Console Corner: Review of It Takes Two

I still recall being twelve years old, my best friend sitting beside me, and Contra in the Nintendo as we made run after run trying to beat the game together. Two controllers, a two-player game, and two times the fun. These days, however, that local cooperative video game experience of blasting baddies or solving puzzles is a minority. Perhaps indirect commentary on the state of society, I don’t’ know, but I do know that when I see titles like Hazelight’s It Takes Two (2021) pop up on my radar, I snap them up immediately.

Everything in the title, It Takes Two is an offline (or online) cooperative game for two players. A nice balance of puzzle platformer and action, players take on the role of a husband and wife who must work together to get back into their real bodies. Something like Honey I Shrunk the Kids, the parents find themselves in a variety of surreal places, needing to use their brains and twitchy fingers to jump, grab, and swing their way to victory. Unlike Contra, however, which was possible to be played single and two-player, It Takes Two can only be played two-player.

And that is truly the basis of the game. Time after time after time the players encounter puzzles and situations that can only be resolved through cooperation. And there are a variety of clever and innovative ways this manifests itself—too many, it may occasionally feel. One player has the fuel, the other the match. One player the + of a magnet, the other the –. One player controls time, the other cloning. One the hammer, the other the nail. So many different ways two players complement one another, and this is not to mention the numerous flying/rolling/driving scenarios in which vehicles of various abstract types require collaborative piloting. And still on top of this there are several fun boss fights that put into action all of the skills players have learned that level.

Scattered throughout It Takes Two are mini-games and side content that is not puzzle-platforming. But it is action. Intended to spark the competitive spirit between the two players, players can put aside their cooperative feelings in favor of competitive ones. There are targeting games, shooting games, and several other varieties of head-to-head fun. One of the early examples is a kind of whack-a-mole, with one person playing the mole, and the other person doing the whacking. Innocent fun, it gets players competitive juices flowing, juices which fuel the cooperative mindset when they return to the main game. These mini-games imbue It Takes Two with a feeling of comradery that I assume soldiers feel. We play cards and checkers against one another in downtime and have fun, but when the battle starts we’re all on the same team and striving for the same purpose. I can’t praise this aspect of the game enough.

The theme of It Takes Two is parents looking to repair their broken marriage. Divorce not an easy subject for kids (either), there may be parents concerned about buying the game. Fear not, while divorce is openly discussed, the prime focus of the game is ways of building connection. While game mechanisms reinforce this by forcing players to cooperate, there is a comedic aside throughout the game talking about love. While not all players will appreciate the comedy, it does keep the mood light.

If I had to be critical of the game, it's difficult. What I can do is point out criticisms some people may be want to make, though I personally disagree. The difficulty level never really changes. Each chapter/level has its own ups and downs of difficulty, but the final chapter is not more or less difficult than the first. Second might be length. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and It Takes Two may test certain players limits on that. The game is (appropriately) a smorgasbord of imagination, so much so it may feel overwhelming if delved into for too long a period. And lastly is the difficulty for smaller children. While the game is intended to be family friendly, the thumbs of young gamers may not have the speed and accuracy needed to succeed. Again, those may be others' concerns, but certainly not ours.

In the end, It Takes Two is a wonderfully, wonderfully fun game. Made with pure passion, it is the joy of video games in a box. Getting back to the innocence of offline two player games while taking advantage of the technical possibilities of modern consoles, it provides hours of cooperative fun. The puzzles clever, the settings cartoony but not cheesy, and the story complementing gameplay, it comes highly recommended for families or friends who just want to sit down, relax, and truly have fun with the person sitting beside you. It begs you to grab your significant other and have a laugh, many high-fives, and maybe a kiss. With Brothers, A Way Out, and It Takes Two, Hazelight Studios seem like one of the few game makers on the market today who truly want to bring people together via the medium. Well done. I can't wait to see what they do next.