Deliver At All Costs Review – Drive On By This Courier Action Game

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Tasks that are repeated often can have a trance-like quality, and many games have exploited this to make mundane tasks more appealing. Deliver At All Costs takes the opposite approach, turning the grueling, unrewarding nature of courier work into an exhilarating, farcical journey. While it offers some enjoyable bursts of excitement, the game frequently succumbs to a repetitive rhythm due to its overly cyclic structure, slow-moving narrative, and uninspiring in-game enhancements.

In a captivating manner, Deliver At All Costs begins with an intriguing prologue. The player assumes the role of Winston, a brilliant yet troubled engineer struggling to pay rent, lacking companionship, and prone to fits of rage. He experiences spectral images of a peculiar fox, someone is secretly watching his residence, and he conceals secrets about his past. This enigmatic and unusual scenario instantly pulls you into the narrative, eager to discover Winston’s true identity and unravel the mysteries surrounding him.

The first hour of Deliver At All Costs is shrouded in mystery as Winston accepts a job driving trucks for We Deliver, a courier service. Each delivery presents Winston (and the player) with unique and difficult cargo, such as powerful balloons that make his truck float excessively and easily drift over buildings upon slight impact, or a statue that draws an intense crowd of seagulls who relentlessly drop waste on it.

During that initial hour, I found the contrast in Deliver At All Costs intriguing. The captivating enigma surrounding Winston’s identity clashed humorously with the absurdity of his current situation. Despite the stiff and unclear facial expressions of the characters, which seemed just as ludicrous as the weak writing, I convinced myself that this was a deliberate decision to introduce an unsettling, otherworldly quality to the people around Winston, intensifying my feelings of discomfort regarding his environment. The gradual unveiling of details about Winston’s identity during each delivery felt like it was leading towards a significant revelation.

Essentially, the narrative of Deliver At All Costs fails to fully deliver on the intrigue it initially presents. While you do gather more insights about Winston and the story takes an unexpectedly wild course, the revelations aren’t particularly fulfilling as a payoff and seem disconnected from the expectations set by the initial chapter. As time passes, it becomes evident that the unusual visuals and odd pacing of the story are not intended to create a sense of strangeness, but rather are a consequence of its aimless progression.

In Deliver At All Costs, the gameplay takes center stage, with an emphasis similar to its storyline that loses some intensity over time. Nearly everything in this game can be destroyed, and Winston’s truck appears almost indestructible, enabling you to plow through street lamps, fences, and buildings as if they were mere illusions.

At first, it’s amusing chaos to barrel through nearly half a city to make a delivery swiftly, honking your horn and charging past any residents who don’t move aside promptly. There are no repercussions for your actions: If you manage to create enough havoc to draw the police, you can instantly reduce their suspicion by hiding in a dumpster—you don’t even need to ensure they don’t see you (and if you get caught, the punishment is so insignificant, it may as well be nonexistent). If Winston perishes or fails his delivery, the game promptly revives him, thanks to numerous autosave checkpoints. And regardless of how destructive you are, Winston’s truck remains indestructible—it rights itself automatically, can be repaired with a single button press, and appears beside you when you stop near any of the phone booths that seem to be on every street corner.

At first, it’s thrilling to be indestructible, but soon the excitement fades as the novelty wears off with each passing hour. There’s no reward for causing chaos other than personal satisfaction. You won’t gain anything by tearing down a structure or running over a crowd of people. There’s no advantage to delivering quickly with maximum damage, minimal restarts, or minimal casualties. The game doesn’t acknowledge any of that. Winston is just an angry character, and Deliver At All Costs lets you indulge in that fantasy by allowing as much destruction as desired with limited consequences. However, the problem is that the game seems indifferent to your destruction, making it feel pointless and dull over time.

This design choice results in the game providing minimal obstacles that truly test your skills, and since there are no significant consequences for making mistakes, there’s little resistance to the tasks you’re given. Consequently, the gameplay becomes repetitive, with Winston waking up, accepting a job to move an item from one location to another, completing it, returning home, sleeping, and advancing the story. The chaos or calmness of his actions has no impact on him or other characters, which eventually makes the experience feel monotonous for the player as well.

In Deliver At All Costs, there are instances where the game deviates from its repetitive formula to offer Winston more unusual tasks, making the gameplay more enjoyable. Some of these missions, such as bursting through buildings to pursue rival delivery trucks, swiping their packages, and racing to deliver them while using your town knowledge to create enough chaos to deter your pursuers, are hilariously entertaining. However, a significant number of these tasks can be frustratingly terrible, like climbing an active volcano and dodging unavoidable rockslides, or a mission requiring you to drive monotonously through the streets, keeping a truckload of melons from falling off while ignoring the opportunity for destruction. These moments could have been made more enjoyable with more successful humor attempts, but the game’s jokes often fail to hit their mark.

In Deliver At All Costs, optional tasks and collectibles don’t seem to offer much variety to counteract the game’s repetitive flow. From what I’ve observed, there doesn’t appear to be any hidden content to explore – the map clearly indicates where every resource-filled chest, hidden vehicle, or character in distress is located, leaving little room for uncertainty about where to venture if you need a brief respite from the narrative.

In this rephrased version, let me explain how materials are utilized for enhancing Winston’s vehicle, offering features such as an earsplitting horn capable of shattering windows or swiftly opening doors to splatter a missed pedestrian during a collision. However, it’s important to note that destruction is not a compulsory element in each mission; rather, increasing the level of destruction does not alter the fundamental mechanics of the gameplay. Consequently, these upgrades may come across as uninspiring and superfluous.

The mandatory truck enhancements (which are naturally unlocked as the story progresses) do make certain aspects of the delivery process more manageable, such as a crane that allows Winston to load and unload cargo without exiting the vehicle. These upgrades, however, do not significantly impact the overall gaming experience beyond streamlining the delivery process.

The cars scattered throughout the map aren’t really worth pursuing. They handle identically to Winston’s truck, and they’re not useful for making deliveries. Plus, there’s no place to store them, so you can’t keep them. Essentially, they’re just alternative-looking cars that let you drive around, causing destruction in the game world.

The people seeking Winston’s aid are quickly overlooked due to the game’s narrative holding them back. Their side quests, however, provide engaging diversions – such as controlling a possessed vehicle trying to veer off course towards a volcano for destruction, locating a mayor doppelganger hidden somewhere on the map, and plowing through everything in sight to scare corrupt executives you’re transporting. Unfortunately, the tales associated with these characters lack excitement or any substantial narrative depth. It’s truly unfortunate that despite Deliver At All Costs showcasing 1950s aesthetics and stunning, intricate settings, I don’t feel compelled to linger in them longer.

Deliver at Any Price offers an engaging hour-long gaming experience initially. However, the repetitive task of transporting goods from one location to another grows monotonous. The excitement derived from wreaking havoc and appreciating each delivery’s distinct setting is fleeting. Repeatedly destroying objects for destruction’s sake soon loses its charm, and the aimless and unfulfilling narrative that binds each delivery undermines the overall experience. While Deliver at Any Price has its strong points, it frequently undercuts its own entertainment value.

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2025-05-22 22:39