Ready, Steady, Ship! is a hilarious game featuring a coop and solo campaign based around shipping. Don’t let that amazing idea draw you in too fast, the couch coop op stylings are fun for 2 player madness.
The game’s overarching story is that your character gets a job in a shipping factory. After learning the basics, they put it to work on the floor and, after a week or five stages, get promoted. This theme continues throughout the game. With each promotion comes more items to utilise on top of the standard conveyor belts. These items include forklifts, cranes, robot arms and more. Each of these items has a uniqueness to them and their movements. My favourite has been the crane. We were rolling on the floor with laughter as I used it to rock crates across the room, and somehow, I still managed to get them on the belts.
The gameplay styles remind me of similar titles like Moving Out or Human Fall Flat, and these games also make me smile. The chaotic nature of the games also makes for hilarious fun. Trying to coordinate and complete the level mixed with also trying to figure out the puzzle of the levels is all part of the amusement. Taking on the Coop campaign led to more chaos, recycling the second player instead of boxes or conveyors, and falling into acid all with comical consequences.
The game controls are very easy to pick up, and there are multiple tutorials to point out what to do. Just remember not to skip all the dialogue boxes as, at one stage, we got a bit lost on what to do and had to restart a level as I had skipped an important prompt. The machines are a little tougher to control. We sometimes choose to skip them to move items manually to try and save time. There was also some lag when it came to the movement and grabbing buttons while using the machines.
The music in the game is delightful, with a great and peaceful melody, contrary to what was happening in the workplace. The game’s other audio was awesome, too. You get a real feel for a factory setting, minus the WHS policies that would slow down shipping.
Each set of stages introduces some new ideas or items to be used. This often leads to more chaos at different levels, too. I had fun solo, but the real joy came when playing with a second person. The game gets progressively harder with the addition of more intricate puzzles and solutions to complete levels. Often, we would lose more time trying to sort a layout plan than playing the level. The game would be a great one for kids and families or just some fun with friends. There are a dozen or so additional player models to unlock.
I had a great time with this game and will play it more with my family. We had fun bouts of laughter, and although some of the machines were on the harder side to control, it all led to some fun antics.
(Review code provided to Explosion Network.
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