Parcel Corps transforms the thankless graft of an urban courier into an extreme sport with a flair of Crazy Taxi and a streak of satirical British humour. Battling against the clock, players are tasked with whisking all kinds of cargo across maze-like urban sandboxes, interacting with a colourful cast of clients looking to pedal their wares.
Oh yes, there’s plenty of pedalling in Parcel Corps. The game’s stand-out feature is its use of bicycles as the only mode of transport which instantly makes travel more dynamic. Not only can players weave through the traffic and backstreets, they can also perform a simple yet effective repertoire of tricks such as grinds, wall-rides, slides, and wheelies. In this respect, the game takes on a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater dimension that seamlessly complements its beat-the-clock arcade action.
With that said, I wasn’t all too enthused by the opening half an hour. Parcel Corps wants to ease you in with a step-by-step tutorial that has you performing basic manoeuvres around traffic cones before the training wheels can come off. Those first few deliveries can also feel sluggish as you get to grips with not just the bicycle handling, but also juggling a mobile phone.
However, after exploring the game’s first of several open-world locations and signing up a handful of clients, everything starts to click into place. With mastery, the bike handling will go from feeling slow and clumsy to fast and fluid as you chain together parkour-like stunts to access shortcuts while generally getting a feel for your surroundings.
Delivery Rush events are where your skills are put to the test. This is where Parcel Corps is at its most Crazy Taxi-like, challenging players to complete as many deliveries as the clock counts down, giving them freedom to choose which jobs to complete. It can often feel like the entire game was constructed around this core game mode – your performance in Delivery Rush will impact your story progress and how quickly you move onto the next map.
Speaking of story, developer Billy Goat Entertainment uses live action cutscenes and comical caricatures to poke fun at real world issues such as corporate greed and the exploitative gig economy in the UK. There’s also an anti-authoritian streak throughout. As a courier, you can align with mask-wearing anarchists by vandalising surveillance equipment which, in turn, comes with its own rewards by unlocking handy shortcuts.
Repetition is another antagonist you’ll need to face off against. As you progress from zone to zone, a predictable pattern emerges in which players must sign up a handful of clients and then grind out Delivery Rush XP, repeating the process until your boss is happy for you to move on, only to go through the same loop again.
Finicky controls present another bugbear, particularly when trying to use the in-game phone. You can essentially multitask while riding, though the button inputs and map feature can be frustrating to use even if the concept is innovative. There are other parts of the game that don’t feel well executed. All that hard earned money you amass can only be spent purchasing cosmetic upgrades and although there is online multiplayer, it feels superfluous with launch day matchmaking times being a true test of patience.
