It seems like one should have to sacrifice polish for variety or vice versa, but It Takes Two masters both at once in a way I don't think the medium has ever seen. In the best way possible, it hurts my brain to wonder how this game was made. It's not only that each chapter brings new central mechanics, it's that each of them even introduces one-off sections, like the 2D fighter or an extended action-RPG scene, that would impress us quickly, then disappear forever. How Hazelight could make a game like this, with seemingly so few reused assets, such a wide variety of musical stylings to suit each setting, and most of all, the everchanging UI and gameplay tentpoles, has truly blown my mind over the past few days of playing it.
Just imagine a game where your camera perspective, gameplay mechanics, and set design are all up for debate. There are also lots of fun homages to other games, like a race on a familiar-looking Rainbow Road and a daring escape level where the player runs toward the camera a la Crash Bandicoot.Īs a platformer, It Takes Two is reliably precise, unforeseeably varied, and celebratory of the genre greats that came before it. There are some sections that change things so drastically that I don't even want to spoil them here. A new location brings brand new tools, and no two levels play, look, or sound at all alike. Later on, they get new tools, like a nectar gun and flamethrower, the ability to clone herself or his move that can stop or rewind time, and much more.Įach of the game's seven chapters follows this format. In the opening hours, the game gifts Cody with nails and May with a hammer, and they use their unique abilities to solve problems along the way, like May smashing a board into a horizontal position, then Cody quickly nailing it in place, so it becomes a new platform to jump from. Early on, with my wife as my co op partner, I flew a plane crafted from my human-sized underpants through the backyard while my wife battled a squirrel in a 2D fighting game on the wings, with health bars and all. Whereas you typically build a foundation, then add layers to it with each successive gameplay hour, It Takes Two chucks that book into the fireplace. There is a startlingly low number of revisited mechanics, to the point that the game feels at odds with how I understood game dev to work for as long as I've been alive. Hakim, the couple works through counseling by way of 15 or so hours of platforming excellence. Gameplay variety is on a level that I don't know anyone's ever seen. Led by the permanently gyrating, anthropomorphic Book of Love, Dr. In that regard, It Takes Two is the college thesis to A Way Out's high school book report. The game is almost always played in split-screen, and each character always has their own unique abilities, no matter the scene. Like with A Way Out, It Takes Two operates on mandatory co op.
Instead, they and players alike are quickly thrust into their new little-big world where suddenly wasps are kamikaze pilots, squirrels are hardened soldiers of a backyard war, and stuffed animals like Moon Baboon are Rose's protectors, shielding her from the hurt caused by her parents' latest scuffle. It's not long before the game's fantastical premise takes over, foregoing some quasi-sci-fi explanation as to why the couple is morphed into toy dolls Rose made.
Like most kids, Rose doesn't want her parents to get divorced and blames herself for their intentions to do so. It's a sad place to start the story, and even sadder for their daughter, Rose. In It Takes Two, May and Cody are splitting up. It Takes Two Review: A Genre-Bender Like No Other It Takes Two offers variety in its gameplay that I didn't think possible, but what's more impressive is it matches that quantity of experiences with consistent quality. It feels like a big-budget success story. While the game misses its narrative mark as a heartfelt journey of two soon-to-be divorcees, level design, gameplay mechanics, and music are all so varied that you'd never know this is an EA Originals game.
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