Preamble: Before starting the test of a game in its own right, I wanted to thank the charming Eupsylone who helped me to carry out this test of a game completely in co-op. I make you huge kisses and thank you again for not having hammered me too much on the ground. ^^
It Takes Two, second game from Hazelight Studios, responsible for A Way Out, a cooperative game which I couldn't play but which features two prisoners who will have to work together to escape from prison (Onidra previewed ). For their second title, exit prison escapes to refocus on the turbulent family life of Rose, a young child whose parents argue constantly to the point of wanting a divorce. By some magical means, the little girl's tears will imprison the souls of her parents, May and Cody, in two very small dolls that the child has made respectively out of wood and clay.
Cody and May, then imprisoned in these bodies, will have to find the way to their release out of these effigies, under the leadership of the very eccentric Dr. Hakim, a book on romantic relationships, whose sole purpose will be to try to repair the relationship. between the two parents, sometimes poetically, sometimes more radically, but always in a funny way.
As indicated in the intro, the game is entirely cooperative both locally and online. In both cases, your screen will be split in two: the left of the screen will be centered on the player playing May, while the right part will have the focus on Cody. And good news, you can play with only one copy of the game, even online, thanks to a friend pass system (see box).
Players therefore find themselves caught up in a world where everything is gigantic and where collaboration is essential to progress. Because you see, over their wanderings, May and Cody will be granted different abilities that will only last for the space of the "level". In one of the first chapters, for example, May will find the head of a hammer which will allow her, among other things, to cling to nails which will be controlled by Cody. But you can do other things with these tools like hammer Cody halfway into the ground or impale May with the nails. It doesn't advance the story, but it's the kind of fun interactions that will accompany players through each chapter.
Pass Ami
Coop Oblige, It Takes Two requires 2 players at all times. But rather than forcing both players to buy the game, a single copy is enough. The second player will only have to download the specific client (which also allows you to play the first level for free, even if the second player does not have the game) and allow himself to be invited. A refreshing initiative that deserves to be more widespread.
Regarding the story, we are dealing with a classic "Honey, I shrunk the kids" where it is the parents who have been shrunk and the background of the couple who no longer gets along. But although it's a classic situation, the execution in It Takes Two is masterful!
The game is constantly renewing its gameplay by frequently offering new abilities that will replace the previous ones and, with these new abilities, new mechanics, situations, interactions and ways to progress. There are many games that offer to renew one's abilities, but here everything is satisfactory. We are not frustrated not to be able to use it because the levels have been designed around these skills, allowing May and Cody to take full advantage of these skills in situations as diverse as they are varied. It's very simple, we sometimes even wonder what drugs the developers used during the creation of the game (you will understand when you fight a giant vacuum cleaner or a large clock as a boss), we constantly find ourselves faced with new situations, new ways to use your abilities in a very often ingenious way and to troll your partner with a perfectly mastered rhythm and staging so that the game offers new abilities and situations before the previous ones start to fall in routine. Complicity and fun are the watchwords of the game and it works wonderfully.
The levels are them in the field of surrealism often delirious with the gold palm for all the chapter related to the tree, which I let you discover by yourself. Humor is omnipresent and emotion too. Indeed, the players will see the relationship between the protagonists evolve, but certain situations may awaken all your emotions. Be it laughter, amazement, sadness and many more, the game tries to play with the player. Not necessarily brilliantly according to Eupsylone if we compare it to A Way Out, the studio's previous game, and I agree with it on a part of the emotional which is quite redundant and classic and would have deserved a little more originality. The palm of the emotional going to the very very heavy scene with Queen Cutie which should delight sadists with sociopathic tendencies.
Technically, the game is clean and the level design, neat, is renewed to perfectly match the abilities, but also to offer competitive mini games (25 in all) and at the right time in history, as well as activities completely useless except for fun.
Co-op is mastered over the dozen hours of play. A little less time will be needed to complete the story if you don't have the soul of an explorer (and therefore miss out on many achievements /trophies). But to claim to have really made the game, you will have to finish it twice: once with each character, so much the abilities of each of them are complementary and offer a different gaming experience.
I could procrastinate for hours and hours on It Takes Two, but the best thing is to play it, it's so good and varied. And it's a guy rarely satisfied at the moment who tells you!
- Xbox One (version testée) / Series X|S
- PlayStation 4 and 5
- Steam
