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Moving Out is a frantic slice of multiplayer madness from Team 17. But how does it compare to Overcooked?
Moving On Out
Moving Out is a removals simulator built in the same style as the glorious cooking game Overcooked. Both are published by Team 17 of Worms fame. As with Overcooked you move from level to level to do straightforward jobs in difficult and fantastical situations. In Overcooked your colleagues were often your biggest hurdle, with several levels forcing responsibilities upon each player. And, much like real kitchens, everyone was tasked with holding down a station and doing a set job. In Moving Out players have much more freedom to jump around and help where needed. Is one of your team struggling to get a sofa through the door? Instead of shouting for them to hurry up you can leap into action, help lift the heavy load and head to the van.
The main question you’ll find yourself and your team asking is “Window or Door?”. Because, unless you have a special task on a level and are going for 100% completion (some will ask that you don’t break any windows). You’re free to get everything in the van however you wish via any route you wish. And jumping through windows with a TV is always fun... in a game.
Each level tasks you with a getting a bunch of someone’s belongs into you removal truck within a time limit. Level start off simple but quick begin adding obstacles to complicate things. It might be a swimming pool that requires coordination from players to throw and catch objects to each other. Or it might be ghosts that just ruin your day.
Time To Break Free
As mentioned, the entire game relies on teamwork. Heavier items needs two players to carry. Lighter objects can be recklessly throw to one another. Moving Out keeps things refreshingly simple - objects you need to move a highlight and working out the quirks of the level require little effort. The complications of the game rest squarely on your teams shoulders. Trying to take a shortcut with large items can cause a corridor to become blocked, losing precious seconds to fix.
Moving Out is brilliant fun throughout. With two players it’s great, with four it’s carnage. Bonus objectives, and medals for each level keep replayability up and add a challenge to those that seek one. Arcade levels can be unlocked as you progress, these are the hardest missions in the game and are fairly frustrating.
Nothing Can Stop Me
For a game about carelessness there is a lot of love and attention to detail throughout. Moving Out has some of the finest accessibility options I’ve seen. It has dyslexia settings and text resizing. It also has options to remap all of the controls to allow for one-handed play. Overcooked had a colourful cast of character with several inclusive options. Moving Out builds on this and gives even more options that represent everyone. There’s also an assist mode that allows you to alter the challenge in a range of thoughtful ways while still ensuring that everyone has fun.
Final Thoughts
It’s impossible not to compare Moving Out with Overcooked. For me Moving Out narrowly beats out its catering cousin. It’s fun, frantic and absolutely carnage with four players. It’s a party game where, if someone is struggling, everyone can jump in and pro-actively help rather than letting things descend into the “blame game”.
