The level designs are pretty impressive and, for the most part, a good level of difficulty. They make players have to think at times what they need to do in order to progress (e.g. “Pass me those two blocks, and I think I can get over to somewhere where I can grab another block, which would let you get over that gap”), but aren’t usually so tricky they cause frustration. There are also unlockables spread across the levels, ranging from unlockable music tracks, to bonus levels for the chapter (for these bonus levels you must collect all of the little guys called Safkas of a particular color in all of the levels of the chapter in order to unlock the same colored bonus level).
I only have two small complaints about the game. First, the controls can be a little sticky at times, mostly in regard to turning. You can face one of four directions in ilomilo: forward, backward, left, or right. As you hit the analog stick in one of these directions, it’s a common occurrence that you’ll keep rotating, so instead of left, you’ll be facing back. It’s a small thing, but it can get frustrating at times.
The second thing is that when you’re playing with another person after you hit X to switch over to them, you’re basically stuck doing nothing. The person who is not currently controlling the character with agency has a tiny, fly-like version of their character (it has wings and buzzes when you move) that you can move around the screen to perhaps point out where you mean when you say something like: “no, go over there!” to your co-op buddy, but we never really made use it. Though I completely understand why they did this (usually only one of the characters is able to progress at a time), it would’ve been nice if you had something you could do when the focus is not on your character. As it is, it often feels like pass-the-controller co-op, which, don’t get me wrong, I usually enjoy; however, I was expecting just a little more perhaps from ilomilo.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Two players can work together to solve puzzles and explore the world of ilomilo.
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.