In a game of Push Me Pull You, two teams of sausage-like bodies with heads at both ends face off in a circle for territorial control of a ball.[1] The game has two- and four-player modes.[2] There is a hidden option to swap the human heads for those of dogs.[3]
Development
Push Me Pull You was developed by four friends from Melbourne as the indie developer House House. They have said that the game is about friendship and wrestling.[4] The game was named for the two-headed llama pushmi-pullyu from Doctor Dolittle,[5] and was originally planned for release in 2014.[6] It was exhibited at Game Developers Conference 2014 and the 2015 PlayStation Experience.[7] The game was announced for the PlayStation 4 in November 2015.[8]Push Me Pull You was finally scheduled for release for PlayStation 4 on May 3, 2016, and for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux later in the year.[1]
Reception
On review aggregator Metacritic, the game received "generally favorable reviews" on PlayStation 4, with a score of 75 out of 100, based on 4 reviews.[9] Sam Machkovech of Ars Technica said that the game was the best among its contemporary wave of "couch sports" games: non-combat multiplayer with elements similar to old sports video games. He added that the game's aesthetic was reminiscent of Adult Swim.[10]Jamin Warren of Kill Screen wrote that the game's core gameplay has a "Koonsian quality of both innocent and grotesque".[4] Alice O'Connor of Rock, Paper, Shotgun called the game "David Cronenberg's Wrestleball".[11] Andrew Tarantola from Engadget compared Push Me Pull You to a combination of Greco-Roman wrestling, capture the flag, Human Centipede, and soccer.[12] Writing for Polygon, Megan Farokhmanesh and Allegra Frank praised the game as "one of the most fast-paced, unique, and entertaining additions" entries in the local multiplayer genre.[13]