Shady's Fox
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2017
- Messages
- 19,145
2021 was not a great year for gaming. Between the sexual abuse allegations, the constant pressure of crunch and a lot of games pushed back to 2022, the year’s best titles were sporadically dotted across the 12 months.
When it comes to It Takes Two – which scooped up the Game of the Year award for 2021 – this unique co-op adventure boasts varied gameplay, some beautifully crafted puzzles… and a terrible narrative. That’s particularly frustrating too because for half of its 15 hour run-time, It Takes Two is a nigh-on perfect game.
The level design for these early moments are exquisitely designed, with a natural flow from one area to the next. The gameplay mechanics are slick, inventive and really quite impressive crafted. Much like A Way Out, the aim of the game here is teamwork and that’s echoed through many of the resonate themes the game plays with. It’s also an exclusively co-op game, so there’s no chance of you flying solo on this one.
Aesthetically, It Takes Two looks amazing. The game is full of gorgeous lighting, shadow work, a great use of colour and some dazzling visual effects. This is undeniably one good looking game. The different textures look so realistic and this works alongside the gameplay, which is varied and well-designed for the most part. Although to be fair the game does feel about 2 or 3 hours too long.
Breaking everything up along the way are a number of different minigames (25 to be precise) which you can play with your partner and compete for the high score. These too are also varied, and whether it be a snail race across the garden or a good old fashioned snowball fight, It Takes Two tries to add as many different fun inclusions as possible to keep the game from growing stale.
It’s such a shame then that the narrative fails as badly as it does because when it comes to gameplay, most of It Takes Two is brilliantly designed. Much like The Last Of Us Part 2, this is going to be a narrative that divides many people. Unlike TLOU2, the mature themes here are tackled immaturely, with a weird tinted veil that completely brushes over the complexities of the issues being discussed.
Gameplay-wise, this title is a blast to play through. Narratively though? This one’s a clanger.
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I think gaming promoting social interactions is more than what is needed nowadays with this oblivion digital world we all get dragged in, more so like Death Stranding it promotes social interactions by small obstacles such as purely level design, hidden meaning for people who deserve. I never played it but think I will with my wife or maybe a comrade of mine, who knows.