It Takes Two
Developer Hazelight
Publisher Electronic Arts
Format PC (tested), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series
Release Out now
Towards the end of Hazelight’s latest, we find ourselves wondering if Josef Fares considered an alternative tagline: divorce has never been so much fun. The tale of unhappily married couple Cody and May, transmuted into doll form by despairing daughter Rose as they’re about to separate, this delightfully silly splitscreen co-op adventure is ostensibly a romantic comedy about reconciliation. The throwaway plot, however, is little more than an excuse to take our two protagonists through a succession of fantastical setpieces set around their household (much scarier at this scale) or loosely themed on heavy-handed relationship metaphors. Which means, somehow, we end up sliding down a twisting, luridly coloured track –a rainbow road, if you will – that looks awfully familiar, down to the Lakitu-like way you’re fetched back up when you fall off. Yet this cheeky homage is a fitting one: perhaps the biggest compliment we can pay It Takes Two is that it’s every bit as overstuffed with ideas and visual invention as a typical Nintendo EPD game.