He shows up about once a level to hint at where Cody and May should head next. Hakim, an anthropomorphic relationship advice book guiding the pair to reconciliation.

The game's biggest problem, meanwhile, is Dr. I never got the sense that they were fundamentally incompatible as a couple, just that they had forgotten why they fell in love. There's certainly a naivety to the idea that forcing a couple to spend time together will make them like each other again, but it worked for me here because the problems in May and Cody's relationship do seem to stem primarily from a lack of time and attention. There's warmth here, even when they're bickering. Their rapport helps sell the conceit that this is a couple that love(d?) each other deeply, but just haven't made time to prioritize each other.

This is some of the most natural-sounding small talk I've ever heard in a game. The dialogue is often corny, but the voice performances from the two leads is impressively casual. That story is carried by Cody and May, who have a believably real relationship despite the cartoonish premise. Their quest to return to their bodies takes them on a journey of personal growth, a story that mostly succeeds. She cries, and when the tears land on the dolls, the ill-defined kind of magic that animates movies like Freaky Friday and 17 Again springs into action, transforming the flesh and blood May and Cody into their doll doppelgangers. She goes to her room, where she pulls out a pair of dolls: one made of clay, which looks like Cody, and one carved from wood, which resembles May. As the game begins, they sit their preteen daughter Rose down at the kitchen table to tell her they're getting a divorce. When they are together, they can't stop fighting. May and Cody are a 30-something couple who just can't seem to find the time to spend with each other.

It Takes Two is the most creative 3D platformer I've played in years, but it builds on well-trod family comedy territory, with a story that marries elements of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids! and The Parent Trap. It's astoundingly good and the rest of the game maintains a consistently high bar of quality. This level introduces a new tool for each character to use, doles out a wide variety of tasks for you to accomplish with those tools, and then puts it all together in a wildly creative boss battle that forces you to work together to succeed. Like developer Hazelight's previous game, A Way Out, It Takes Two can only be played in co-op, online or local, and success requires teamwork. This whole arc is a virtuosic showcase of what this game does so well. As the fight proceeds, the toolbox shoots nails into the air which hurtle down at the plywood platform, a platform which gradually shrinks as the toolbox uses a handsaw to whittle it down to a nub with strategic cuts. To deal any damage, Cody has to pin its long, wooden limb to a wall with his three nails, allowing May to swing over and smack its tinny body. It can swing at them with bolted on plywood arms, which the duo needs to dodge. Cody and May stand on a plywood platform, facing off against the toolbox. The boss fight that closes this level uses those abilities in concert. Eventually, he gets three nails to throw instead of one, leading to some excitingly frantic platforming. Cody can nail moving platforms in place May can hop onto those platforms, or wall jump between vertical surfaces that Cody can position via strategic nail shots.

Cody can shoot nails into wooden surfaces May can use the hammer to swing on those nails. In the level leading up to this, co-op protagonists Cody and May learn to chuck nails and wield a hammer head, respectively. It's one of the best boss battles I've ever played. In It Takes Two, you fight the kind of common, red toolbox that might be sitting in your garage, or your parents' garage.

It takes two playstation