Parcel Corps: A Whacky and Fun Courier Game with a Twist
Have you ever wondered how food couriers get your meals to you before the weather gets cold? How do they manage to cross cities, rivers, mountains and do it all within the allotted time? If you, like me, have been thinking about this question, then BillyGoat Entertainment‘s Parcel Corps is the perfect game for you. I had the chance to sit down and check out the game in a hands-off way this year during Gamescom, and while the game often feels like a weird fever dream, I’m also completely captivated by it and can’t wait to play it in the future.
At its core, Parcel Corps is the strange love child of Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Sunset Overdrive. The idea is to become a bicycle courier and then zoom into a colorful and vibrant world to complete a series of delivery tasks. The problem is that this game isn’t a grounded and realistic one, no, it’s set in a wacky world where you play as what can only be described as Superman on a BMX bike. You can ride walls, bounce on cars, grind on rails with skill and style, and pedal ridiculously fast, all in a level that’s designed to feel like a giant playground with lots of exciting ways to get around that is more exciting than simply driving along the road.
The actual delivery missions are also weird and strange, fitting the tone of this game. You’ll meet a variety of eccentric characters and individuals around the world who will ask you to deliver their goods so that you can improve your reputation with their company, opening the door to better contracts and opportunities. Why are you doing this in the first place? This is where Parcel Corps gets even more peculiar. The story revolves around you hoping to stop a giant company from taking over the delivery world, all by stealing contracts and taking away their customers. However, the consequences will mean that your couriers find themselves the target of law enforcement, with cars and helicopters chasing you and slowing you down.
While I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on Parcel Corps yet, what BillyGoat Entertainment showed me during a preview session made it clear that the gameplay is smooth and fast-paced, and you can really tackle the challenges and the world in a way that works for you. This isn’t a Skate type game that aims for more realistic movement, it’s Sunset Overdrive on a bike where you’ll jump and grind around the world in an incredibly smooth and exciting way.
The question with Parcel Corps will be how well the developers keep iterating on the gameplay, because while the action looks fun, the nature of simply delivering packages for hours on end will undoubtedly start to feel a bit repetitive after a while. There are some glimpses of how the developers plan to solve this problem, for example, your couriers will always be live-streaming their journeys, and you can interact with your audience by completing tricks and more to earn rewards for donations and more money that can be spent on certain Customizing and improving your bikes and growing your courier business.
From what I’ve seen, BillyGoat Entertainment has something special with Parcel Corps. It’s a very fun and silly game, full of witty and goofy humor, and built in a gaming style that looks to give players a lot of choices in how they travel around the world. I can’t wait to see what else the game has to offer before launch, and to see how BillyGoat transcends its quirkiness.