Ibb & Obb (2013)

Ibb and obb is one of those games that didn't immediately click with me. The pacing of the first few levels was quite slow. The levels were rather easy and didn't introduce many fresh ideas that would keep you very engaged. But the more you played, harder the game got. The levels remained structurally simple but the puzzle how to beat them got more and more difficult in terms of skill and the correct order of jumps and movement. This is where it lays the game's geniusness. With very few elements it does a lot. But both players will need to be equally able to perform difficult jump/movement patterns as the game trully requires cooperation and correct timing. For many levels it took us many many attempts. It was quite stressful as you need to complete a whole set of levels before the game saves your progress. Here I think the game could have implemented save feature at each major checkpoint, as the levels require your full brain and motorical skills which is exhausting.

Art styile by itself is not my favourite but i fully appreciate the commitment to the gradiental art direction. Music is also great. My only complaint is that the game should have a bit more dynamic ideas in terms of level design. Levels are great but to keep the common player engaged they would need some more concepts that would keep it fresh. Something like driving a car through obsticales or other kind of coordinated cooperation between two players.

Overall I recommend this game for any duo that seeks good puzzle platforming challenge.

This is very cute and a lot of fun, but after playing other co-op platformers (like Battleblock Theater), this one kind of sucks unless you're really good at platformers.

There are numerous puzzles where the challenging half of the puzzle is required to be completed by one or the other character. So if your platforming skill isn't up to par with your partner's, there will be times when they just have to sit there and watch you die over and over and over and over again. If you're playing online, there's nothing they can do to help you. They can't step into your character's areas, and you can't temporarily switch characters (or pass the controller) for them to bypass the area you're stuck on.

Unlike Battleblock Theater (I'm sorry I'm comparing them, but my experience was so wildly different. BT has been hours of nonstop hilarious fun. Ibb & Obb was fun for a little while and devolved into frustration and ragequitting.), you can't just skip over difficult sections by blowing yourself up and respawning next to your partner, or by letting your partner do the legwork by tossing you/pushing down a block for you to run across, etc. You're required to have the same amount of challenge and skill. So if you don't... then you're just not going to have a good time.

If you are really good at platformers and you have a friend who is also equally good at platformers, and you want a challenge, you'll have fun with this. But if you're looking for a super fun game to play with anyone who isn't a hardcore gamer... :/ This game is going to get frustrating after just a handful of levels.

(Like, somehow it being co-op makes it worse. Because the shared fun experience grinds to a hault, and it's all your fault because you aren't good enough to get past an obstacle. Your friend is, and they're trying to tell you how to do it, but you just... lack the skills. Which is just.. really disheartening when you and a friend are just trying to have some fun.)