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Preview: It Takes Two is the most co-operative co-op game I’ve ever playedTurns out the title is incredibly accurate

Turns out the title is incredibly accurate

May and Cory face down a sentient vacuum cleaner boss in It Takes Two. The vac has big staring round eyes and a round gaping mouth.

Here’s something I wasn’t expecting:It Takes Twois pretty difficult. I didn’t think it was going to be a piece of the proverbial, exactly, but considering that Hazelight Studios' last co-op game, the gritty two-lads-escaping-prison split-screen adventureA Way Outwasn’t all that challenging in the end because both players were able to act pretty independently, I assumed It Takes Two would follow in a similar vein. This is not the case.

It Takes Two Gameplay and Impressions | It Takes Two Is A True Co-op GameWatch on YouTube

It Takes Two Gameplay and Impressions | It Takes Two Is A True Co-op Game

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Josef Fares, game director and he of the sweary soundbite about the Oscars, isn’t trying to sell it as an easy game to play with a non-gamer pal, though. When asked in a Q&A if the game was suitable to play with someone who has no real experience with games, he said that if your partner isn’t used to controlling a third-person camera with a thumbstick, it might be a tough one. “I believe it could work, but it would be some challenge,” he said. “Try it out! You’ll have fun, anyway.”

A split screen boss fight in It Takes Too, against a giant robotic wasp queen. On the right side, Cody is firing yellow blobs of nectar at a swarm of wasps. On the right side, May is aiming a match and preparing to fire to ignite the nectar.

Cody and May in It Takes Two are running around in split screen, looking at some giant circuit boards, old fuses and wiring, because they are now teeny tiny.

You start off with the usual if rather unimaginative co-op fare of jumping on things at the same time to further your progress (prompting familiar conversations with your partner along the lines of, “One, two, three, g- you went early! No, when you say ‘go on three’ it means on the beatafterthree."), but It Takes Two quickly ramps up the complexity of its interactions. In fact, you could say it really takes its title to heart, as there’s not much you can do at all in the game unless you do it together. Cody and May have their own unique abilities for each section of the game, you see, and each one dovetails beautifully with the other. In the second level, for example, which sees you navigating the mostly-hollowed out inside of a tree and fighting a swarm of wasps, Cody has a portable pump that sprays out sticky nectar, and May has a match launcher to ignite it. You need both to take out the wasp, see?

Some co-op platforming in It Takes Two. On the top half of the screen, May is waiting to time her jump onto a moving saw platform in a workshop. On the bottom half, Cody is aiming to throw a nail at the platform and pin it in place for May.

AND WHY ARE HIS EYES SO HUMAN?

Hakim the Book Of Love from It Takes Two, a read leatherbound book with arms and legs made of strips of paper. Hakim has human eyes and teeth and eyebrows and a moustache made from bright purple strips of paper or fabric.

It Takes Two could still do with some polish to the plot, though. Some of the framing for the life lessons Cody and May live through is pretty on the nose, to the point that I’d be surprised if, in the full game, May doesn’t just yell “Jeepers, Cody, your imaginative daydreaming and my non-nonsense practicality are really putting us at odds here!”. I also judge Hakim, the sentient therapy book guiding the couple, to be incredibly weird, and kept muttering, “Why are his eyebrows sopurple?” to myself whenever he was on screen.

On the whole, though, it was really fun, and I’m looking forward to the full release. That said, I can’t really imagine playing It Takes Two with someone I don’t know very well. It’s the most co-operative co-op game I’ve ever played; Colm and I were communicating the entire time, and I don’t think you could get away with playing this off-mic if you weren’t in the same room. It’d either be a good idea or a catastrophically terrible one to play it with your partner if you were annoyed with each other - but hey, you know your own relationship, I’m not here to judge anyone. Apart from the sentient book with purple eyebrows. I’m watching you, Hakim.