It Takes Two

Quite possibly the most co-operative co-op game ever made, this is a relentlessly inventive multiplayer that everyone should try

Hazelight Studios made a pretty big splash with its first game, the story-led co-op adventure A Way Out, but its follow-up takes two-player gaming to heights we’ve never seen before. You and your partner (both couch co-op and online split-screen are supported) play as May and Cody, a couple soon to be divorced – that is, until they’re transformed into their daughter’s dolls and forced to work together to return to human form.

Honestly, we’re not hugely keen on the tonally inconsistent story, with its simplistic take on a very complex issue. May and Cody bicker and banter away at every opportunity but it feels a bit forced, and the supporting cast is a mixed bag. A talking military squirrel? Fine, but we wish it had more screen time than the almost impressively annoying Dr Hakim, a living book that awards you with new abilities as you progress.

A playable Pixar film this is not, then. But everything else about

It Takes Two is completely brilliant, from its endlessly varied gameplay and expert weaving of new mechanics into the platforming action, to the many ways it tests your individual gaming knowhow and teamwork skills.

This quest takes in a host of different environments, from a predictably hazard-strewn workshop to a garden and then inside one of its trees. Each new chapter tends to introduce a gameplay twist or gadget to play with, and the experience often differs depending on who you’re playing as. One character might wield a flammable-honey-firing bazooka, for example (just go with it), while the other’s weapon holds the matches that make it go kaboom.

In a particularly thrilling section, Cody pilots a plane while May is thrown into a Street Fighter-esque 2D game. There are competitive mini-games dotted around the levels too, so it’s not all about teamwork. It Takes Two never runs out of ideas, and if you can find a willing partner there’s no more enjoyable co-op game out there. Matt Tate

Dr Hakim, the most irritating piece of stationery since Office Assistant.

You get to do really stupid stuff, like wasting your time playing videogames.