We often praise works on their ability to tie all of its ideias together smoothly, in games this usually comes by creating systems that feed into each other and evolve without contradicting the intended message. And although It Takes Two never loses sight of its main themes, it wastes no time with pretensions of finesse. Much like its passionate game director's public persona, the game never holds back and wholeheartedly commits to every creative impulse. Josef Fares wants to eat everybody's lunch, from Nintendo's brand of colorful worlds to Sony's prestige games and everything in between.

It is immensely entertaining to discover and explore new worlds and play with completely new abilities at every level, even if that means a decrease in overall complexity. The stages are always aesthetically different — mostly somewhat whimsical in tone, but you sporadically come across some darker imagery that makes it feel reminiscent of N64 era platformers trying to go where they know Nintendo never could; in this case being a clear, and successful, attempt of getting reactions from the players, turning the moment into something funny instead of edgy — and great to move around and find the little "secret" interactions they brought back from A Way Out (the best part of that game). Most of the mechanics show a surprising amount of substance, escalating nicely throughout the level and often resulting in pretty cool bosses, while never feeling janky.

Narratively it is rather familiar and maybe too naive, with an ending that falls a little flat by putting all the emotional weight on sides of the characters that were not initially introduced as important parts of their characterization. But the game does have its fair share of affecting moments, all of which are elevated by the excellent animation work shown on the toy models, even if it’s a little less flattering on the humans ones.

So, I guess I won't be taking those thousand bucks from you this time, Josef.