Move Together Review (PC)

Moving Out taught me one important thing: people, no matter how physically fit they may be, should not be trusted with precious family heirlooms. Sadly, it’s the same issue with Move Together. Again, I can’t put my faith in my colleagues, and I sure as heck cannot allow the slack to fall into the wrong sweaty palms. Don’t get me wrong, on paper it almost comes across as ironclad—a job that any numskull could do. Yet, when it comes to that all-important moving date, it’s as it a few screws come loose, and the four other staff members who should be doing there work suddenly become oblivious to the solution to what should be a simple objective. It’s packing bags into the trunk of a car — how hard could it be? You’re preaching to the choir, people.

Move Together is a hybrid between Moving Out and Unpacking, which essentially means that if you are familiar with either of the two multiplayer games, then you should know how these boxes of luggage unravel their contents. It’s the same basic concept, only, you don’t launch fish tanks into the back of box cars, but openly gawp at an open trunk and fugue out how to organize the contents in a fitting manner. Herein lies the first problem: teamwork — it doesn’t exist. See, although Move Together is as a co-op game that allows up to five players to staple their heads together to formulate fashionable strategies, the process of achieving said strategies isn’t quite as simple. Either that, or the team I had at my disposal were idiots with a collective god complex.

The idea here is simple: gather a whole bunch of items from one of several stages, and fit it into a trunk. The caveat here is that, in order to progress to the next stage, you must be able to seal the lock on the trunk and have everything in an orderly fashion. That’s the tough part, and arguably the one thing that prevents you from truly enjoying the benefits of the job. As the saying goes, though — it’s swings and roundabouts. That is, until you have to squeeze a swing into the back of a trunk, of course. But more on that later.

Trust Me, I’m a Professional

For the record, there are no professionals in this line or work, only idiots who rely on wishful thinking and a whole lot of dumb luck to accomplish their goals. As I said, Move Together isn’t a conceptually difficult game, though it is one that requires both you and the folks in your squad to develop foolproof plans in order to clamber through the milestones and boost your repertoire of skills. Easier said than done, mind you.

As you fill the boots of a “professional” with a printout degree in furniture allocation, you find yourself with the rather daunting challenge of working collectively to complete odd jobs and other organizational tasks over a relatively sizable career that spans multiple locations, including a farmyard, a courtyard, and a bustling hub that involves a small hatchback and a lot of strenuous pivoting.

Regardless of the biome that you find yourself in, the objective remains the same: analyze the space that you have, whether it’s in a small vehicle or a spacious hatchback, and determine which items will best suit which location. Unfortunately for you, nothing is boxed, and everything is loose, which means that you also have the responsibility of juggling weight, wonky angles, and uncooperative hands. Again, a lot easier said than done.

Thankfully, Move Together balances its baggage with a ton of great locations and themed set pieces, with each stage providing a unique challenge and a bunch of unique options to trial and implement. It’s still a pain in the backside to romp through, though it does make a solid effort to keep you invested over a solid career with a generous variety of obstacles and co-op feats.

PIVOT!

If you’re wondering how on earth Move Together works as a five-player co-op game, then join the club, because I myself am still asking the same question as you even after hours of subjecting myself to the job. Supposedly, each player has to manually decide their position on the team; for example, one person opts for the role of an observer, and another chooses to fill the role of aggressive bagger, similar to how a couple might act at the kiosk of a local supermarket. Does it always work? No — but that’s sort of the point, I think. It isn’t graceful, but it is a challenge that, weirdly, feels awkwardly enjoyable to accomplish, believe it or not.

While I wouldn’t turn my nose up to a few extra levels to help enhance the overall experience, I will say that, for what Move Together does bring to its trunk, there is just enough here to keep you entertained for an hour or two. Granted, it isn’t quite as fun as a single-player game, though it does make the effort to litter your lonely tidings with some great perks and, more importantly, a charming locale that fosters some truly unique set pieces and environments. It’s a bit like RV There Yet? — but with less space and fewer cigarettes.

Verdict

Move Together packs a punch (and a bicycle) with a surprisingly enjoyable box-and-pivot co-op affair that simply oozes comical vibes and blood-boiling energy. It isn’t a difficult game by any stretch, though it is one that requires a fair amount of collaborative planning and coordination to complete. If, of course, you have the team to suspend your dumb luck, then it’s unlikely that you’ll struggle to put two and two together, so to speak. If, however, you lack the patience and ability to think outside of the box, then you might just find yourself pivoting and jackknifing to no avail. But maybe that was just me.

Suffice it to say that, if you do have a heart for simple packing and organizing games à la Unpacking, but wish to dabble in a field that packs more of a sturdy challenge, then I can imagine that you’ll get a kick out of the antics that unfold in Move Together. It’s easy on paper, true, but heed my warning: nobody knows what they’re doing, and everything that you put your hands on is a lot more awkward than it looks. Sadly, boxes are an evolutionary concept that, frankly, fails to exist within the realm of this particular endeavor. Go figure.