Moving Out

Genre: Arcade / Party Game

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Moving Out is an Arcade-style Party Game that’s much in the same vein as games like Overcooked, where players try to coordinate on a task in increasingly zany environments while a clock ticks down. However, while Overcooked had players cooking and serving up foods in a restaurant, Moving Out has them grabbing furniture from a house and bringing it to a moving van. This game was released on multiple platforms in 2020, including Nintendo Switch.

Visually, Moving Out has an appealing, colorful, simple and slightly cartoony look to it that works perfectly for this sort of silly Party game. Objects are generally pretty easy to see, and everything is full of personality, with the game even including some fun pop culture references throughout. This is tied up with an amusing tongue-in-cheek presentation that does a great job keeping things light, with some funny dialogue and energetic music. In short, while nothing about this presentation impresses on a technical front, it is nevertheless ideal for the sort of game this is.

In terms of gameplay, this game does a fantastic job of matching the same sort of frenetic feel of a game like Overcooked, as you and up to 3 friends try to coordinate on scrambling through a house and collecting furniture, some of which requires multiple people to move. At its best, this game does a fantastic job of making for a hilariously fun multiplayer experience.

Unfortunately, it’s not always at its best. This game’s controls can be finicky and often don’t respond the way they should, refusing to move your character the way you intend. This can be especially frustrating when coordinating movement when multiple characters are moving one piece of furniture, and everyone swears they’re moving the way they need to, and yet that movement doesn’t translate into the proper movement in-game. You could chalk this up to user error in coordination, but the fact that this seems to happen even when it’s just one person with one object leads me to believe it’s more a problem with the game’s controls and physics. And while I’m complaining, I’ll also point out that like many Party games, this is a game that just isn’t as fun with just one person.

Moving Out tries its darndest to become the next Overcooked-style Party game, and every now and then it seems to succeed in this, with a good concept and a fun presentation that make for a great setup for this sort of game. Unfortunately, the frustrating controls and physics keep this game from achieving that same level of greatness, and far too often this game is more frustrating than fun. If you’re looking for a solid Party game it may still be worth a look, but don’t expect anything nearly as good as Overcooked.

tl;dr – Moving Out is an Overcooked-style Party game that has up to four players coordinate to move furniture from a house to a moving van. It’s got a great concept and an excellent presentation, but the game’s controls and physics often make for a game that doesn’t seem to respond properly to your inputs, which can interrupt the fun with frustration. It’s still worth a look, but don’t expect a game anywhere near as fun as Overcooked.

Grade: B-

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