Now that E3 is over, I have a little more time to think about forthcoming video game releases. Looking at the release calendar, the next game that I'm anticipating is Too Human. I've played the game a few times at press events over the years, and each time I do, I come away shaking my head for one overshadowing reason. The camera system. I was reminded of this the other day when I booted up the XBL Marketplace demo on Xbox 360, and re-experienced Too Human's broken camera system.

Denis Dyack, the president of Silicon Knights, is a big advocate for automatic camera systems. I think it'd be unfair to classify Dyack as a "hater" of manual cameras, but it's my personal impression of Dyack that he's not a fan of manual cameras -- based on what he's said on the subject over the years.

If you're not familiar with Dyack's belief as far as game camera systems goes, let me bring you up to speed. Essentially, Dyack believes that players shouldn't have to control a video game's camera -- that the game should handle all that for you. (Once or twice, he has even suggested that first-person films generally don't work, and thus video games should stay away from that perspective. But that's a topic for another day.)

Here are a couple of quotes from Dyack on the subject of 3D game camera systems:

"We have really worked on making the game as accessible as possible. In order to do that, we did an analysis where games broke off from 2D to 3D, and in all the 2D games, there is never a need to control the camera at any time. When you're playing Pac-Man, you never need to control the camera. You see whatever you need to see at any time. When we move to 3D, suddenly you have to control this camera to see what's going on. We think that the extra layer of complexity is just really removing everyone." -- Denis Dyack, speaking to IGN

"Ever since Eternal Darkness we've strongly believed that you should not give the players control of the camera." -- Denis Dyack, speaking to Gamasutra

Honestly, I can meet Dyack half-way on the subject. Sometimes having to control a camera on top of managing several other complex actions can be taxing. Indeed, some games take camera control away from players, and as a player, we never think twice about the absence of camera control in some games. But Too Human is not one of those games. Playing the game, I find that I constantly want to control and change the camera. But I can't, and it ruins the game for me. I understand, Dyack, that you, as the developer, want to choose the camera angles, so that the game can be "cinematic." But, in my opinion, Too Human sacrifices playability to attempt this, and that's just not a good thing.

To be more specific, what I dislike about Too Human's camera is when it forces you to walk towards the screen, rather than away. Often, you'll enter a room in which your character closely faces the camera. You then must walk directly towards the camera and as you do so, the camera will slowly pan back, revealing more and more of the area in front of your character. But until you've walked forward enough, you can't see what's in front of your character, and it's annoying.

After playing 3D games for over a decade, I am used to having the camera facing my character's back and seeing my character walk away from the camera. With this traditional setup, you can see whatever it is that's in front of your character. Having a character walk towards the camera -- as seen in Too Human -- might look more cinematic, but dammit, it's impractical.

Granted, I have only played little bits and pieces of Too Human, so far. Perhaps my opinion will change when I play through the entire game. And, if it does, I'll be sure to write about it on the site. But, in the meantime, I have a prediction to make: Too Human's flawed camera will ruin game. The title might have other problems, but for many, the loudest complaint will be in regards to its camera.