It's tough to say about a game that has had so much praise heaped on it but I genuinely really did not like It Takes Two. It started off pretty good in the first section with the nails and hammer- the puzzles were building upon the concept as you get more nails and it culminated in a good boss fight. But the game takes a nose dive in the sections after that. Each one feels like a cheap ripoff of the most basic mechanics of another game, except none of the mechanics actually evolve or go anywhere they just end after an hour or two. Ratchet and Clank ripoff section where you fight really similar enemies that drags on for what feels like a really long time and has blatant padding in the form of a pointless boat section and really easy bosses. Mario Galaxy ripoff section that also has too much padding without introducing anything new during it or using the powerups in creative ways, minus a basic connect the lightning rods part that isn't exactly peak original game design anyways. I could go on and on but the point is the game rarely felt anything other than derivative which made it especially boring to play if you have touched literally any 3d Mario. Story wasn't anything special even though it was passable. They just kinda go from divorce to okay we like each other I guess and it feels pretty off from the conflict at the beginning about May working too much and Cody not understanding her. Also the game had a fair amount of bugs and some weird detection on some jumps and platforms, not horrible but definitely there. If I could give it anything I'd say that the co-op puzzles definitely have some highlights and are competent for the most part even if a lot are really simple (leading to the padding and sheer amount of puzzles that are very similar).

I really want to see Josef Fares make a game rich with mechanics and at least passable story-wise which would allow his best trait, a strong cinematic feel, to really shine through but It Takes Two does not deliver for me. I don't think the split screen gimmick works well enough to carry what is just a pretty boring and a little too inspired game.