This week, in between battling a crazy barrage of colds, I have been playing hour after hour of Too Human. The game is not perfect, but for me, it might nearly be perfect. I love crazy variety of weapons, and games that mix swordplay with guns. So, as you can see, I would be naturally attracted to the game. However, this column is all about the co-op fun I had with Too Human, so I will focus on that. So, to summarize my experience with co-op in Too Human, I will use simply two words: too fun.
Forgive the terrible pun, but it does accurately summarize what the co-op experience was like. I guess "overall badassery" would summarize it as well, but "too fun" is much more concise. To be fair and skeptical, Too Human doesn't reinvent the wheel with co-op. Indeed, Too Human's co-op is fairly straightforward. It's just you and another guy playing the levels of Too Human, without the cutscenes to slow you down. However, this leads to the co-op being all about the gameplay, which is either good news or bad news, depending on your taste. For me, however, it was all good news.
OK, I lied just a bit. There is a bit of bad news in that the slowdown that can be common in Too Human is made only worse by the online factor. However, in my experience, slowdown was not a massive issue. So, about the good stuff.
Well, I like the gameplay in Too Human, and adding another player to the mix (who, like you is a god) is pretty cool. I mean, the game alone has inspired many awesome moments, like me mowing down a few dozen enemies with my guns (yeah, I like the Commando class). However, in co-op these moments came every other minute for me. Just the idea of two Norse gods hopping into battle together, cutting a swath of destruction, it epic. For example, I would be busy just reaming enemies with my chaingun (one of the cannon weapons), while my teammate launched into battle, skewering enemies with his sword. That is epic-ness defined.
Now, the co-op game has all the drawbacks of the single player mode, like the uncooperative camera, but it just is so much fun. I should remind you that Too Human is the exact right combination of gameplay elements for me, so my opinions are a bit skewed. However, if a game can make just one gamer this excited, it cannot be terrible. Only decent, maybe. But not terrible.
Even though the co-op features are a bit on the thin side, it is nice to be able to trade your items with your teammate. I mean, as a Commando, I couldn't use dual swords. Might as well be able to get something for them. Also, being able to simply choose any mission and play it (regardless of whether you teammate's been on the mission) is nice. Also, the fact that you don't run into cutscenes means that you can play any mission without fear of revealing the plot.
I feel like I've gone off topic, but in reality, I could say that I've been circling around to the conclusion. Some of the most fun I've had with a game has been playing Too Human, particularly in co-op mode. The reason why is that the game passes the "badass" test for me, a test which few games have ever passed. Quite simply put, mowing down enemies with either guns or a cool sword, is an epic experience, and that's what Too Human consists of. Now if you don't like that, I can understand. But if you like that feeling, Too Human is the game for you. Plenty of people will not like the game, but people like me will rejoice.
I've had rather an eventful week. I've spent half of it crazy sick, and the other half playing a boatload of Too Human. So you take the good with the bad. Too Human was a great stress reliever for me in my time of sickness. But then again, mowing down goblins is bound to make anyone feel better.