom

Today's rumble is the final round in the comic world/fighting game mini-tournament, pitting Japanese publisher/developer Capcom against Mortal Kombat, a fighting franchise created as direct competition to Capcom's Street Fighter.

Google is bringing out the weapons, so let us begin:

Fatality! Capcom has been decapitated/dismembered/gutted/de-boned/etc. by Midway Games' Mortal Kombat series. (Mortal Kombat beats Street Fighter, too.) Too bad, because I've always been a big Capcom fan...and I think the Mortal Kombat series is somewhat worthless.

Unitl next time, Rumble fans...

Too Human Scribblings

I recently played and reviewed Silicon Knights' long-in-development Too Human, and the review process ended up being one of the more laborious examinations in recent memory. A great deal of consideration went into my assessment of the title, and along with that came a fairly large text file of notes about the game.

A la Kyle Stallock (from whom I shamelessly stole this idea), I give you my pre-review scribblings about Too Human. Enjoy.

like a movie. some of the best direction and cinematography i've seen in a while.

the graphics are not amazing in a technical sense, but the cinematography, artistic direction, and environment design make up for that

miss the whole backstory unless you let the title screen play out. maybe a bad choice

camera shows you what the devs want. crafted experience. wonderful angles make this an epic experience. a static-yet-mobile camera similar to eternal darkness

controls are good. take some orientation. shooting is like smash tv or...uh...commando. also somewhat like eternal darkness

the game doesn't tutor the player much. help available if sought.

spend lots of time in inventory, changing weapons/armor as you get new. auto-salvage can prevent this to a degree

weapon sets give bonus bonuses

dying is a momentary lapse in the action. consequences=weapon degradation

a vast amount of equipment customization. charms, runes, colors, sets,

there is no way to heal oneself, aside from picking up random health drops (or playing as a bioengineer). class distinctions

catching bits of conversation as you explore helps explain the belief structure of the society and the political situation in too human

the game is divided up into missions that baldr embarks on as the story unfolds. each is introduced via a healthy dose of cinematic narrative and backstory. retrospective flash-back segments and explanations reveal...

past missions can be re-played outside of the main storyline of the campaign mode

5 classes, each with different strengths/weaknesses, skills, proficiencies, equipment, etc

some enemies must be dealt with in specific ways. i.e. explosive enemies must be attacked from afar to avoid getting caught in their explosive death throw. alternatively, a player can use a melee juggle to launch them into the air and have them explode far away. gun-resistant, etc

bosses are visually diverse, but some employ similar attack strategies

party is sorta useless, or at least invisible. you hear them more than you see them. always seem to show up at the path to the next area.

pacing is up and down. the game is abnormally death-inducing......for a no-defense berserker.

the excellent dual-world setup should be taken advantage of more. it tapers off

thor
baldr
loki
grendel
aesir
hod
odin
hel
nidhogg
ragnarok

niestzche - human, all too human...hunting monsters

God Is Dead, Reborn -- Too Human Review

There are occasions when it is difficult to immediately recognize a game's greatness without first allowing it to unfold and reveal its entire composition. Such games often deliver the most satisfying experience to players who opt to explore the content thoroughly and completely.

Silicon Knights' Too Human is that sort of game. This is a piece of software that, like works of literature or film, takes time to develop into something truly praiseworthy. The simply enjoyable combat mechanics evolve into a complex system of character specification; inventory management and equipment customization shift from secondary pursuits into a unified, comprehensive craft; the storyline grows ever more captivating as the game progresses.

Too Human treads the uncommon path of incorporating Norse mythology and 19th-century philosophy into a tale about a technologically advanced civilization of mortal humans and a cybernetically enhanced society of "gods" called the Aesir. The collective group finds itself locked in bitter warfare with an encroaching machine race, and the Aesir are tasked with protecting the population from being harvested by these bloodthirsty sentients.

Serving as the first act in a planned trilogy, Too Human's climax is more the delivery of an intriguing plot point concerning the protagonist (Baldur) than an actual peak in the story's action, and resolution is non-existent; the game ends in a sequel-setting cliffhanger. Despite these shortcomings, however, Too Human is a highly captivating beginning to an epic and meaningful tale about the ills of transhumanism. Wonderfully directed cut scenes and carefully interwoven flashback sequences tie together the action of the core gameplay very well.

Too Human's graphical presentation is not jaw-dropping in a technical sense, but the cinematography, artistic direction, and environment design work together to present players with awe-inspiring scenes, conveying a sense of magnitude that ties directly into the game's plot. The camera is carefully positioned nearly every step of the way, showing players a world exactly as the developers wanted it to be seen. This is a crafted experience, and the static-yet-mobile camera (much like that of Eternal Darkness) provides the angles necessary to make it so. The drawback to this approach is that players have almost no control over their field of view, which occasionally makes combat and navigation more cumbersome than one might like.

For the most part, Too Human captures players in a flow of gameplay that keeps them engaged consistently throughout the experience. Combat is simple enough to carry out using the basic attack mechanics of the right analog stick--push the stick in the direction of the enemy you would like to attack--but also features enough complexities (battle cries, spider abilities, ruiner attacks) to keep players interested as their skills with the system improve. Even dying (the frequency of which depends on the player, class, skill tree specs, etc.) amounts to only a momentary lapse in the game's action and a degradation of equipped items (until repaired). This means that consequences of death are kept in the virtual world rather than being artificially applied to the player's interactive experience with the game.

This seamlessness doesn't go unbroken throughout the entire game, however. Players will gather a massive amount of loot during their quest, and may subsequently spend a great deal of time managing equipment in the inventory menu. New weapons, armor, rune augmentations, blueprints, etc. will all demand attention if the player's character is to grow, especially in the early-goings. Unwanted items must be salvaged to gain bounty (the game's currency), and manually checking equipment and selling it off can be a time-consuming affair. Luckily, there is an auto-salvage feature that automatically trades in items based on a tiered "rarity scale," ditching low-quality equipment without concerning the player. This significantly eases the burden of inventory management, even though it is to a certain degree inescapable.

Too Human is an incredibly customizable experience. In addition to the full sets of armor, various weapon types, equipment tweaks, runes, charms, etc., the game's five distinct classes each demand a different approach to gameplay. The Berserker, Defender, Champion, Commando, and Bioengineer each have heavily weighted strengths and weaknesses, unique skills, proficiencies, and equipment. Each one also has a three-path class skill tree and a two-path alignment skill tree, which players must allocate points to as they gain levels. The opposing paths on each tree are mutually exclusive, meaning that committing to one path will forfeit the abilities found in the other(s). This also means that there are essentially 30 different types of characters (builds) to be played in Too Human, with more alleged to arrive later as downloadable content. The game's story remains the same regardless of character choice.

In the online two-player cooperative mode, class and build characteristics play an important role for party synergy as players travel through the campaign levels (no cut scenes or story integration), rack up experience points, and collect loot. Partnering characters that compliment one another allows players to successfully vanquish foes together. For example, the offensive prowess of a Berserker combined with the restorative abilities of a Bioengineer would make for a deadly team. Characters from the game's single player campaign can be used online, and vice-versa, with all equipment and experience carrying over from one mode to the other. Players can revisit all areas in the single-player game, as well.

Too Human is not for everyone; its gameplay style and/or narrative themes may turn some gamers away before they can even jump into Asgard. The game is, however, a triumph in everything it aims to do. It tells [the beginnings of] an intriguing story through breathtaking cinematography and narrative, introduces a unique and effective combat system, and allows players to personalize their gameplay experience with an extensive amount of customization options. This is an excellent videogame.

One Word Review | Viva Pinata

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at Nerdology (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Cultivative