Biped 2 Review (PS5, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Switch, & PC)

It isn’t all that easy to find a co-op game, as flooded as the gaming market might be right now. Something that will truly captivate you and your partner, inspiring those heated conversations that bring you closer. Developers have to find a tricky balance between challenge and fun, ensuring that you’re coordinating your moves and leaning on each other for that final, big win. Biped, released in 2020, was quite the internet sensation among co-op fans. And if you didn’t hear of it or play it, it’s probably because it’s an indie game that ended up being underrated among other big leagues. 

Anyway, I’m glad Next Studios recognizes the striking charm and wackiness of the first game, enough to put their effort into a sequel. And after five years, fans have something to sink their teeth into, complete with a newly added four-player co-op mode. But does the sequel take the series to the next level? Is it worth the trouble? Or might you be better off sticking with tried-and-true It Takes Two, Split Fiction, Lego Voyagers, among other recent co-op releases? Let’s find out in our Biped 2 review below.

Cosmos Deep

You need not bother yourself with the story, whether it’s captivating or full of surprises. Isometric puzzle-platformers aren’t known for their compelling narratives, and Biped 2 is happy to carry forward the sullied reputation. But the setting is interesting enough: a cosmic world, where you’re tiny robots with a face and two legs, strapped inside your spaceship.

Kicking off the story is a stress signal on an unknown planet that you quickly respond to, solo or with a buddy (or up to four, locally or online) in tow. And that’s about it for the narrative, as you dive headfirst into solving physics-based puzzles and surviving some tenaciously tricky obstacles. 

Toward the end, a surprising plot twist rears its head. And while the effort by Next Studios to spice up the narrative is certainly welcome, as up to this point, the cutscenes don’t do much to advance the story, it winds up falling flat on its face. The impact just doesn’t warrant playing Biped 2 for its narrative. Right, on to the characters.

Behind the Wheel

Your bipedal robots are Aku and Sila, alongside Mimo and Azul. Adorable, colorful, and charming, in every sense of the words. They are the characters you’ll control throughout your adventures. In single-player, you do start off by controlling one bipedal robot. However, there will come many instances when you’ll need to control both Aku and Sila or switch between them. And so, while a single-player experience is made available to you, it makes better sense to find a buddy and make the most of Biped 2’s strong focus on co-op.

Next is learning the controls, which shouldn’t be too hard, even for a newcomer. A quick tutorial teaches you about Biped 2’s unique control system, where each joystick controls each leg of your robot. I know, it’s a little bonkers, and your robot will, as a result, move wonkily, painstakingly putting one foot in front of the other. Walking is wonky enough to then introduce collecting items and coins by spinning on one leg like a ballerina. Here’s where Biped 2’s early botched job begins to rear its ugly head. 

Fight with Oneself

Sometimes, your inputs will fail to register, forcing you to try scooping up items over and over again. Other times, the controls just won’t feel responsive to what you want them to do. It’s a true test of patience to adapt to Biped 2’s way of doing things. And by the time holding down both joysticks to skate faster on a flat surface comes in, you’re almost thankful that the pain of navigation is over. 

But not quite yet, as most puzzles and obstacles are solved by careful navigation of your bipedal robot. Deliberate steps taken at a measured pace, but also not too slow to effectively beat the puzzles. Here’s the thing: Biped 2, as you’ll quickly learn after the tutorial, demands tight precision and timing. So, as much as the controls might be easy to grasp, the work is truly felt when applying them to Biped 2’s demanding levels. 

Difficulty Spike

Perhaps those who’ve played the first game will have an easier time getting through Biped 2’s puzzles. But even so, the controls aren’t working in your favor to begin with. And so, no matter how careful you are to coordinate your moves with your partner, alternating your steps, pulling switches at the right time, any slight mistake in timing or precision will lead to your death. Seriously, dying in Biped 2 is guaranteed a tad too many times than feels fair or necessary. 

At first, finally getting past the toughest puzzles would feel rewarding, despite the wonky two-legged controls. But after a while, it begins to veer deep into the throbbing vein of frustration. For a game that demands absolute focus to do a task as simple as walking, it’s bizarre how complex the puzzles are, and worse, the high level of precision and exact timing they require. 

Perfectionista

When it’s just you trying to perfect navigating obstacles, I guess it’s more manageable. Yet even then, controlling both characters or switching to the second one feels slower and more frustrating. And when you bring in a co-op partner or three, your synchronization needs to be absolutely perfect. As you can imagine, the amount of yelling at each other that will ensue when a partner dies and forces you to start again will get on everyone’s nerves, and not in a good way.

There are potential fun segments, like becoming one with your partner to control machinery like mine carts. You become the arms, and your partner the legs, and there can certainly be laughs shared in these sections. Other places, like navigating bridges, can be annoying when the slight gush of wind pushes you off the ledge. 

What’s New?

The truth is, not much is new between the first and second games. In fact, you may spot way too many similarities in gameplay and overall design than might even be  “generally acceptable.” Sure, the environments may be new, but much of what you do within them remains similar to Biped. From the puzzles to the obstacles and controls, anyone coming from the first game will struggle to find anything fresh and exciting in the sequel. 

Well, there is the hang glider and grappling hook, which you use to traverse ledges and breaks. And it’s certainly a welcome new feature. However, it tends to become repetitive, and does only one thing: collecting coins across the rest of the levels. It’s another issue you might take with Biped 2: repetition, when there’s only so many times you can perform the same action in every other level that comes after the one in which the feature is introduced. 

Fair and Square

Four-player co-op is, of course, also new, creating room for more players to join in the fun. “Fun” here is what you make of frustrating levels that punish you for mistakes that aren’t always your fault. I can’t imagine how chaotic arguments among a bigger group are going to get as you try to decide your next moves, come up with solutions for solving puzzles, as well as circumnavigating bugs that impede progress, and all the while, precisely time your actions. 

It depends on whether you take failing a level to heart when it’s not your fault, when a partner accidentally makes the wrong move… those potential fights that come with a tough game that doesn’t necessarily provide you with the smooth and tight controls to figure them out.

Verdict

Biped 2 isn’t for everyone, as much as its charming aesthetic and bipedal robots might want you to believe. Simply looking at the trailer and marketing material might even convince you of its appropriateness for younger gamers, your kids, or nephews and nieces, perhaps. But beware, Biped 2 is definitely not for the beginner co-op player. Heck, it might not even go easy on the seasoned gamer with experience with tight and precise platformers and Metroidvanias. 

A lot of it has to do with the controls that seem designed to frustrate you. Why you need each joystick to control each robot leg is beyond me, well, unless it was implemented to be funny. But with how complex the puzzles are, requiring tight precision and timing, it simply doesn’t cut it to have wonky controls. As sequels go, they have to refine the predecessors and add new features that bring in a new audience. And I’m unsure if Biped 2 does any of those things.

The same things that frustrate in the original rear their ugly heads in the sequel. Further, not much feels new or fresh, whether in the story, gameplay, or overall design, to justify a sequel. If anything, there might be a lot of similarity to the first game, and consequent repetition of these features across Biped 2’s 17 levels.