Review: Move or Die

Since pictures don’t quite give the same feel as a movie, above is Move or Die’s release video to get you all in the mood for this craziness.

Move or Die is a simple enough concept. However, it still goes beyond my common nature to not stand still when I’m safe in a platforming versus game. I will admit that that was exactly what happened the first time I played. I entered a round called Bomb Tag against three other people. I had managed to “hot potato” the bomb away from myself and it seemed like the other three were very content with passing it back and forth between each other. I was fine with that too and then it was down to myself and the last guy. I was on the opposite side of the screen and got to the highest perch in the level. Knowing he didn’t have enough time to get to me, I sat back and laughed at my all-to inevitable victory… and then I lost. I exploded because I stopped moving. I then face-palmed myself because that is what the whole point (and name if you didn’t catch it) of the game.

I believe the worst part of all of this was that I was showing the game off to some friends and explaining how you play when this happened. The game doesn’t stop there though. While you may lose health if you stand still, you also can’t get health back when jumping. You still need to obey the laws of the levels too! The modes/levels switch up every round… unless someone just picks a single mode over and over again, but that shouldn’t happen very often (unless someone is achievement hunting or that coworker that just didn’t understand level selection).

Up to four people can play this and I’ll admit that it is fun online to play with random strangers. It truly is. Unless it’s only against one other person and they just keep beating you hands down. That actually sucks pretty bad and stops being fun rather quickly. Like most games, the close matches are the most exciting. Move or Die is no exception here. However, they don’t call this “the friendship ruining game” for nothing. Move or Die was the most fun when I played it locally with my buds. “That makes sense” you’ll say, but I have no doubt that some people will look at this game and think, “there won’t be enough people online to make this fun.” To that I say “Rubbish!” Pick this game up and play with friends… and then lose them because that’s the nature of the game because as we all know, you can’t make an omelette without destroying a forest.

More Move or Die info: Facebook / Official Page / Reddit / Steam / Twitter / YouTube