As someone who bikes everywhere year-round, I’m always eager to play games that focus on cycling. I know it’s not remotely the same, but nonetheless: I see a bike in a game, and I want it (it being both the game and the bike). So Parcel Corps – a game about bike messengers – has been on my Steam wishlist seemingly forever.
The problem with this approach is that sometimes, games featuring bikes aren’t really games about bikes. In the case of Parcel Corps, for example, it’s a game about copying old SEGA games like Jet Set Radio and Crazy Taxi – maybe with a side of Tony Hawk Pro Skater – and giving them a flashy new coat of paint.
Though I’m not even sure about the “new coat of paint” bit, come to think of it. I’ve barely played Jet Set Radio, but all I could think about as I played Parcel Corps was how much it reminded me of that game.
That’s not the worst thing for a game to do, obviously. And even if Parcel Corps is by no means original, it still deserves plenty of credit for adapting Jet Set Radio to bikes without any real change to the gameplay – which, in itself, is kind of impressive, seeing as people on bikes and rollerblades move very differently, but it feels just as smooth here. True, a bike grinding along rails and sliding beneath barriers is even more unrealistic (no matter how many times I’ve dreamt about it in real life), but as long as you can get into the spirit of the game, it’s pretty fun.
The challenge, though, is getting into the spirit of the game. The thing about building a game around being a bike messenger is that, unless you really go into leftfield, there’s not going to be a whole lot of variety in what they do: by nature, the job is delivering packages from Point A to Point B. Even if Parcel Corps dresses its bike messenger-ing up with a vague story about taking down an evil CEO, to do it you’re still just delivering packages over and over. The game may add some wrinkles to the deliveries and give you cash to upgrade your look, but if you want a game with varied gameplay, you won’t really find it here.
But, at the same time, if you want a game that evokes the spirit of Jet Set Radio but on a different method of transportation, Parcel Corps delivers that. It’s hardly a unique spin on the genre, but if all you want is arcade-y gameplay and driving around a vividly coloured environment, you’ll get that here.
Secret Mode provided us with a Parcel Corps PC code for review purposes.
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Owners of the game on the Switch will get a free upgrade.
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