I downloaded the demo for Too Human the day that it came out, but hadn't been able to touch it until last night. This is the result of that play session.

The intro was interesting to me, as I like the Norse mythology meets cybernetics theme quite a bit, and the cut scenes are skippable (a blessing to someone who just wants to play the damn game). The presentation is solid, and I like the menu designs, both on the front end and in-game. I will say that I found the in-game menus a bit frustrating to use due to how slow they transitioned and a bit of lag/slowdown during the movements.

The graphics are good. Gears of War 2 this ain't, but Silicon Knights has put together what I consider a good looking engine. That being said, they've been developing this thing so long that I expected the graphics and art design to blow me away. The art design succeeds more than the graphics, but neither really lived up to my (possibly unfair) expectations. The art and level assets vary from mildly interesting to meh, and I found the level design overall to be bland, but fairly enjoyable (like regular spaghetti with meat sauce... now I'm hungry).

On to the fur of this shedding experience, the controls. I spent about 45 minutes total with the demo, and I would say the first 30 were somewhat frustrating. The control design seems clunky at first, though that is likely due to me being used to controlling a camera with the right thumb stick instead of attacking with it. having to remove my thumb from the right stick to hit a button is nothing new for me (Halo for example) but it felt awkward to hit "a" to jump and then have to flick back to the stick to engage an air attack. For some reason, dodging using "b" and then attacking with the thumb stick felt less awkward, but was still awkward nonetheless. I'm going to chalk this complaint up to my familiarity with the control system, as I'm sure I would get more used to it as time went on.

The camera system is just plain difficult to adjust to. Holding RB and using the right stick to look around is all fine and good, but it only works outside of combat, and God forbid that I accidentally touch the right stick first or need to adjust the camera in battle, because then I'm shit out of luck and probably swinging my sword in the wrong direction. In many ways, this camera feels frustratingly similar to Ninja Gaiden 2's broken system.

I love the loot system. I'm a loot junkie going all the way back to the NES RPGs. Did anyone else play Chrono Trigger enough times through to get your entire party Gold Studs, Prism Caps, Prism Dresses (girls), and Moon Armor (guys)? Because I did, and it was awesome! I wish the equipment/weapon management were a bit more streamlined, but overall it works fine, save for having to deal with the clunky pause menu to get to it. If I buy this game, the loot is going to be what keeps me coming back for more.

Finally, the story looks really interesting. I love Norse mythology and the unique take on the Ragnarok story and its characters and events has my interest.

Overall, I found Too Human to be a solid effort, but disappointing given how long the game has been in production. I have not been able to try the co-op yet, and have been told that is where this game can really shine, so I'll hold my final judgement until I play through a gold copy.