It Takes Two - Review
It Takes Two, the video game, not the awful ‘comedy’ movie from 1995 starring those god awful Olsen twins, is the latest release from Josef Fares creator of Hazelight Studios and lead designer of previous games such as Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons and A Way Out.
A Way Out was a game that I was really interested in playing but never got to experience due to the fact that it required a second person to play with, which was an issue for me, not because I don’t have any friends (I swear I do!) but because dragging some of these friends away from their regular games such as COD or WOW and getting them to commit to playing a new video game for 10-15 hours can be a hard task. Having not experienced any of Josef Fares previous works, I was quite excited at getting the chance to step into the world of It Takes Two and review it.
It Takes Two’s main characters are Cody and May, a married couple stressed out by work commitments and the pressures that come with raising their young daughter Rose. After eavesdropping on her parents having a conversation Rose discovers that her parents have had enough and have decided to call it quits and get a divorce, this of course upsets Rose greatly and as her tears begin to flow she wishes that her parents would get back together, her tears fall on her two dolls which suddenly transports her two parents inside of the previously lifeless dolls and brings them to life, it’s an overused trope in movies and literature but for the purpose of the game it works well.
Rose’s parents Cody and May barely have enough time to be freaked out by the fact they have been transported into the bodies of a clay and wooden doll before we meet the best character of the whole game, the book of love AKA Dr Hakim, this guy is quite honestly hilarious and I found myself chuckling every time he popped up during the course of the game. Cody and May armed with the help and shenanigans of Doctor Hakim, who is trying to repair their relationship, must learn what it takes to work together and trust each other’s unique talents as a team as they traverse the house that has now been transformed into a childlike dreamscape. Successfully working together and trusting in each other is the only way they will find their way back to their adult size bodies.
It Takes Two is very similar to Fares’ previous game A Way Out in that you cannot play this game solo, you will need to enlist a friend to play through with you either over the internet or via couch co-op, the good thing here is that both of you do not need to have a copy of the game in order to play as you can issue a ‘friend code’ to the other player so that they can play through the game with you, I am not a big fan of games that require you to play through with another person but in the case of It Takes Two the entire premise of the game is about working together to overcome obstacles so it really is a necessary evil here. With one player controlling Cody and the other May you must work your way through 8 different chapters, each set in vastly different locations and employing wildly different game mechanics, to repair your relationship and find the secret to being transported back into your regular human bodies.
The locations range from a magic castle, a cuckoo clock all the way through to a snow globe with each location giving both Cody and May a new and unique power to use to traverse their way through the level. Speaking of levels, each location in this game is meticulously designed to the point that they are practically miniature works of art, the level of detail is absolutely mind boggling and every time I was transported to a new location in the game my first instinct was to slowly walk around and explore each and every area in order to see what easter eggs and secrets I could find (there are plenty) as well as plenty of mini-games ranging from racing slot cars all the way through to playing chess against your fellow player.
Equally interesting are the wild and varied game mechanics that Cody and May gain with each location they visit, with some of my favourites being the garden level where May has access to a watering can and scythe and Cody has the ability to turn into a vast array of different flora and also the level where Cody and May both have magnets of different colours and different polarity and must work together in order to repel and attract objects in order to traverse their way to the end of the level. The mechanics in this game are so varied they never become boring, every time I got dropped into a new level or boss fight, I was always excited to see what mechanics were going to be implemented next and how the dynamics of each battle were going to play out, there is even one point in the game where for a small while it turns into a clone of Diablo.
I seriously cannot overstate how well both designed both the game mechanics and the locations are in this game, there is always something new to see, at times it is so serene you kind of wish that you could live in such a location at other times it is more akin to a fever dream that you want to escape from at all costs. If you loved the aesthetic of Codemasters Micro Machines games as a kid and wished you could explore more of the locations in that game, then you are going to have a ball here! The only thing that doesn’t always work well here is the forced split screen perspective, sure it is necessary if two people are playing on the one PC or console, but I am not sure why it is necessary when two people are playing the game are playing over the internet, the graphics in this game are drop dead gorgeous and deserve to be enjoyed by each player in full screen rather than having their immersion broken by the distraction of having their screen split down the middle.
The story in It Takes Two is nothing ground-breaking and has been covered in numerous books, movies, and video games before, what is ground-breaking here is the way it is presented. The developers have built an immaculate stage for the story to take place on and it draws you in right from the start, the world design is bolstered even further by the writing, voice acting and soundtrack with all 3 of them being nearly faultless, heck this game even makes Dad (and Mum) jokes enjoyable. The cutscenes are also masterfully crafted and serve as a vehicle to progress the story rather than being an annoying thing that you skip every level, especially when Dr Hakim appears, you never want to miss out on a moment of this guys dialogue, he is an absolute riot and I look forward to the release of his inevitable pop vinyl figurine, I will be purchasing 10 of them on release day.
I am not normally a fan of games like this, I enjoy sports games and games like COD and The Division where you get to blow things up and shoot people, most likely due to some form of toxic masculinity I am doomed to carry around with me to the end of my days, It Takes Two is such a wonderfully crafted game it made me a fan of it after only spending about 5 minutes in its world, it is that good. The developers claim the game will take around 10-15 hours to complete and this is largely true with my play through taking around 11 hours, it probably would of ended up being a couple of hours longer if I had the luxury of exploring more rather than worrying about a review deadline.
A lot of people may baulk at the price tag of $60 for such a short game, but in all reality it works out to around $6 per hour of entertainment, much less than the cost of a trip to the movies, and even less if you decide to split the cost of the game with the person you will be playing it with, as far as replay value goes, there really isn’t much of a reason to revisit the game once you have finished it, but I am fine with that, this game has a story to tell and it done a wonderfully good job of retaining my interest whilst the story was being told. Even if you aren’t a fan of this type of game, give it a shot, I promise you won’t be disappointed, it’s a great way to spend a couple of nights gaming with a friend.
The Score
8.5
Review code provided by Electronic Arts
The Pros
+It’s just damn fun!
+Wonderful graphics and meticulously crafted locations
+Vastly varying mechanics and boss battles
+Fantastic voice acting and soundtrack
The Cons
-Difficulty seems to drop off in the second half of the game, I rather preferred the challenge and sweaty mechanics of the first half
-Split screen should not be enforced on players who are not playing on the same console or PC
-Camera can induce vertigo in some of the faster sections of the game
