When a game has been in development for more than a decade, it's safe to assume expectations are going to be pretty split between wanting the most ground-breaking piece of work this side of the 3D gaming revolution and barely paying attention because it's likely going to be old, archaic and off the current radar of all things digitally interactive.

Too Human has been around for what seems like forever. I actually remember seeing a FMV trailer for it at Nintendo's now defunct Spaceworld event in Japan, 2000 not too long after developer Silicon Knights had been picked up by Ninty as a second-party developer alongside the likes of Rare.

Before even then, however, Too Human was slated to release on the PSone - that's right, that paperweight/door stop you keep tripping over when stumbling in from a big night out. Too Human was even in contention with Duke Nukem Forever as far as development time lines are concerned, however, managed to not knock the king from its perch thanks to very recently going gold. Before we see the final retail release though, Microsoft have given AusGamers an extensive hands-on session to run the eternally developed game through its paces to see if it still has the chops to dance with current big boys.

A Dark Nordic Cybernetic Horse
If you ever played Eternal Darkness, you'll likely know one of Silicon Knights' strongest attributes is their attention to creating a truly cinematic experience. This is most notable in the camera area of their games, and Eternal Darkness was a crowning achievement (one of their key camera staff was an ex-Hollywood cinematographer). With Too Human, its 10 minute + intro video offers the same cinematic vision through an incredible series of edits and sweeping shots that set the tone for the game that follows.

We're introduced to the game's protagonist, Baldur (though you don't know this is his name yet), as he moves towards a futuristic bar called Valkyries.

Within, hustle and bustle shows a lively joint with music and locals mixing it up. Two men are talking at the bar about the oppressive Aesir (the cybernetic Norse Gods who rule) and rumours of monsters attacking humans when Baldur walks in. His looming, ominous presence stops the bar in its tracks and the two men decide to question him (at this point, he still hasn't said a word), but he is less interested in them and more interested in what is lurking outside.

Cue massive mechanical beast, bursting through the wall of the bar. Baldur's attention shifts from the locals and he starts firing at the mechanised monstrosity. It releases a host of flying razor-teethed robots while picking up humans and grinding them against the gears of its insides. In a somewhat archaic dazzling display, Baldur takes out the flying robots and eventually, in more 90s-esque action sequence fashion, the huge beast as well.

What we learn from this is Baldur is himself, one of the Aesir and the Gods' enemies, though mechanical, are feasting on human flesh. Ah, the plot thickens.

Too Human's basis is one that combines ancient Nordic mythology with science fiction in a neat action/RPG package. The mythology it draws upon allows for a host of characters to flesh out, all pulled from Viking beliefs. Odin, Thor, Freyja, Loki and more make up the all-powerful Aesir, but what's interesting is Silicon Knights' spin that sees these God-like humans enhancing themselves with cybernetics. Their enemies, however, are mechanised yet feast on human flesh throwing a proverbial spanner into someone's blood-pumping works. It's pretty obvious after seeing this juxtaposition, where the name Too Human came from, and you don't need to be a genius to realise being too human is Baldur's job.

As the first game planned in a trilogy (we’ll likely have to wait another 10 years for the sequel), Too Human very steadily takes its narrative time. The preview version I played pretty much dumped me into this fantastical universe with very little explanation for what’s what or who’s who. It’s a bit daunting at first: Why are there gods walking about? How come lush forests transform into futuristic cities in the blink of an eye? Why are mechanical dogs chasing me? But progressively things become clear, making it clear - from the outset - Silicon Knights have something fairly grandiose up their sleeve. And they're not afraid to flaunt it, either. If there's one thing Eternal Darkness got right, it was its story and Too Human promises to deliver something even deeper and more compelling.

Massdiahalo
Despite having a flair for cerebral narrative and the cinematic, Silicon Knights have never really been renowned for great visuals. Eternal Darkness had moments of beauty, but the lengthy development times of their games usually means one intended for release on a particular system will wind up on the next-gen iteration replete with out-of-date technology and visuals.

You can see this clearly with Too Human. It’s a game that definitely carries itself well enough, but it just looks a bit first-gen Xbox 360, which makes me wonder how it will fare for the planned sequels. Will development of those see them landing on newer generation machines? Maybe this should have been developed for the PC platform to maintain some visual consistency… but I digress.

As you can probably gather from the accompanying screens, there’s an affinity here with Mass Effect and the Halo games that feels almost a little *too* familiar. It’s not clear if any of this is intentional (after all, technically Too Human has been around longer), but it’s definitely a factor that stands out. The problem with this is, both Mass Effect and Halo, while in their own right amazing games, weren’t at the top-end of art-direction and it feels like Silicon Knights have missed an awesome visual opportunity here given the source material.

Cool visual elements though, come in the form of real-time character reflection in that whatever you pimp your character out in is going to be reflected in all the game’s cut-scenes. This is cool because the loot on offer throughout Too Human is pretty appetising. This is also where the game’s affinity to Diablo comes into play, and it really isn’t anything to complain about.

You won’t find too many enemy drops, but throughout each dungeon there are spires, rocks and more to pull items from and you can build a pretty good manifest of bits and pieces that can be donned, sold or combined through the Cybernetics lab from the game’s hub.

Champion, meet Bio Engineer
There are five character classes to choose from at the beginning of the game. Champion (all-round, single-handed weapons), Commando (tech class, mines, demolitions, long-range weapons), Bio Engineer (medic class, casting), Defender (tank class, heavy armour) and Berserker (all-out offensive class, two handed weapons). Obviously they each have something to bring to the table, but ultimately are there for the coop side of things. As far as single-player goes, Champion is best (which is why that class looks like the main character, Baldur).

Picking my Champion class, the game dumped me right into the thick of things. Apparently I’m exploring some dungeon to look for something.

As mentioned earlier, Too Human does not hold your hand and Silicon Knights are presuming anyone picking this up are in it for the long haul, which may or may not be a good thing.

Still, despite the unknown, it does become a driving force after awhile which is a good thing because fun as it is destroying enemies and stringing together combos, these huge dungeons can become a little much.

I talked earlier about Silicon Knights’ penchant for dynamic camera systems, and it’s something they’ve attempted to do here. I say “attempted” because it’s fundamentally different to the modern gaming landscape. It’s by no means detrimental to the experience, but the aforementioned expanse of Too Human’s dungeons lends themselves to an instinctive desire to use the right analogue stick to control your view. Unfortunately this portion of the controller has been assigned to an attack. So early on you’ll find yourself fighting for a better look or just not remembering you can cut that robot dog in half with a simple gesture of your right thumb.

You do get used to it after awhile, and there is a way to free-look just by holding the LB. Moreover, when you begin to understand the flow of combat, there’s something compellingly fluid about darting between enemies with the left stick and lining up attacks with the right. You can also launch and juggle enemies in the air ala Devil May Cry and Baldur is strapping some serious heat. You fire his weapons with the left and right triggers, respectively while jumping duties are justifiably assigned to A and roll to B.

You’re not alone in these dungeons though, as you’ll always have soldiers backing up, talking smack about the mechanoids and generally just acting all Halo-like. You can have an entire squad wiped out in one room, only to have them replaced when you load the next. For the most part they help a bit, but as this is really a coop game, Silicon Knights have made these hounds simple tools to make your job a little easier, but it’s having a friend along that will really kick the game into gear.

No friends, no fun
Initially this was going to offer drop in/drop out four-player coop over Xbox Live, but it seems as though that’s been dumped for the time being. There is two-player coop, but nothing local, which doesn’t make sense and was highly annoying because my brother and I were pretty keen to check it out split screen from the comfort of our lounge.

Also, because I was looking at a preview build there was no way to give it the online run for its money, but given SK have been billing this as a multiplayer experience yet dumped the four-player stuff means they have some pretty big shoes to fill.

Moreover, the lengthy cut-scenes and hub stuff make it seem like it might not even be conducive, unless you strictly saddle friends up for dungeon-crawling, but that seems a little convoluted in having to tee people up.

Again, omitting the four-player option just shows the overly lengthy development time hasn’t really helped Too Human out much. There are some cool features here such as the RPG stuff that sees you leveling up, managing equipment, combining weapons and armour together or with runes as well as the definitive option to take the cybernetic path or human path, but they aren’t enough, at this stage, for me to see all elements of the game standing on their own between the good parts.

That leaves the story then, which I’ve mentioned a few times takes its time to get going meaning many a person looking to get into this with short attention spans will likely hang it up pretty early.

Still, I did have fun with it. The combo system, once you get used to it is fairly engaging, and the camera system is forgivable as result. You’ll fight it for awhile, both out of instinct and obtrusive frustration, but patience is a virtue, or so they say.

At this point, I’ll reserve final judgment for the final build, but Too Human – so far – isn’t the godsend many might have hoped. It suffers from age, length and convoluted customisation versus up and down combat. Apparently a demo will find its way onto the Xbox Live Marketplace pretty soon, which is where I suggest you look at this game from, rather than with the videogame shop receipt sitting next to you after purchase.

Stay tuned for a full review soon.