I have not been a hard core gamer in the past. I played FPS games like COD, PUBG in the past as starts, but I stopped playing video games up until age of 16 or something. Later on I developed interests in movies, and watched tons of movies over the years. Now after a little tired of Hollywood genres, and after hearing good words about It Takes Two (2021), and also finding a good partner to play this game with, I thought that it would be a good chance to appreciate new 3A games again, from my perspective of half gamer, half movie / story critic. After 22 hrs of playing throughout 1 month, here are my reviews:
I can see that from gameplay perspective, this is really good. So many different games, different gizmos. Hazelight's efforts are highly appreciated. I haven't played games in years, my partner is a 22 yo classmate who never played PC or 3A games in her life. The adventure is intriguing, challenging, and not too intimidating for both of us. Kept us playing all the way till the end.
However, from writing and script perspective, I have to say that this is not even close to the mediocre Hollywood stories: too fast of an ending. All the characters and hype that have been introduced and built up through the story aren't addressed at all, and we don't even get to see whether the family will remain together or not. I could speculate COVID plays a vital role, also I should not ignore the great accomplishment of managing such a big gameplay scope, but as a movie lover, and because the finess of the story up until the last bit have really kept my expectations so high for the finale. I couldn't help but feeling unsatisfied after the ending.
Wish that in the future, gameplay and storytelling could be integrated better in another generation of 3A games. For now, I would just have to remain conservative towards game stories' levels. After all, they are games, not movies. The cooperation between partners and fun are more appreciated over mere stories.
However, from writing and script perspective, I have to say that this is not even close to the mediocre Hollywood stories: too fast of an ending. All the characters and hype that have been introduced and built up through the story aren't addressed at all, and we don't even get to see whether the family will remain together or not. I could speculate COVID plays a vital role, also I should not ignore the great accomplishment of managing such a big gameplay scope, but as a movie lover, and because the finess of the story up until the last bit have really kept my expectations so high for the finale. I couldn't help but feeling unsatisfied after the ending.
Wish that in the future, gameplay and storytelling could be integrated better in another generation of 3A games. For now, I would just have to remain conservative towards game stories' levels. After all, they are games, not movies. The cooperation between partners and fun are more appreciated over mere stories.