Move or Die Review

If you’ve ever thought there ought to be a frantic, high stakes party game that blasts you in the face with vibrant color and requires reflexes that cripple fingers, you are in luck. Move or Die, developed and published by Those Awesome Guys (an excellent name), is a high speed, high stakes party game packed with a good helping of simple mini games and an even easier control scheme. This entire game is laid out for you right in the title: Move or Die. Up to four players will compete in a variety of mini games, and in each one your health bar is steadily decreasing. How do you fill it back up? Running like a mad man. The rate the health bar drops is forgiving enough that you can stand still for a few moments to catch your breath/bearings/ stop your head from spinning and jump right back into the fray.

The mini-games all have the same basic principle; to keep moving, but each one still has its own flair thrown in to change it up. Color Craze was my personal favorite, in which every wall and floor tile you touch changes to your own color, and the player with the most tiles at the end wins. There are also games where tiles fall from the ceiling, rockets lock on and shoot around the room causing splash explosions, a wicked version of hot potato/tag with a bomb, chasing each other around the stage with chainsaws, and many more. After each player selects their character there is a thirty second window for everyone to select their favorite games to play from, each mini game being randomly selected from the list once the game starts. This is a great mechanic because it gives everyone something they look forward to when competing and helps level the playing field if someone finds one mini game particularly difficult. The objective is simple: where you rank in each competition will earn you points, first to X amount of points wins.

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“You get the sense that these guys set out to make a fun game and had a blast doing it.”

For even more chaos, players can turn on the option for Mutations. A player is selected at random and given the option to layer on one of three random Mutators: modifiers that will overlap each following mini game until the next Mutation selection (several games later). These can include the ability to teleport by double jumping, making the stage entirely dark except for a flashlight aura around each character, and – my personal favorite- the Skin Swap, where each character retains their colored aura but their appearance cycles to look like each player.

The stages are built with dull colors and basic designs, accented by the brilliant color from each character and the trail of mayhem they tend to leave splattered on the floor from various explosions, blades, and blunt objects crushing them into the steel. It’s simple enough to set a mood of levity and enjoy some fast paced mayhem with friends. Winning earns experience points which go towards unlocking new characters and game modes, but time flies by so quickly in these twenty second rounds while playing that you won’t feel like you are grinding for XP. Whats more, the developers have built Move or Die to be extremely Mod Friendly, allowing you to create your own characters, stages and more. The in game options menu as well as their official website will give you information on how to customize your experience.

As soon as Move or Die boots up you are greeted with the option of selecting your announcer, each one a recorded voice from the game developers. You get the sense that these guys set out to make a fun game and had a blast doing it. Their voice work is great with unique and playful personalities, but I would have liked some frenetic music during the game to accompany the crazy chase of each stage.

With high octane game play and simple stages loaded with unique and colorful characters bouncing off the walls, Move or Die will demand every one of your senses to keep up as you bash, slash, and crash into your fellow players in some seriously fun chaotic mayhem. The fast pace is refreshing and soon becomes second nature as you focus on each mini-games unique objectives and try to destroy your opponents in twenty second intervals. The cartoony graphics are sharp and the intentionally dull color of the stages really make each character pop as they fly around the level. Stages could have been improved with a soundtrack more reflective of their wild nature and – despite the fact this title offers solo play against bots – this is definitely the kind of game best enjoyed on the couch with friends, food, and trash talk.

***A PC code was provided by the publisher***