Parcel Corps PS5 Review. So often in video games we obsess over frame rates and graphical fidelity. Recently, Astro Bot so brilliantly reminded us that fun is in fact a very important ingredient of gaming. Hell, I grew up playing Amstrad and Sega Mega Drive games that ran at abysmal frame rates, but did I have fun playing them? You better believe it.
Parcel Corps from Northern Irish developer Billy Goat Entertainment. a team who pride themselves on “crafting jovial, light-hearted, comedic experiences for consoles and PC,” aims for bicycle messenger dominance by offering players the high octane life of pedal powered courier.
Parcel Corps Review (PS5) – A Premium Rush?
Pedal To The Metal
Ditching the 9-5, players take on the role of an aspiring bicycle courier. Learning the ropes is handled nicely with a very well put together tutorial. Overly text heavy tutorials are my pet hate and gladly here the developers have included a fully voiced tutorial. Better yet, the on-boarding is kept short, snappy and to the point. Before you know it you are into the game proper putting your new found skills to the test.
The aim of the game is to get local businesses to sign up to your corporation’s delivery app. These businesses can be added as a prospective customers by scanning QR codes found on boards dotted around the map.
On successful completion of a trail delivery task, the business then becomes a regular customer, with different delivery jobs to complete against the clock.
The more jobs you successfully complete for a business the more the higher your reputation grows. Some businesses will only deal with couriers of a certain reputation level so the incentive is there to make a name for yourself as quickly and efficiently as possible. Your growing reputation not only opens up new customers to you but also new ares of the map, too.
At the heart of the experience is your trusty mobile phone. This is where you can take a look at your maps, accept jobs and even play snake should your nostalgic heartstrings be yearning for the Nokia 3310 procrastination classic. You can even operate the phone while cycling one handed… a stalwart skill of any budding bicycle courier master.
By Any Means Necessary
What at first seems like a very repetitive process of delivering to the same few spots is actually done by design. Having a smaller area to navigate with recurrent pick-up / drop-off locations ensures the player garners an inherent knowledge of the many hazards, shortcuts and trick spots. Zipping around the map becomes a cinch as you develop almost Jedi like reflexes with your ingrained knowledge.
These skills will be relied upon heavily as you progress to new areas. The intensity and challenge is constantly ramped up keeping players on their toes. Thankfully the easy to learn, tight responsive controls make for a very enjoyable adventure.
On the graphics front the game features a very stylised cell shaded look. Think Hi-Fi Rush and you’re on the right track. The more you play the more you appreciate the detailed work that has gone into the character animations, which add to the realistic feeling that you are controlling a bike.
Controls animations and responsiveness all combine to deliver a very nice gameplay package (pun intended). Parcel Corps reminds me so much of playing Die Hard 3 from the Die Hard Trilogy on PS1 – “turn left up here.” It was a game I played endlessly in the race against the clock and this game very much scratches that itch for a similar fun experience.
Breaking the 4th Wall
Throughout your gameplay you meet numerous characters – what the devs label “legally-distinct-from-recognisable-IP-but-just-in-case-our-legal-email-address-goes-to-a-defunct-inbox side characters.” They are excellently conceived and fully voiced to boot. It’s quite clear that this team had a lot of fun cramming every possible parody in while making this game.
Special mention has to go to the fourth wall breaking parody of CNN news bulletin presentation of the overarching story. It’s a fresh approach that fits so well the over-the-top, satirical vibe of the game.
Imperfections
Parcel Corps is not without its flaws however. Noticeable texture, shadow and detail pop-in is evident throughout; but with having such fast paced fun, it’s an easy one to look past.
Text size in a lot of areas could be massively improved. Quite a number of times I had to leave the comfort of my couch to try to decipher some tiny wording. Noted this is quite a common gripe in games and I’ve got perfect vision. So it’s not unique to this title.
Gameplay wise the monetary reward system is a bit disappointing. It is only tied to cosmetic upgrades for your bike and if you are not into customising your ride then the incentive isn’t there to earn more and more.
Had this been tied to an upgrade system where purchased parts give you things like increased speed, sharper turning, higher bunny hopping, and longer wall riding, then the money in your piggy bank from your hard earned graft would have more meaning. Something similar to how the upgrades were handled in Extreme Games back on PSOne would be great. Simple yet effective in dangling the upgrade carrot on end of stick with a sense of well spent cash for the player after the upgrade.
What further left a bad taste on the customising parts was that a number of times after I purchased parts, when fitting them I was met with graphical glitches. My newly purchased front forks for example, floated in mid air rather than being attached correctly to my bike. Money not well spent.
Just like any good arcade racer (Horizon Chase Turbo I’m looking at you), Parcel Corps is a prime example of what I call a pallet cleanser game. Leave it sitting installed on your PS5 and jump in and out of it in between bigger more involved titles to help stave off the gaming burn out with some good old fashioned fun.
Parcel Corps is available now on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by PR.