If you’ve ever moved houses or apartments then you’ll know that moving isn’t the most enjoyable experience and can sometimes be stressful.
Thankfully, the latest title from SMG Studio and DevM Games and published by Team17, Moving Out aims to making moving more fun (in video game form of course).
According to Team17, here’s what the game is about:
Are you ready for an exciting career in furniture? As a newly certified Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technician (F.A.R.T. for short), you’ll take on moving jobs all across the busy town of Packmore. Smooth Moves may not be the biggest moving company, but there’s no task too dangerous or strange for this busy team of go-getters. Grow your business to brave new heights, recruit colourful customizable characters, and save your town from furniture peril!
Gameplay
If you’ve played other couch co-op games like Overcooked, then Moving Out will feel familiar, (coincidentally, both Overcooked and Moving Out are published by Team17).
The game has a very simple storyline which basically says you’re a new Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technician (F.A.R.T.) at Smooth Moves moving company. While the characters don’t talk, there are slight moments of dialogue after you complete each level and some of the dialogue and moments are really funny.
There’s also plenty of pop-culture references in the game like one level being called Jerry’s Apartment (a la Seinfeld) and Ferris Buller’s Day Off and more. There’s even a level inspired by Frogger.
Moving Out’s gameplay is fairly straight forward, move as many objects into the moving van in the shortest amount of time. Based on how quickly you’re able to do so, you’ll get a gold, silver or bronze rating.
Each level requires you to move a certain amount of items ranging from TVs and beds to office equipment or even chicken and pigs. Lighter items in the game can easily be thrown a certain distance to help cut down your time. Heavier objects like beds or couches will take longer to move (unless you’re playing co-op where it’ll be much quicker with a friend).
To help show you which objects you need to move, you can press Y (on Xbox One) or Triangle (on PS4) and the game will tell you which objects to move. The objects will also glow for a split second to remind you that you need to pick them up.
The game is also physics-based, so you can easily move things out of your way and break things like windows and doors.
As you progress through the game, the levels do get slightly more difficult, you’ll find more obstacles in your way like flamethrowers or ghosts (which you can slap and they’ll leave you alone for a second) to rivers of water or guava lava that respawn you back at the start of the level (your progress isn’t reset).
You can play Moving Out or with up to three friends with local co-op. If you’re finding the game a bit difficult, the game has an Assist mode that enables things like longer time limits, reduced difficulty, and level skipping. This is especially helpful when playing solo.
The game features quite a few different characters you can choose from a toaster man, a dog, a robot and more. You can also customize your character including things like colour options to hijabs and wheelchairs.
There are also a few accessibility features including in the game such as dyslexia-friendly text, scalable user interface, and remappable keyboard controls.
Presentation
I reviewed the game on my Xbox One X and Moving Out has a very cartoonish art style. The game is played from a third-person view that’s in-between overhead and straight-on.
Moving Out is a very colourful game and especially looks great in 4K.
Final Thoughts
Moving Out is a great game that is funny and a lot of fun to play either solo or with friends and family.
Moving Out is available on April 28th for Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PS4 and PC for $24.99 CAD ($19.99 USD). There is also a demo of the game available on all platforms and includes four levels from the game.
An Xbox One review code of the game was provided by the game’s publisher, Team17.
Pros
- Great and colourful visuals
- Good cast of character
- Funny story and dialogue
- Simple but fun gameplay
- Accessible controls and Assist Mode is helpful
Cons
- Sometimes the objects’ physics can get in the way
- Slightly repetitive
TheCanadianTechie 