My daughter is generally attracted to the absurd when it comes to games – she was with me for the whole ride that was Moving Out. Naturally, when I saw a sequel was on its way, I knew I’d be playing it. And as recently announced, PS Plus Extra and Premium members will be playing it too. But should you bother to download it with so many other games available?

Honestly, it seems difficult to make a sequel that’s worse than the first. Take what worked, improve what didn’t, and add in any ideas that may have been cut previously due to time/funds. Worse sequels exist, but generally speaking, the second game or movie in a franchise is often the most beloved. For anyone unfamiliar with Moving Out as a franchise, it’s co-op craziness with the primary objective of moving objects to their designated location (to a moving truck, a sorting machine, their new are in a home, etc.). The game provides a single player experience, which in some cases can be more/less frustrating, but the most fun you’ll have with it is with others.

The game offers multiplayer locally as well as online. It even asks if you’d like to turn on cross platform play during the first startup, so you can play with friends regardless of where they own it. I didn’t have a chance to test the online server while playing, but I got my share of local co-op, and it is quite the experience. Communication is key to meeting the time limits, especially when it comes to the heavy items.

The game boasts several accessibility features. I’m honestly surprised this hasn’t replaced difficulty settings at this point. You are able to extend completion time requirements, speed up movement with heavy items, make completed deliveries disappear so you don’t need to worry about stacking items, and more. And don’t worry, the game won’t mock you or block off content because you used these features. It’s optional for people that need it to enjoy the game to the fullest. It can be used as a fine tuned difficulty setting.

The game itself isn’t a huge departure from the first – it looks nicer, it adds different modes, and it takes the player on a journey through space and time. The usual in mainstream media at this point. These new locales are introduced pretty early into the game – the game’s introduction to the world felt a bit too familiar until the portals were opened. That’s when it was obvious that this was a sequel with a lot of new ideas while maintaining its heart. It could be argued that not all of the new stuff works (the high score one really didn’t grab me), but I appreciate the attempt at variety.

It may be a me issue, but even with the added variation and underlying story, I struggled to play the game in long sessions. The levels can be pretty taxing (even at just a few minutes long), and trying to collect everything only adds to that. Each level starts with two goals that are time related – following completion, additional tasks can be seen. If you did them during your run, you’ll see them as completed. These add replay value as well as time spent for completionists. It proved a bit frustrating on levels where I wasn’t supposed to do something but did it merely to see what would happen without benefitting from the action. The character/color unlocks are neat, as you’ll need to locate the crates containing them, although I struggled to see these on some levels sitting on my couch – I definitely needed to get closer to the TV to find some.

If you love multiplayer madness, especially the kind that Team17 tends to publish, Moving Out 2 will no doubt delight you. As a single player game, it’s a fairly enjoyable (albeit frustrating at times) physics based puzzler. As a palette cleanser, it provides plenty of content to come back to between games. Regardless of what purpose the game serves for you, it’s one worth playing.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Variety in Levels and Goals
• New Locations
• Fun Dialogue/Writing
• Multiplayer is a Blast

Cons

• Unknown Tasks Prior to Beating a Level Can Pad Playtime
• Not Optimal for Single Player
• Some New Modes Aren’t Engaging

Moving Out 2 was developed by SMG Studio in conjunction with Devm Games and published by Team17 Digital. It is available on NS, PC, PS4, PS5, X1, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on PS5. If you’d like to see more of Moving Out 2, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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