It Takes Two, Legacy Bowl

  It Takes Two(Xbox Series X)

• The game is about a family that is at the point of divorce and the effects it has on their daughter. She finds a magic book and unknowingly turns her parents into dolls that sets them on a quest to return to their normal bodies and maybe rekindle their love on the way.
• From that description you are probably not excited or interested in this game and you would miss out on the best game of the year.  
• It's co-op only so you will need a partner on the journey, but only one person has to buy the game, the other person can play for free by downloading the friend's pass version. My only gripe is that the game is not cross-platform compatible. 
• I've played the developer's previous games, Brothers and A Way Out, which were both great games, but this game is just on another level. 
• The game starts off a bit slow as it sets up the story, but once the gameplay begins it's a thrill ride for the next 16 hours. 
• The world is like the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movies or the new grounded game where you get to experience it from a different perspective.  I was amazed at the number of levels in the game and each one was unique  and the amount of creativity felt like you were playing multiple games.
• Since it's co-op each character has different abilities that you need to combine to traverse the environment, solve puzzles, and succeed in combat.  Each level you receive different abilities so you are constantly doing something different and the game never becomes stale. 
• There are mini-games to find in the world which pit you and your partner against each other for really no other reason than bragging rights, but each time we found one we were compelled to play to win.  
• The combat encounters are awesome, especially the boss fights which leads me to another discussion about the story. 
• The story is about divorce which itself is a bit depressing, but this game gets dark, really dark.  During some of the boss fights we were laughing hysterically because what we were doing was so horrific that it was the only way to cope with what we were forced to do.  I still have nightmares....

Legacy Bowl(Steam)

• I subscribed to the EA game service for one year so I got to play the new Madden game on PC and just like always, I was kind of meh.
• It looks good, but not much has changed in the gameplay department and I'm not interested in buying packs of ultimate team cards which I think is the main issue with the stagnation of Madden. 
• I saw a review for this new football game and decided to give it a try and it's great and it has features Madden still doesn't have.  Can you believe it has Refs on the field??
• It's basically a reboot of Tecmo bowl with better AI and actual strategy. It's not licensed by the NFL, but on the game's discord channel you can download a mod that adds the NFL to the game so you'll have all the teams and players. 
• The play calling screen feels like Madden with tons of plays for offense and defense with an ask the coach option as well.  
• Since it's sprite based the game is quick and responsive.  Passing, running, and playing defense all feels good. Kicking is a bit tricky with the quick moving meter that caused me to miss a couple of kicks but everything just feels right.  
• The AI is good. The first couple of games I lost by 3 points each with both me and the CPU having realistic stats.  
• The game is missing a Franchise mode which is a bit of a bummer but you can play a full season which is still fun.  
• The game was in early access for awhile and just fully released a couple of weeks ago on PC so now that more people are playing there have been more feedback so there have been a couple of patches that have made the game even better.
• If you get the football itch and have a PC give this game a try for $20 you won't be disappointed.