Screenshot: Get Packed: Fully Loaded
If you’re a fan of co-op party-style games like
Overcooked! or
Tools Up! there have been no shortage of games coming out in that niche genre. Another game in the same vein,
Get Packed: Fully Loaded attempts to use the same type of formula (minus the exclamation point in the title) but goes about it a little more, let’s say: chaotically. Once a Stadia exclusive,
Get Packed: Fully Loaded has brought all of the content of the original with online multiplayer to last and current gen consoles.
Get Packed: Fully Loaded is a cooperative physics-based party game where you and up to three of your friends attempt to clear out buildings as quickly as possible, with as little damage as possible to the objects and building. A moving truck pulls up, drops its ramp, and you and your team attempt pack it with as many items as it can hold—and then you send it off, and wait for the truck to come back for the next load. You can grab objects with each arm individually, so it has a bit of a flailing
QWOP feel to it—with an emphasis on flailing. The goal is to make as much money from the hauled items as possible, with each item holding a certain value. If anything is broken—buildings or items—that value is lost or deducted from your total earnings—chaotic arm flailing is not conducive to unbroken items. And while it might not be as mechanically tight as
Tools Up! or
Overcooked! it manages its own insane brand of fun.
Screenshot: Get Packed: Fully Loaded
As with any of this style of cooperative games, friends can help and make things more fun—but just having another body with flailing arms makes the whole thing a lot harder. Despite the monetary penalty attached to broken objects,
Get Packed isn’t about precision—it’s about speed, though precision helps, and there’s definitely a strategy involved. Items with higher value should be priority—though the game doesn’t make clear what those are without trial and error. You get a bonus for getting the client specified item—which can be literally any object on the map. Speaking of: not only do you get paid for items you move out of buildings, but also for most anything you can pack into the truck, including stuff laying around outside, if you want to pad your score. Loading the truck can be difficult—not only do you have to pack items in, you have to then get yourself out—most of the time. It’s possible to send off your truck with you (or someone else, even NPCs) inside. Trapping NPCs in your truck can actually come in handy for a few reasons—including getting pesky guards and other NPCs out of your way. “Wait, guards?” you might ask. Yeah. This game’s story goes places.
Get Packed: Fully Loaded has a story that sees you starting out as a member of a moving company, pulling heists. Okay, well “heist” might be too generous a term—you’re still just moving items out and loading up trucks, but guards and even police might come to try and stop you. I do really enjoy
Get Packed:
Fully Loaded’s story, and the animated cutscenes and voiceover work do a really good job selling the tongue in cheek tone of the experience.
Screenshot: Get Packed: Fully Loaded
The rollercoaster of a story featured in
Get Packed also means there are some interesting and varied levels. You’ll find yourself having to contend with a moving truck that likes to park in multiple spots, shoppers rushing the door for Black Friday, traffic, prison riots, and more. The level design features some interesting challenges that aren’t just pull out object, rinse, repeat. Sometimes these levels require some careful planning and coordination on the part of your co-op team, and patience if you’re playing solo.
Get Packed: Fully Loaded might not be a replacement for
Overcooked!, but it’s a worthy addition to any party game line-up. Its challenges teams to overcome a variety of obstacles, including other players’ chaotically flailing arms. It’s not as precise as
Overcooked!, but it uses its imprecision in the name of fun—which it manages to achieve. It’s not my favorite game of the lot, but after playing a few levels it really warmed up to me—though I have to admit, it was a chore to get through the first level or two until it finally “clicked.”
Screenshot: Get Packed: Fully Loaded
Get Packed: Fully Loaded is available now
on Steam,
PlayStation and
for Xbox.
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