Name: It Takes Two
Creator: Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts
Platform: Play Station
Target audience: Not specified. Some online reviews mentioned they played with their 7 year olds. I think its definitely fine with PG13, however, I am unclear if kids can play it given the game covers a mature topic of divorce.
How do the mechanics of the puzzle(s) influence the experience of the game?
The game has an interesting narrative covering topics around love, friendship, marriage, divorce and its consequent impact on the child.
As a player, the fun arises as follows: i. challenge, ii. fellowship, iii. narrative
Since the game has a lot of puzzles to solve which involve use of strategy it gives a feeling of satisfaction on figuring it out. Similarly, some checkpoints need skill in terms of being able to control the player further giving rise to the feeling of being challenged.
For example, in the above image we see the player has to fight this enemy which is a vacuum cleaner here. In this particular battle, the player has to figure out how to use the given tools which they have to defeat the vacuum cleaner. Once, the player figures out a strategy, they need to be able to execute it successfully which requires further trials.
There is a sense of fellowship, since the different checkpoints can only be completed when both the players cooperate with one another. This is accomplished by giving disjoint capabilities to each player, thereby requiring both the players to contribute in order to move past the checkpoint. Referring to the same example above, each player has a different tool to fight the vacuum cleaner, and only when the two players use their tools in coordination are they able to defeat the enemy.
As a designer, the goal is to make the game fun while conveying an important life lesson. Since the topic is around family and home, it makes sense to choose a setting of an apartment with a normal family. To not digress the player from the message, the design choices play an important role. Hence, the idea of using puzzles and embedding them into the narrative of a family’s setting is an important one.
Since the idea to emphasize and re-emphasize on the same point of love requiring work and coordination between two entities, the choice of using puzzles is interesting. It adds to variety while playing the game, thereby not boring the player with the same theme everytime. While the underlying lesson and them remains unchanged, the face of it changes and provides a fresh experience each time the player plays.
To conclude, puzzles are an interesting way to add challenge and variety to a game especially when the game is around a topic which itself may not be as interesting to play with.
