It Takes Two Review
It Takes Two brings innovation and creativity to another level, creating one of the most fun gaming experiences we’ve had in a long time.
It Takes Two does something that we haven’t seen in a long while. There is so much creativity, awesome platforming, and various world interactions in the game that we never got bored playing through it all (which was a mission of the director of the game – Josef Fares). It Takes Two is a wholesome co-op game whether you’re playing with your partner or friends, it’s a game that works so well with the focus on teamwork and its charming world.
The story of It Takes Two starts off showing Cody and May talking about their day which leads into an argument. They go on to say why don’t they let their daughter Rose know that they are going to divorce, and it shows Rose holding two dolls that resemble her parents in a cool way. The doll of May has a blue hair bun, circle glasses, the same outfit as May in person (yellow shirt and blue pants), and the doll is wooden. Cody’s doll is made out of clay, has a red shirt and brown pants (same as him in person), a leaf sticking out of his head, and a big nose (and body).
We end up choosing who we want to play as when we see the dolls as well. I chose Cody, while my brother chose May. Cody and May tell Rose they are going their separate ways and Rose leaves to go be by herself with the dolls. Rose wants her parents to be friends forever and has the Book of Love by Dr. Hakim. When she wishes them to work on their love and to be friends again, she unknowingly casts a spell when her tears drop onto the dolls.
Cody and May fall asleep in their real bodies and wake up as the dolls. As if that isn’t enough, they get introduced to Dr. Hakim, where he is the Book of Love. He tells them that the only way for them to be back in their bodies is to fix their love and collaborate together. Throughout the game the levels focus on their issues within the relationship, personal struggles, and rediscovering their passions. The story never gets dull one bit and the characters and worlds we get introduced to leave us wanting more!
The characters in each level we were in were so cool to see. Dr. Hakim was the first of who we see and appears throughout the game to guide Cody and May to find the answers that they were trying to avoid. Each level deals with something or someone they’ve neglected during their marriage together. For example, the first level of the game is dealing with an old vacuum cleaner May and Cody had. They used it so much and never took the time to clean it or see why it wasn’t working. Dr. Hakim brings out the vacuum cleaner to see the ones who caused it harm. It personified and humanized items we wouldn’t really think about because they are tools.
The vacuum cleaner was angry when being told Cody and May were the ones who sucked up all the garbage that they didn’t clean out. Each item they dealt with was a sort of promise that fell out between May and Cody, because there was a recurring theme of May not having enough time and Cody saying he’ll do something but not getting to it. They even got a new vacuum which then made the vacuum they broke fight them, leading to a boss battle.
That is just one of the many characters in this game that has a lot of depth to them. Those characters are also the level itself, having to reach the location where the character is to get to the next area or to figure out how to make friends again. The other characters in the game are either toys given by Cody and/or May to Rose, like her favorite toy Cutie the Elephant/Queen Elephant, or things that need more focus in their lives like Cody’s Garden (which is a nice touch of detail with Cody’s doll hair design).
The gameplay for It Takes Two is so good! The game requires two people to play together and will be split screen throughout the whole time, even if playing online. The movement feels very fluid, and the controls are easy to grasp, especially when getting different abilities/weapons. We played on the PlayStation 5 so our controls were: X to jump, Square to Dash, Triangle to Interact, Circle to Cancel, R1 to Rope Grapple, L2 and R2 for Chapter Abilities, Left Stick to Move your character (press to sprint), and right stick to move the camera (press to find another player). When playing each chapter, both Cody and May get new abilities to use to travel and fight their way to where they have to go. It’s also amazing how you can interact with different kinds of objects and the checkpoints in this game are so forgiving, especially with the funny deaths that can happen.
In It Takes Two, the co-op just works. You can invite your friend and they can join right from the start of the game with no issues. You can choose what stage you want to play on or even play all the minigames you’ve unlocked and there’s a ton. Better yet, It Takes Two is so generous that when you buy a game you can invite any friend and they can join you without even having the game using what they call Friend Pass. They can experience the whole game with you, and if they decide to buy the game, they will unlock trophies and even have their own save file continuing on from where they were playing. You can use Friend Pass and only invite friends if they’re on the same platform as you so Xbox One and Series X, PS4 and PS5, or PC.
Right from the start of the game It Takes Two shows you that the only way to progress is through collaboration. Cody and May have to work together through a series of cool and unique platforming areas with certain items or abilities they’ve obtained from Dr. Hakim. Each equipment you get ties into the world itself in such a unique way, From Cody shooting a honey cannon while May explodes it, or Cody throwing nails to help May cross over certain areas and then crushing everything in her path with a hammer. Every time you bump into Dr. Hakim (even though he’s annoying), you’ll be excited about what new creative ways you’re going to progress to the next area, how it will test your teamwork and see Cody and May’s relationship grow closer.
The combat is fun and fluid. We were surprised to be encountering bosses in this game, it made it exciting, and each boss was different. We had to use the abilities we had on each chapter to defeat the bosses and it was really cool to do. One of our favorite boss fights was against one of Rose’s toys Moon Baboon. There was so much tension and movements we had to do and the fact there were multiple parts to it from facing him while he was in his ship to us chasing him down, made it exciting to continue playing.
The platforming/escape sequences makes the transitions to different areas so smooth and fun! One that always stays on our minds is when we were escaping from a squirrel attack, and it ended up being a boss fight as well (which is another fight that we loved).
It Takes Two is a beautifully polished game we’ve only experienced a few sound bugs where it would disappear and come back real fast. It would just happen at explosive scenes which can be easily fixed, and it isn’t game breaking or bad at all. Other than that, the game ran smoothly at a clean 60fps with no issues. It goes to show when you have this many QA testers nothing can go wrong. Maybe more companies can learn from that.
The graphics in this game is amazing! Walking around in the environments we’re introduced to in the game alone is so beautiful to see. You explore huge trees with a beautiful scenery, interact with stars and rockets that create some dope particle effects, and seeing the amount of detail everything has to it makes you appreciate the work that was done. There hasn’t been one place that didn’t feel like it lost its quality of graphics, even when we were in a place, you’d think would look dull like a vacuum! One of our favorite areas that looked so good that really showed how much effort they put into the graphics was the tree chapter. It was so cool and being able to see how nature was represented in such a way made us appreciate the game even more.
The sound design and music in this game is great. Each area and chapter we were in, the right music would play in the background especially in parts we were exploring in town-like areas. Gliding onto rails sounded great, and every other interaction that was done you heard the impact of it. There were some explosive action scenes too that felt like Michael Bay made it and the sound there was on point too! The most satisfying sound was when we were in the snow location and being able to ice skate. The sound of us ice skating sounded so good and real. Another favorite is when May was rediscovering her passion, and it was all about music and sound. Using May’s voice to traverse the level and do the puzzles was really awesome!
We want to thank the developers of It Takes Two for creating this awesome game. Hazelight Studios did such a great job making a game where it always felt fresh and fun to play. We also want to acknowledge and thank Josef Fares for sharing his vision about this game and following through with his promise that players are going to experience something new, and that the game will blow our minds away!
It Takes Two is definitely a game that should be checked out if you have the means to. It Takes Two is a wholesome co-op game whether you’re playing with your partner or friends it’s a game that will be loved for its emphasis on teamwork and its charming world.