Co-op game Moving Out lets up to four players move objects from a location in a given amount of time.
Vincent Chang
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Moving Out, a couch co-op game, will have you and your friends moving virtual couches and other furniture.
Like other games of this genre, in which players team up to play together on the same screen, it is a wonderful distraction for people currently stuck at home.
Up to four players are given a limited amount of time to move objects from a location. While boxes and chairs can be moved by a single player, larger beds and sofas require two players to coordinate their movements and manoeuvre the furniture through narrow doorways and tight corridors.
The items, which include L-shaped sofas and giant stuffed toys, are tailor-made to frustrate movers.
Players can speed things up by tossing the furniture out of the window or across obstacles like a pond. It is also more time-efficient to throw objects into the moving truck than to stack them up neatly.
While the controls are simple enough, they do not feel consistent. Take, for instance, the visual indicator that shows where an item will land when thrown. I found it to be wildly inaccurate.
The game's physics-based system - objects have inertia and are affected by gravity - adds to the frustration.
My character would careen off a platform when lugging a heavy object due to inertia. Or an object would travel further than expected because there is no gravity in space (yes, there are certain levels that are set in space).
While the game starts off in a fairly mundane way, it introduces increasingly treacherous challenges, from ghosts to flamethrowers. The locales also shift from the small town of Packmore to more far-flung and absurd locations.
There are 30 levels, each with several hidden objectives that are revealed only after the first playthrough.
-
FOR
• Simple controls
• Numerous options to tweak difficulty level
AGAINST
• Physics engine can be frustrating at times
• Lacks online multiplayer
SPECS
PRICE: From $22 (Nintendo Switch; PC; PS4, version tested; Xbox One)
GENRE: Co-operative party game
RATING: 7/10
These objectives could be as simple as bringing back a specific object to more challenging ones such as loading furniture in a certain order. Completing these hidden objectives unlock even more challenging arcade mini-games. In short, there is plenty of replayability for those who persevere at the given tasks.
I found the default difficulty level to be rather challenging. Thankfully, there is an Assist mode that offers players a host of options that affect the game's difficulty. Besides increasing the amount of time to move the furniture, players can also make objects disappear when loaded into the truck, thus removing the need to stack items such that they all fit in the truck.
Those who have played the Overcooked series of games, which is published by the same developer Team17, will find Moving Out's cartoonish style familiar.
The humour in Moving Out, though, feels more low-brow. Players, for instance, are known as Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technicians (or Fart for short).
But unlike Overcooked 2, Moving Out lacks an online multiplayer mode. Although Moving Out can be played solo, it is not quite the same. For one thing, there is no one to blame when you fail a level.
Moving Out offers an equal mix of fun and frustration. When things come together, it can be fun in a hysterical way. But be prepared for your relationships with fellow players to be tested when you constantly fail a level.
