So I'm here in Canada and I've spent the last several hours watching and playing the latest demo of Too Human. This is a game that got pretty much ripped at the Electronics Entertainment Expo because it was shown in a highly unfinished state -- buggy, framey, and with a broken camera system, to be sure. I know that the guys from Silicon Knights weren't thrilled by the general reaction, and understandably so. The developer has sunk a lot of time, effort and resources into this trilogy -- clearly it doesn't want to make a disappointing title, or titles. And ever since E3, it has been charged not only with creating a great game, but with the additional task of proving to the public that it can make a great game. There are a lot of skeptics.
We're going to have a big expose on Too Human next month. Big. Lots of good stuff for you, including detailed hands-on impressions, screenshots, direct-feed, interviews, developer profiles -- you name it. If you are at all interested in this trilogy -- and you should be -- then you will want to read, watch and digest our coverage. But in the meantime, I want to change the air surrounding the game just a little bit. This bitter smell lingers from E3, and I want to open the window.
To be blunt, the game has come a long way and I am confident that even the most critical players will be really impressed with the results. I write this knowing full well the issues the project showed at E3 and I also state that the majority of those issues have been obliterated. The game runs smoothly now. The camera dynamically follows the action, offering the most cinematic viewpoint. The combat allows for dozens of on-screen enemies. Animations are much more fluid and transitions more natural. And for you tech nuts, Too Human is running with four times anti-aliasing, eight light sources per character, soft shadowing, depth of field blur galore, and much more. The engine will wow you. Some of the in-game models are truly incredible.
What you haven't really seen yet are the story and RPG character-building elements in Too Human. You're going to learn all about them next month and I can promise you that if you were excited for the project before, you will be doubly, or triply so by the time you're up-to-date. I want to be clear about something. Despite what you may have heard, this game is not God of War. It is an entirely different beast. Your main character can change on the fly, he can upgrade his attributes, different classes can be selected, and ultimately, the Baldur you begin with will be very, very different from the one you end with. Wait until you learn about the cooperative gameplay possibilities.
Microsoft wanted us to be honest about this gameplay presentation. If I felt that Too Human had serious issues, I could let them know -- and I would. But all said and done, the biggest gripes I could come up with were trivial. So I think that is perhaps the biggest testament to just how far the project has come.
Next month we'll pull back the curtain in an epic way. But for now, if you're anticipating this project, open your window and let out that sour old air. The game has inevitably evolved, and it's on the level you'd expect from the maker of Eternal Darkness.
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