Inspired partly due to the success of the Overcooked franchise, Moving Out presents a simple and mundane sounding scenario, and energises it with bombastic action and charm. The main premise is exactly what the title suggests, having you and your friends move furniture and other household appliances into the back of a moving van. Anyone whose done this in real life knows how boring, monotonous, and frankly challenging this can be. Moving Out though throws the players into interesting and varied situations such as including slopes and swimming pools for the movers to overcome. The fun comes from the insanity that ensues as you try to work collectively with the other movers to toss couches, TVs, and fridges into the truck before the timer runs out. The timer gives the players sheer adrenaline and offers more rewards if the truck is filled in quick time. Levels also offer various side objectives such as breaking all windows or collecting specific items, and these add to the frantic environment.
When played with two or three friends, the game becomes an absolute blast, balancing pure chaos and calm structure with either option not really being the wrong way to play the game. Unfortunately, the game does not offer online which comes off as a ludicrous decision given that the Overcooked series (this game’s spiritual predecessor) supported online multiplayer for up to four players. The game also lacks a lot of the presentation aspects found in the Overcooked series. There is no absurd narrative such as a zombie invasion and the game lacks distinguishable character or the complexity found in Overcooked. Playing Moving Out on your own can also be a boring chore of an experience and is not recommended. However, the game is insanely cheap so picking it up just for when friends come over is still a good choice.
The game’s customisation is plentiful and cutesy letting you play as dogs, cats and even a sentient toaster. These characters also tend to talk to each other during the levels giving them their own identities and bringing some moments of levity to the situation. On the other hand, the actual presentation appears less impressive than that found in Overcooked. The colours and environments created are beautiful but there is much less going in the environments overall. The kitchens of Overcooked usually had pedestrians in or were set in space and were far more visually appealing. While there are several levels that capture that same bar of quality (such as a Frogger inspired level where you have to carry furniture across a packed road) few surpass those found in the Overcooked games and the game is far less intricate too. Instead of you needing to chop, cook and boil various foods you just have to toss all the items marked into a van outside (a process that is actually quite clunky). It is lengthy though offering plenty of content and replay value that makes it much easier to recommend.
Moving Out is basically Overcooked light. It retains very little of that game’s complexity, presentation quality or charm, but what it does is offer a brilliant, couch cooperative experience that is far more accessible than the aforementioned series. We have had several friends come over and play it and they have all had a blast while doing so and I cannot stress enough how good the package is considering the cheap price tag (we picked it up for £15 at release). It shows how much SMG Studio clearly cares for their audience by offering them an independent title at a lower cost and I think in the long run it will benefit them greatly. Nonetheless, Moving Out shows that there is life in the couch coop market, and I am interested to see what occupation will be turned into a bombastic, cooperative thrill ride next.
Rating: Still Moving Out
7/10
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