Rob (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} robyrt) wrote,@ 2008-07-15 16:04:00 |
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Demo Impressions: Too Human
The demo went live yesterday. I played it that night, slept for 6.5 hours, then woke up and played it again the next morning before work. I went to Gamestop today and almost bought it, but I was held back.
Pros: Unique and interesting setting (sci-fi Norse mythology), encouraging premise (action-RPG where you can customize yourself down the Action or RPG paths), co-op single player campaign, and design lessons learned from MMOs to make things easier for you.
Cons: The animation is embarrassingly awful. Normally I will overlook one bad area if the rest of the game has redeeming value (like Prince of Persia's chariot races, Devil May Cry's level design or Warrior Within's writing) but the lack of feedback actually impairs my ability to avoid enemy attacks, complete air combos, etc. I would feel bad being so enthusiastic about a fundamentally flawed product. Also, the menu system is kludgy and badly drawn. Lack of manual camera control is frustrating. A couple tutorials are missing.
Debunking Myths: The graphics are just fine, on par with Halo 3. The controls are innovative and easy to learn. The game is not a massive disappointment.
Closing Design Thought: The most exciting option in terms of inventory management is that when you're out of space, the game will automatically drop your least valuable items. Everybody does this anyway, it's not an interesting job, and so the automation is very welcome. What I'm wondering is, couldn't they have included an auto-equip function as well? Or at least sorted items by value? Paging through 5 different randomly generated sets of gloves to find the one with rating 18 instead of 17 spoils the immersion.
The demo went live yesterday. I played it that night, slept for 6.5 hours, then woke up and played it again the next morning before work. I went to Gamestop today and almost bought it, but I was held back.
Pros: Unique and interesting setting (sci-fi Norse mythology), encouraging premise (action-RPG where you can customize yourself down the Action or RPG paths), co-op single player campaign, and design lessons learned from MMOs to make things easier for you.
Cons: The animation is embarrassingly awful. Normally I will overlook one bad area if the rest of the game has redeeming value (like Prince of Persia's chariot races, Devil May Cry's level design or Warrior Within's writing) but the lack of feedback actually impairs my ability to avoid enemy attacks, complete air combos, etc. I would feel bad being so enthusiastic about a fundamentally flawed product. Also, the menu system is kludgy and badly drawn. Lack of manual camera control is frustrating. A couple tutorials are missing.
Debunking Myths: The graphics are just fine, on par with Halo 3. The controls are innovative and easy to learn. The game is not a massive disappointment.
Closing Design Thought: The most exciting option in terms of inventory management is that when you're out of space, the game will automatically drop your least valuable items. Everybody does this anyway, it's not an interesting job, and so the automation is very welcome. What I'm wondering is, couldn't they have included an auto-equip function as well? Or at least sorted items by value? Paging through 5 different randomly generated sets of gloves to find the one with rating 18 instead of 17 spoils the immersion.
