It Takes Two is brilliant. Loved it from start to finish.

We did swap controllers a couple times to get passed a couple things but at least it never got too difficult to become frustrating. I played the earlier game, a Way Out, on my own, handling two controllers. Also very fun, yet you can see how much progress Hazelight made with It Takes Two.

More games like that please!

I would say Astrobot is brought down a peg by not having the option to join in with a second player. Mario is still ahead there. Taking turns / watching is boring!

Finished it (currently at 264~ bots rescued). Great game, even phenomenal at times. Too easy though. Platformers that don't penalize you for failing just lack challenge, you can literally restart from 3 seconds ago, which is like an invincibility cheat. Then again, the low difficulty contributes to its delightfulness!
 
What I hope for in a future Asobi game:

1. Bigger stages, fewer is fine.
2. More spread out checkpoints.
3. 2 or 3 powerups per stage.
4. 1 or 2 extra basic moves.
5. Health system of sorts (maybe something like the three attempts at boss fights).
6. Hard mode with limited lives per stage.

I'm at 298/300, the last 2 are infuriatingly difficult. (cross and a square stage)

Sure the regular levels have good checkpoints, the extra challenges all need to be completed in one go, often not even having a moment to slow down or stop for a breath.

No, no spread out checkpoints. Add an optional hard mode with fewer or no checkpoints for those that like starting over from the beginning each time. Which you can also do yourself, restart if you fall ;)

Anyway I disagree it's too easy. The game annoyed my wife enough that she won't play anymore. That's not how you get people exited for a Astrobot 2. For her there need to be checkpoints in boss fights as well. Sure add a hard mode, also add an easy mode.

The hard part is lack of depth perception with a camera that's often far away. Camera orientation influencing movement only makes it harder. The camera also aligns horizontally it seems. I could not stay on the top of a large rotating cylinder as it was impossible to see where 'down' is until he falls.

For a future game:
- Improved camera with optional zooming.
- Option to have controls relative to the character instead of the camera.
- More game based levels

Most of the game is pretty easy. 

I'd say there are like 3 or 4 levels in particular that offer a pretty decent challenge.  

I'm kind of mixed on the PlayStation themed levels. On the one hand, they make up 3 of my favorite levels in the game, on the other, I think AstroBot Rescue Mission was a better game without relying on any kind of PlayStation references.

Agree with your spoiler, and I think it's the natural direction for the next games in the series, this one was focused on a celebration, but the next ones will have to be focused on something that makes Astro stand for its on from now on.

Sure celebration can and should still be in the game, it's on its roots, but a next game needs to make it more sideline cool stuff and focus more on Astro itself.

IMO the game is perfect for what it was supposed to be tho, it's very likely the most lovely and cheerful game I've played in years, everything attempted was delivered with great success.

Astro Bot is a 10/10, Astro Bot (input sequels numbers or names here) should have their own focus to stand by themselves too.

Giving Astro a bigger moveset should be the priority, IMO.

Although I enjoyed It Takes Two, I felt the controls, tactility lacks the punch & tightness of Astrobot or a typical Mario. There's something very specific about making a mechanic feel great and I feel It Takes Two was incredibly creative in gameplay but many of the mechanics felt a bit limp in isolation. Like the 3rd person shooting portions were novel but didn't actually feel great. There's a holy trinity of VFX, animation and sound design which make every interaction in astrobot pleasurable (not to mention the haptics)

Different gamers have different weaknesses and strengths. I haven't played a platformer in ages and the game was a breeze to me! Some of these symbol levels were somewhat challenging but the only one I had some trouble beating (took me about 25 tries) is Spashing Sprint. And short bursts of challenge is just not enough.

Fewer checkpoints and limited lives would definitely improve the experience for those looking for longer challenges and a sense of risk. I wouldn't mind them being exclusive to hard more as long as it's available form the start and not something you have to unlock after finishing the game.

Camera needs work yes, but the abundance of checkpoints just never made this issue frustrating. I would have felt it more if the game was harder.

Still, an absolute delight of a game that kept me smiling throughout. I let my nieces finish the first couple of galaxies (they could summon me for help, which is like 50% of the time lol).

Yes difficulty levels from the start would make it (even) more enjoyable for everyone. Either with a lives system or fewer check points. It could also add more enemies so it gives you a reason to replay the game at a higher difficulty level.

I'm way beyond 25 tries on Splashing Sprint, I don't think I'll return to the game anymore. That kind of challenge is not fun to me, so it just leaves a bit of sour taste not completing the game fully. There's another one I tried dozens of times, the last cross one. (bottom left) I'm simply not getting better at getting back to where I can't get further. Checkpoint would let me persevere, I simply get frustrated having to do (and fail) at the beginning over and over again.

Hopefully the DLC has some fun levels and not all punishing sprints :/


Agreed, absolute delight of a game. It's only overshadowed by Rescue Mission which had my jaw hurting from smiling too much. I need to dig out all the PSVR1 stuff again some day to replay that.

The game is extremely varied, with a lot of attention to detail. The developers' hard work has paid off.

Also I can't stress enough how great it is that this a "normal" PS2 style budget. A team of under 70, over 3 years. A game of 30m budget is so refreshing when we're hearing of AAA's costing 200-300m

One of the issues I have with Sony and how they treated Japan studios is that there didn't seem to offer much leadership or steering. They had talented teams, but every game felt completely like a ground up experiment without core fundamental quality expectations or adherence. I hope team Asobi is in time able to expand and offer leadership and guidance in terms of creating impactful, delightful experiences and gameplay mechanics for AA type experiences to other inhouse/smaller Japanese studios.

At least it seems in the AAA/GAAS area, Sony is now incorporating more feedback across experienced teams (Bungie giving feedback on TLOU online)