Moving Out 2 Review

No one really likes moving house, do they? Maybe if it was a little more like Moving Out 2, it might prove to be one of life's more tolerable experiences. Instead of having to shimmy a couch through a narrow door frame, you'd be able to pick it up and swing it out of the window, watching it smash through the glass. Rather than having to painstakingly carry a fragile box, you could hurl it into the truck and to hell with the consequences. What about chucking a toaster from the balcony and bouncing it off a parasol into the moving truck? There's a trend here – Moving Out 2 involves a lot of throwing objects around and smashing stuff. And it's every bit as fun as that sounds.

Where the original Moving Out had you driving your moving van around the town of Packmore, plying your trade as a Furniture Arrangement and Relocation Technician, or F.A.R.T (tee hee), the follow-up has you voyaging beyond, exploring other dimensions thanks to the company's new computer going disastrously wrong, opening up portals. Having regained your status as a fully trained F.A.R.T (guffaw), you're sent to track down Tech Gnomes to help you fix the mess, which means carrying out increasingly tough house moves in the fantasy realm of Middle Folkmore, the futuristic world of Pactropolis City, and the sickeningly sweet chocolate-covered candyland of Snackmore.

Moving Out 2 is a sequel that does just about everything right. Where the first game gradually gained accessibility options and 'Moving In' levels post-launch, Moving Out 2 has all of that stuff right out of the gate, making it feel like a more complete package. The new game has been lovingly boxed up and sealed with brown tape, developers SMG Studio and DevM Games evidently learning a lot from the first one, so the clear times for each level include a generous Pass Time and a far trickier, more stringent Pro Time. One of the Assist Mode settings means that you can also skip levels you're having trouble with, so your progress is never hampered.

That said, you can't access every one of Moving Out 2's fifty levels until you've acquired the requisite F.A.R.T Level, which means earning stars for completing Pass and Pro Time targets, as well as bonus objectives. There are five stars per level (two for beating the clear time targets, three for bonus objectives), making for a staggering 266 stars to bag in total. Suffice it to say, there are plenty of levels to complete, and no dearth of novel ideas and twists to the formula – this time you're not just lugging sofas and boxes about the place.

In Middle Folkmore, you'll find yourself navigating magical hallways, moving crystal balls, magical gems, and potion vials, sometimes to a van, sometimes sorting items to fish-drawn trains or down an aqueduct for no apparent reason. In the floating Pactropolis City, fancy futuristic furniture has to be shifted, and sometimes you'll have to vacuum up vision-obscuring clouds or control drones to get the job done. Snackmore not only looks mouthwateringly edible, all chocolate rivers and floating sweets, but you'll be tasked with taking away blueberries, choco chunks, cake, and other confections, using a hard candy (with a dopey smiling face on it) like a little wrecking ball to smash through biscuit walls.

Some levels have you dodging huge fans that blow you off the edge, others require you to turn platforms and walkways using a crank. Occasionally, you'll need to load up a train and transport items to a set of rooms, dragging the furniture and placing it in the correct position. Score Attack stages pit you against the clock, striving to deliver as many items as you can within the allotted time or catching items falling down a pink candy lava floe, and Arcade levels also make a comeback, unlocked by seeking out dusty retro console cartridges. Moving Out 2 is not only a big game – the sheer amount of variety is impressive.

Played alone, Moving Out 2 is an enjoyably meditative thing, as you sort and move items, but the game comes alive in co-op, supporting up to four players all milling about, slapping one another and striving to load up (or, indeed, unload) the truck. You can throw and catch items, take a heavy item like a couch and coordinate a swinging heave through a window with a friend. And if you're completely mad, you can play solo using both thumbsticks (Dual Mover mode), each controlling an individual character. At its best, Moving Out 2 leads to guaranteed mirth, and it's all beautifully presented in pleasingly squidgy, bright-coloured fashion, complemented by a gleefully daft sense of humour.

There are a few minor, niggling flaws hanging over from the previous game, like still being unable to consult a bonus objectives list from the pause menu, so if you forget what they are, you're buggered. But with its diverse roster of fun characters (toaster head, plant pot head, corn cob head, taco head, ice cream head, unicorn head, cassette tape head, fish head, chicken head, doughnut head, etc.) and procession of inventive levels, Moving Out 2 is not only an excellent sequel, but it's one that's sure to slap a big stupid grin on your F.A.R.Ty face. Also, gnomes.