Toward the final moments of Too Human, a horde of enemies so absurdly overpowered were thrown our way that we were cursed by inevitable death every ten seconds, over and over again. But in Too Human you don’t die per se. Instead, a Valkyrie – think of a broad shouldered god nurse with wings – appears out of thin air and revives you a limitless number of times. So, in a brilliant move of beating Too Human at its own dimwitted logic, the right trigger of the controller was taped down – leaving the massive gun firing at the nearly unassailable foes – and the console was left running for two hours or so. Upon returning, those dastardly zombies were finally no more.

How a game can be so unbalanced after such a long and laborious development time, by the talented Silicon Knights no less, both disappoints and boggles the mind. And although Too Human is a disjointed and deeply flawed game, its action and roleplaying elements always remain at a dull plateau, there is still much enjoyment to be had, blemishes and all.

The premise is interesting enough. You’re Baldur, a god on earth; not omnipotent, not omnipresent, but in the flesh and walking among man. Mixing the Norse pantheon with science fiction, Too Human’s promised rumination on the nature of technology is inexorably washed away by a plot that boils down to you, an angry cyberpunk Viking, who must kill a bunch of bad robots. Throughout battling in four locations, which all look and play the same, the derivative narrative meanders all over the place – though thankfully it ultimately picks up some form of pace in the final act. From the outset, a Hero’s Journey in the vein of Lord of the Rings or Star Wars this most certainly is not.

So what do you do in Too Human? You kill hundreds of enemies, repeatedly, and that’s all folks. Combat is as simple as rotating the right stick in the direction of foes. At first, it seems as though it lacks the punch of button based combat, but add in some rhythmic elements with the second joystick and you have a fairly robust and tactile system. From juggling enemies in midair to power sliding hundreds of feet between groups of foes, you’ll find that combat largely delights. Though, like everything else in Too Human, it isn’t without its problems.

Often, you’ll find that you’re slashing a whole lot of air and no enemy – animating with an awkward ferocity toward nothing. And, while targeting foes with melee weapons can be a chore, it pales in comparison to the muddled shooting mechanics that are always a struggle to play around with. Try to shoot at a goblin at your front, and you’ll undoubtedly wind up firing in chaotic and confused directions, or at enemies that were long since dead.

Through it all, Too Human boasts a new kind of camera; one that isn’t supposed to require your constant manhandling. It changes freely with the environment, attempting to offer cinematic views that turn out to be more jarring and unsightly than anything else. Walk past a random bit of interesting architecture and the camera switches out of nowhere to offer you, what it thinks, are pleasant sights. Without any transition or even a notion of composition, the attempt at lively cinematography falls flat. Now, apply the camera to combat and it is an improved, though also imperfect story. Since it again focuses on whatever it deems to be the mightiest threat onscreen you begin to get the sense that Too Human plays you, and not the other way around.

Thankfully, the game picks up considerably in two player cooperative mode, where the draws of roleplaying elements nearly come into full fruition. Loot drops are plentiful and, similar to Diablo, can be shared between players. Though, going through the game unaccompanied will result in changing your equipment every twenty minutes, rendering epic sets a rather moot point when something better is always on its way. In coop, however, a kind player might give you much needed and exceedingly powerful weapons – should their level be higher than yours – and only then does equipment have any real long lasting worth.

Too Human lays the groundwork for a trilogy, and the potential is undeniably there. But, as it is, the execution of melding ideas is entirely pedestrian, human if you will. The experience feels disjointed and at odds with its multiple elements, never coalescing together. Perhaps the most intrinsic flaw is that, while fun, it lacks in addictive quality, no carrot at the end of the stick pulling you though. Playing with a friend remedies this slightly, but not enough to warrant an endless hunt for loot. After all the potent talk, Too Human erred deeply in its execution. And in an industry where polish is paramount, this one is human, all too human. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t at times likeable, enjoyable even.