This review contains spoilers
I am endlessly impressed by what Hazelight was able to do here. A game that changes its form every couple of hours is a game development miracle. The resource investment to make a five minute Street Fighter segment where you square off against the general of the squirrel army on the top of a plane made of underwear is unimaginable, but the game has a dozen or more moments like that. It is a real damn achievement in game design that Hazelight was able to pull this all together into a coherent final product. This all said, It Takes Two just didn’t connect with me like it did for so many others.
It is just a matter of pacing. The game feels much longer than it actually is. Just when you think you are finally about to turn a corner, Dr. Hakim shows up to throw a wrench in the gears. Each time you are really getting a handle on the new mechanic--it’s been taken to be replaced by the next thing. Still at the same time each area feels stretched to its absolute limits. Rose’s Room alone is a multi-part slog that sees you start in a pillow fort, go to “outer-space”, fight moon baboon, go through a lengthy platforming section, fix a train station, solve a dinosaur puzzle, become pirates, fight a giant octopus, put on a circus performance, explore a magic kingdom, dungeon crawl, beat chess, win at the claw machine, and then brutally murder Queen Cutie III as she begs for her life. It is excessive and by the time you have finished this chapter you have more than half the game left to play.
Solely cooperative experiences like this are a rarity, and this stands as one of the better games in that very small market. It is a really fantastic game, but it is the definition of too much of a good thing. I can’t recall how many unique locations, boss fights, abilities, or characters there were by the end of the game, but it was in the end still a good time. By pitting two opposing forces together and making them figure their shit out it gets played hooked and keeps them going. So, in spite of the pacing issues over the course of the fourteen or so hours it took to roll credits it was (mostly) a good time.
It is just a matter of pacing. The game feels much longer than it actually is. Just when you think you are finally about to turn a corner, Dr. Hakim shows up to throw a wrench in the gears. Each time you are really getting a handle on the new mechanic--it’s been taken to be replaced by the next thing. Still at the same time each area feels stretched to its absolute limits. Rose’s Room alone is a multi-part slog that sees you start in a pillow fort, go to “outer-space”, fight moon baboon, go through a lengthy platforming section, fix a train station, solve a dinosaur puzzle, become pirates, fight a giant octopus, put on a circus performance, explore a magic kingdom, dungeon crawl, beat chess, win at the claw machine, and then brutally murder Queen Cutie III as she begs for her life. It is excessive and by the time you have finished this chapter you have more than half the game left to play.
Solely cooperative experiences like this are a rarity, and this stands as one of the better games in that very small market. It is a really fantastic game, but it is the definition of too much of a good thing. I can’t recall how many unique locations, boss fights, abilities, or characters there were by the end of the game, but it was in the end still a good time. By pitting two opposing forces together and making them figure their shit out it gets played hooked and keeps them going. So, in spite of the pacing issues over the course of the fourteen or so hours it took to roll credits it was (mostly) a good time.