- Tested on PC via XFX 7900 XTX and LG OLED65B9 TV from the BennJ Sieur
- Code transmitted by the publisher
- Screenshots editor and drawn from the Steam community.
- Main adventure completed in 15 hours.
- No technical concerns to report.
Split Fiction places the players in the skin of two writers whom everything opposes, Mio and Zoe, imprisoned within the fictional universes that they imagined in their books. Third game of Swedish Hazelight Studios, this new contender as the best couch-coop game of the year has finally come out. The title is in line with the critical and commercial success ofIt takes two (read our critical) awarded at the Game Awards 2021 and sold to more than 23 million copies since. With such a journey since the great escape A Way Out, could Josef Fares really do better with Split Fiction ?
Total Recall
In retrospect, It takes two had been able to check all the boxes in the game that overturned the table. Careful narration, calibrated humour and gameplay with small onions... there is no shortage of praise when we evoke our memories of this crazy adventure, where two parents, May and Cody, had to work together for the best and the worst. Exit the rag dolls, this time Hazelight Studios opts for a more « realistic » (the quotation marks are in order). Our two Mio and Zoe heroines offer a design all that is more standard and smooth. No jealous, everyone knows right away who will be the relous character of the game from the title screen. Where the arguments ofIt takes two The formula here is a little more artificial and the replicas less incisive. Too bad because there was more madness. Together, they will have to face this multinational ready to do anything to suck the creative ideas of its novelists. We're close to talking about the word IA; the subtext of a Silicon Valley without any compass other than the most complete exploitation is clear.
After a brief encounter in the elevator of this futuristic building that Tony Stark would not deny, we immediately understand that the two women are not on the same wavelength. The blonde, Zoe, has everything of the creepy character, like those Disney groupies that sing « Released, Issued » Every Friday night after a hard week at the office. One will suffer in silence in the face of his cul-ass remarks the praloche and this unfortunate tendency to comment on everything that happens on screen. We're far from Atreus but we'll regret that the game doesn't let the player live his emotions for himself. It's a common pitfall and school case of modern video game that helps to reinforce the playful dissonance between what the characters in ecstasy tell and what the player lives on his couch. If we are unnecessarily praised, warned of a danger that comes and that in reality nothing is done to avoid it or that the whole is scripted, it gives the impression of being blurred. It's kind of as if our participation in the game was deprecated, or even totally useless. On this point the introduction abuses this process which gangnes an ever wider part of the media.
Mio, on the other hand, is more adventurous with one side a bit badass. His dystopic world joins all popular imagery of SF Blade Runner to Gunnm passing through Akira. We open gates with bombs, we run from drones on motorcycles and we dodge lasers with the elegance of Tom in his crazy youth of MI6 agent. As for Zoe, we bathe in a more classic fantasy and its levels are clearly the least inspired, at the beginning at least with a potpourri between The keepers of the galaxy, Dragons, Lord of the Rings and even Game of Thrones. And it is probably on this point that Split Fiction Dismisses the most. The introduction goes as quickly as possible as if it were necessary to keep the duo awake, even to make him more spectator than player. No matter if the interactions are teleguided, no matter what happens to the syndrome Uncharted from the permanent fall, between a few wall jumps over here and two three pirouettes to the grapple.
The thing is, we don't have time to believe in this capillotracted plot of dream machines, or this false adversity. Good old Dr. Hakim, « book of love » dIt takes two how to put the atmosphere and link these universes, while with Split Fiction We jump without time dead in a melting pot from SF to fantasy and vice versa. The game does not really offer charismatic secondary characters. Realistic universes forced, the levels are a little less baroque than those ofIt takes two Moreover.
Can we replicate a masterpiece?
Where It takes two constantly renewed with single-use gameplay ideas, Split Fiction is more academic during the first third of the adventure. The first levels of fantasy where one controls a spitpy copy of Groot and an old blue monkey sauce Monsters and Co. lack of panache (and identity) compared to what the developers had proposed in the past. The first gameplay proposals are poor and with too artificial complementarity, the level design is rather flat between a platform-simulator and a platform-simulator. Killers Creed Remote control.
At this stage of reading where the defects are stacking up, you must certainly wonder if I am talking about the successor to GOTY 2021. Well, yes! To be honest, the beginning of the adventure was even laborious, or even rebarbatory, which translated into short game sessions, unlike the It takes two who would embark us on each level in a whole other playful universe. With my faithful game partner Benoist, we were waiting for one thing: to dive back into Mio's SF to unfurl robots. This plan of the beginning disappears gradually and it is fortunate to say that Split Fiction continues to improve as adventure unfolds. The progression is even exponential before a last third finally released from the codes.
Passed enraged from the beginning in front of the mimics and permanent comments of Zoe, one ends up having fun and (almost) attached to the characters. The word almost is essential here... Split Fiction advances hard themes such as mourning and guilt, trauma and overcoming it. Nevertheless the writing is quickly caught up in his lack of finesse. We're reconnecting with the tiesA Way Out and his two brothers broke arms. If It takes Two was not necessarily a masterpiece on this point, the side Toy Story Facilitated adherence to history carried by a rare thread: divorce and indelible traces inflicted on families. One would sincerely like to attach to the stories of Zoe and Mio but the formula is unfortunately sent by a staging without real breath.
... And I live like a creepy ball rolling
However, it would be wrong to say that Split Fiction is a mediocre game as might suggest his introduction. It certainly suffers from a bankal beginning but it only improves on the length. Have different teams worked on certain tracks or levels to have such differences? Still, Split Fiction knows how to offer brilliant sequences that reconnect with the talent ofIt takes two; Some passages may even go further during a spectacular final that will grab your jaw by its insolence.
The title of the game then makes sense and Hazelight Studios manages to rethink the logic of the split screen that we knew so far. The bar that divides the screen is more fixed, it can move or rotate like the hands of a watch, Mio and Zoe can switch either side of the split screen, the universes mix and even the perspective derails with crazy interactions and for the blow never seen in a game of the genre. The developers even dared to propose a fusion of the two universes simultaneously where one must cooperate to solve puzzles, each part of the screen having its own hidden clues. Down hat to the dev teams! Besides the technical prowess, it is here that the game unlocks all its creative potential and we would have liked it to show less restraint from the start. The last three chapters are an integral treat and for that reason the game catch up with its half-tone start. These passages reconnect with the best ofIt takes two and its asymmetric gameplay.
In addition to its explosive finale, Split Fiction also tries to renew the formula by focusing more on action in chase and slide races that move from horizontal scrolling to deep sequences with soft transitions often well felt. Nevertheless the spectacular side too often takes precedence over the gameplay and some sequences would have gained in intensity if the developers had trusted the player's intelligence. Checkpoints are probably too permissive and thus reduce the interest of bosses whose full range of animations is not necessarily appreciated because of a living bar that melts like snow in the sun. Still very nice ideas in the bonus levels, some damn well thought out bosses like the dentist or even some ultra dynamic freak sequences where one plays the ball while the other uses triggers to play.
Not always obvious to pass after a roller compressor like It Takes Two. Without doing better than his predecessor, Split Fiction catches up after a less inspired adventure than it was hoped. Nevertheless, the developers also know how to give the best on the second part of the title with unbridled and generous ideas that heel his model. That good old Josef Fares was right when he was bragging: « There are things in this game, especially towards the end, that you have never seen in a video game. That's how sure I am. ». Verdict? If you sum up Split Fiction with a gastronomic experience, you can say that you would go from a fadasse starter to a comforting main dish to a grand dessert. This may not be the best playful balance, but just for the icing on the cake that we expected more, we can only recommend that you forgive her for her some wanderings. Despite its real flaws, Split Fiction is only good for the future of this flagship of the EA Originals program. With Split Fiction, Hazelight Studio signs a new coop coop experience full of surprises. A wind of freshness that does good, while the real co-op is too often abandoned today. A nice pocket from which Switch 2 will benefit for its launch on June 5th!
For
- A shimmering game
- Couch inspired coop
- Accessible gameplay
- No time out
- Futuristic levels
- Hidden levels
- Last third of the overturning game
- The grandiose final
- A game for young and old
- Many Tributes
Against
- Unequal artistic direction
- Predicted Narration
- Characters without charisma
- Planplan game starts
- Platform too teleguided
- Less gross cooperation
- The split screen intelligently revisited
- Boss too simple
- Zoe's dumb and chatty
- Limited Challenge
- Rareest mini-games
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