Too Human

Too Human is a video game currently under development by Canadian developer Silicon Knights for the Xbox 360. It is the first installment in a planned series of three games. Its current release date is set for August 5, 2008.

Story

The player takes on the role of Baldur, one of the Aesir. In the ancient past, the Norse gods truly existed in the form of cybernetically enhanced humans. Baldur, son of Odin, is one of these gods and it is his duty to protect the human race from an onslaught of an advancing machine presence determined to eradicate all human life.

In Too Human, the story chronicles the ongoing struggle between cybernetic Norse gods, the invading machine presence and mortal men. The story features many Norse gods and characters from Norse mythology including Thor, Loki, Odin, Heimdall, Freyja, and Mimir. The story features Yggdrasil, the tree of life, as a gateway to an alternate world known as Cyberspace that is accessed through the advanced technology of the Norse gods.

The machine presence in Too Human has a sinister purpose that is ironic when considered against the actions of the Norse gods. The human gods are using cybernetic implants to supplement their own abilities, thus becoming more machine. Conversely, the advancing machine army is harvesting human blood and limbs in an attempt to become more human.

Silicon Knights is reluctant to reveal the story details due to the game’s high budget and story driven gameplay. Despite this, a message is contained in the runes on the officially released box art for the game, reading ‘Machine Of God Of Man Of Machine’.

One of the major themes of Too Human is the extent of cybernetic upgrades that the gods use. In their battles against the approaching mechanical armies, the gods must continually enhance themselves through upgrading their cybernetics to keep up with their opponents, thus they become increasingly similar to their machine adversaries. Baldur, the title character is viewed by the other Norse gods as being insufficiently enhanced, thus “too human”.

Influences

In addition to Norse Mythology, Too Human is also influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche, who wrote a book by the name of Human, All Too Human. A Nietzsche quotation, “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he doesn’t become one himself,” is shown in the beginning of a teaser trailer for the game. The same quote was also used in the introduction movie of the PC roleplaying game Baldur’s Gate.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 is the ninth installment in the Rainbow Six series (not including expansions). It is a tactical first person shooter video game and the sequel to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas. It was announced by Ubisoft on November 20, 2007. The game was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 18, 2008 in North America and March 20, 2008 in Europe, except in Germany, where the game was delayed.The Microsoft Windows version, however, was delayed until April 15, 2008.It has been released in Japan on April 24, 2008 for the Xbox 360 and on May 29, 2008 for the Playstation 3.

A world-exclusive first-look of the game appeared in the January edition of the Official Xbox Magazine. One of the biggest announcements is that Logan Keller, the lead character from the previous game, has been removed in favor of having the player create his own character to play through the campaign. The player instead assumes the role of “Bishop”, a member of the Rainbow squad with a great deal more experience and who is more deeply involved in the story.

The game, billed as “part sequel, part prequel”, has events that run both before and concurrently to the story of Logan Keller and continue after where the first game concluded.In addition to the ability to customize a character in multiplayer, the player can now customize Bishop, Vegas 2’s new protagonist. In single-player, the developers claim to have vastly improved teammate AI, so that now teammates cover each other as they advance. There are also several new commands, for example, the ability of a teammate to throw a grenade at a specific point.

Gameplay

New features include an enhanced version of the “Persistent Elite Creation” system. Players can now customize their character. Where in the first game, the player could only customize the multiplayer character, in this game there is only 1 character for single player and multiplayer game modes. This further shows itself in the fact that experience points are now achieved through all the game modes, online as well as offline, whereas in the first game, XP was only obtained by playing the online multiplayer game modes. There is a new sprint button that allows players to weave in and out of cover at a quicker pace, the pace and stamina are contingent upon the players armor level.

The campaign focuses on the seedier side of Las Vegas, with more outdoor combat and daytime missions. Also, certain missions see a real-time day/night cycle. Certain kinds of cover can be penetrated by weapons-fire, and parts of the environment are destructible. Rather than two difficulty modes, the game has three.

Patapon

Patapon (パタポン, Patapon^?) is a genre-straddling video game published for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) handheld game console combining gameplay features of music and rhythm games, real-time tactics and God games. The game is presented in a cartoonish, silhouetted two-dimensional environment designed by Rolito, and features the player acting as an immaterial deity who commands an army of caricature tribal miniature creatures by beating traditional talking drums. The game was developed by Pyramid and produced by Japan Studios, the same studio that developed and produced Loco Roco.

Gameplay

The player controls a tribe consisting of infantry, ranged troops and cavalry. Initially, the player’s warband (army) consists of only a few basic spearmen named Yaripon but as the game progresses more units, greater warriors and more powerful weapons can be obtained. The army is commanded by beating rhythm combos on four different talking drums each mapped to one of the PSP’s four control buttons (‘Pata’, ‘Pon’, ‘Chaka’ and ‘Don’ to Square, Circle, Triangle and X respectively). Different combos tells the player’s group of Patapons to do various things such as advance, attack, and defend. Keeping the rhythm going and not missing a beat puts the army in Fever mode, which increases its combat abilities.

The game and story is unfolded through a number of missions of increasing difficulty. As the player progresses, new opponents are introduced and more drum rhythms are unlocked. Between missions, new troops can be spawned by spending currency called ka-ching and various resources obtained during the missions to create stronger Patapon troops. Throughout the game a player can also edit troop formations and acquire new weapons to equip their Patapons.

Story

The Patapon were a flourishing people until they were defeated by the evil Zigoton tribe. The player takes the role of their god and uses sacred war drums to direct the Patapon tribe to take back their land. As the story progresses, the Patapon also embark on a journey to Earthend to look upon “IT,” a sacred object whose appearance and purpose is unknown to the tribe. The enemy of the Patapon tribe is the evil Zigoton Empire, a powerful tribe of circular creatures with red irises (as opposed to the white-irised Patapon) that have oppressed the Patapon since their fall from power. After fighting various battles against the Zigotons, guardian creatures such as dragons, giant worms, golems, and the ultimate evil known as Gorl, the Patapon come to Earthend (the ocean) and see the rising sun, which they assume to be “IT”. However, unfulfilled by the anticlimactic end of their journey, they come to the conclusion that “IT” is, in fact, not the sun and to realize their destiny they must cross the ocean and continue their quest. The final scene shows the Patapon and Zigoton tribes working together to build an ark to cross the ocean.