Too Human -- Combat is a Sticky Situation.

I've long since gotten my Commando to level fifty and I'm now grinding out the final achievements in Too Human. I need four more at this point. I've gotten the achievement for getting each of the five classes to level ten so I've gotten a pretty good feel for the classes and everything they bring to the combat. Denis Dyack wanted to revolutionize the hack and slash dungeon crawler looting style of game such as Diablo and Phantasy Star Online. He most wanted to do this by way of the combat. He's gone about it mainly with how the game is controlled. He's put the primary attacks on the right stick. You'll control your character's basic movements with the left stick. You'll swing your sword swipes by aiming the right stick in the direction of the creature you want to attack. If you're within range of a distant creature you'll automatically slide to said creature and attack. The slide range varies for each class. So with the swordplay you'll be zipping about the battlefield chaining creatures and hits together for combos. Added to this you'll have access to ranged combat via guns. Only the combo system there works with juggling creatures into the air and keeping them there as well as chaining creatures and hits together. In both melee and ranged combat you only have a few seconds to hit another enemy to keep the combo active. It's all very basic Devil May Cry. The classes play a big role in how you'll experience combat. If you play to their strengths you'll get a different experience, and if you play against their strengths you'll get something of a far more frustrating experience. The Commando is focused on ranged attacks and plays from a distance. The Berserker is all out attack and has the highest slide distance so he's zipping all over the place like a madman. The Defender is a walking tank and can't be knocked down. He's there to take damage and shake it off. The Bioengineer is the only class that can heal. And the Champion is the jack-of-all-trades type with standardized ratings in all categories but can stay in the air longer than anyone else. There is some button play within the game. You'll jump and roll from the buttons. As well as access your spider bot that offers up a different attack or shield based upon your skill tree path within a particular class. You'll have a war cry attack on a button that essentially offers up a player bonus type spell. You know, increased attack power to bullets or a shield for a set time. Again it's based on your choices within the skill tree paths for the classes. You'll also get a magic attack called a ruiner on the buttons.  The five classes each have the three skill paths, and once you reach level ten, you're forced to make an alignment choice between human and cybernetic. Your choice will offer up two more paths to choose from. The result is roughly sixty variants within the classes and skill trees. More than enough to find a character suited to you. For the most part the combat is a success. It does have a steep learning curve though. The camera isn't on the right stick as it's been in most games since the dawn of twin stick control in the thirty-two bit era. And that will cause some frustration at first. Pulling off the finisher moves by double-tapping both sticks in the same direction will also take some practice and even then it will fail you every so often. The combat is frenetic and fun when it works. The key word there being when. As I'm still farming achievements I'm not ready to wrap up Too Human just yet and there is the issue of game balance to discuss and its effect on when the combat does or does not work. But I'll save that for next time.