Moving Out

A pitch-perfect party game for you and those who’ve come home to roost after flying the nest (or those who never actually left). Not as frantic as Overcooked but still a truck-full of fun. [Issue#176, p.76]

Moving Out is a gem of an action puzzler but is a little bit too light on content to be a true co-op classic.

Moving Out is mostly a seamless move, even considering these bumps in the road, because of its cooperative gameplay. Filling up a moving truck full of junk and the occasional farm animal is simple and silly enough to work, despite its inability to continually refresh itself. There might be a ding on your dresser because of the cramped doorways, but it’s an endearing new place that’s worth the lease and best enjoyed with a few other people.

Moving has never been so funny. Team17 offers an irreverent and crazy adventure for the whole family whit his new party game. The perfect choice for a co-op experience but an unexpressed potential for his single player campaign.

With such ironic tone, an easy to pick up, co-op approach, and elaborate furnishings designs, Moving Out was supposed to go smoothly. But like it often happens through these kinds of enterprises, SMG Studio's work proves neither as fun nor friendly as expected, because of tedious, if not hazardous collaborative mechanics sometimes, and a too rigid physics engine overall, despite generous difficulty settings.

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, but don't drop them in the sea, and mind out for the runaway chickens, and remember to lift with your noodley arms rather than your legs.

Moving Out is a fun and chaotic co-op experience. While some levels will leave you in a fit of rage, others will have you in fits of laughter.

While the accessible controls and cute presentation are inviting to all types of players, the action itself can get a little fiddly. It's very easy to get stuck in doorways carrying a bed, for instance, or have objects fall into awkward positions amid the chaos. It's not too big an issue but it does frustrate when you waste precious seconds getting snagged on walls. For moving experts, there are optional objectives and gold times to aim for. Completing the extra tasks rewards you with coins that unlock even trickier challenges in an arcade, extending the life of quite a short game. It doesn't quite hit the same heights as its peers, but it's hard to deny its simple pleasures.

If you are looking for an easy party game to play with all the family, you will probably enjoy Moving Out.

Moving Out has a charming sense of humor and the developers clearly went out of their way to make the game as accessible as possible. You can adjust difficulty in an impressively granular way, checking individual boxes to tweak the time you have to complete goals, make objects lighter, remove some obstacles, and more. That does make it easier to zoom past some of the trickier levels, but it doesn’t ultimately change the fact that moving furniture in the game is as fun as the real deal.