It's very simple. Too Human is a game that's been in development for the last nine years. That's 7 years longer than the normal development cycle of a game with this depth or focus. But therein lies the problem, Silicon Knights, a former Nintendo owned developer, has had a tumultuous past with the hardware companies.
Initially the game was supposed to release on Sony's PS2, then after a falling through with Sony, SK moved the game over to Nintendo's GameCube. Then with deadlines quickly approaching for their parent company Nintendo, the Knights shifted their manpower towards releasing Eternal Darkness and Metal Gear Solid:Twin Snakes. In the shift Too Human was put on the back burner, and after the release of the two titles, Dennis Dyack ended his company's contract with Nintendo and looked for a new sponsor. And eventually Microsoft Games Studio answered the call.
In addition to it's sponsorship problems, Dyack and the Knights have had problems on the software front as well. After filing a suit in July of 2007, against Epic Games over disputes about a lack of support for Epic's Unreal 3 Engine; Epic followed by counter suing.
SK has had an interesting if not, muddled history in the industry and Too Human is reflective of that fact. The game is based upon the legend of Baldur, one of the lesser known gods of Norse mythology. Which may be the problem, you see when you have a character that no one knows you have to establish some form of a background or origin for that character. However, Silicon Knights has gone with the "amnesia" aspect to Baldur's story, thus you are seeing everything as Baldur sees it. This approach, doesn't end up paying off, you'll figure the story out half way through the game, though you'll still be confused by some of the game's tangent plot lines.
Furthermore, nothing is explained by the science-fiction twist on Baldur's story. Are the devs trying to hint at some form of cyclical evolution, or are we simply being told a story in a different light. Dyack and the Knights never touch on this at all within Too Human. To gain a better understanding of the game you could've watched the five part dev diary on XBLM. Which in it features the dev's home of St. Catherine's, Ontario, the employees of the Canadian dev, their wacky inter mural program, and the the mockumentary "The Goblin Man of Norway." Which after watching you understand two things: 1) this is a variation of Baldurs story via cyclical evolution where at one time humans stood alongside gods at our supposed technological peak. And 2) if SK had put as much forethought into Too Human as they had with this mockumentary this game could have been much improved.
Too Human boasts a lot of stuff you seen in other games: skill trees, armor variants, runes, weapon customization. The compilation of just about everything that you could think of within the RPG/action-adventure chimera is part of Too Human's problem. There is a lack of focus/scope within this game that has the user at a disadvantage from the time they start the game. There is no tutorial, there is little explanation of how the skill tree works, or powers that are within the tree will function. I have invested 20+ hours in the game and still don't fully understand the importance, or lack there of the game's charm mechanic. These are serious issues that only new eyes to the game could address. And in a nine year on and off again dev cycle, could've been easily dismissed, but that's really no excuse. If you're going to tout you're game as "there's really nothing like it out there." It would probably serve your purpose to have tutorials, or at least better descriptions of how the game's mechanics work.
Add that to the game's slippery combat mechanism, often your character, regardless of class is hacking through metal goblins or trolls. There is no feel of organics to Too Human. Slicing, hacking and bludgeoning mechanical opponents feels the same as it does going up against the undead. Moreover, levels within the game feel unbelievably long, though the game does feature alternate game paths, which all lead to the same boss battles, these levels are far too long. The formulaic hack, slash, explore, repeat, starts to feel laborious during the last level of the game.
And as players finally start to get the gist of the game and the story improves to the point where it carries the dreadful gameplay, the game ends. It's unfortunate, but games with oddly long dev cycles like Too Human, face an uphill battle, especially with the turmoil and hype that this game had drawn. If this game had been released back in 2000/2001, it could've won GOTY. Now it's just another game that lacks an identity. And in that need for definition, it disenfranchises players from what it could have been and where it still has yet to go.
Co-op is another story. while playing with a friend via XBL. The enemies will rival that of the player with the higher experience. So if you're a level 10 and your friend is a level 45, all enemies will be around that 40-48 level. And you will quite literally be "up shit's creek without a paddle." As every time you spawn you'll get hit once, maybe twice, and you're dead.
While I can't full on recommend Too Human, you should still play it for what it worth. Because to be frank, there will be a second and third iteration. And the difference between games 1 to 2, and 2 to 3, will probably be excellent examples in what to do wrong, and what to do right in game development.
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