Deliver At All Costs - The Virtual Road Carpet You Need To Try
I always enjoy utilizing the defense mechanism of regression, in other words reverting to earlier behaviors or thought patterns. I’ve been considered a legal adult now for almost the better part of a decade yet I don’t feel much older. I have to worry about things that I was never properly prepared for as a kid. Frankly, it scares the hell out of me as it does most people. So that’s where video games come in to serve as that welcome distraction we very much need. I played games as a kid and will continue to do so for as long as my fingers allow. Some games use nostalgia as just bait to hook people in without lasting effects. However, the more I kept playing Deliver At All Costs, the debut title from Far Out Games, it brought me back to a time of pure bliss of playing with my city carpet. Oddly enough, the game just released and is currently free to claim on the Epic Games Store.
When I was young, I had one of those rugs that had the layout of a city. These were commonplace for me as I had one at home but also one at school. However, being home was always more special since the world was my own, and my brother could be a guest when he decided to play with me. I had story lines for every character that was out, I had all these model cars everywhere, I’m sure you can picture it in your head. I also had Legos, which was lucky to receive them as a gift despite how many pieces my parents stepped on.
Some of these Lego structures were just setpieces for my characters to go through which meant lots of destruction. Once it’s all knocked down, I would set it up and proceed to keep going until I inevitably got bored. The reason I bring all of this up is because playing Deliver At All Costs feels like I’m back on that carpet. Complete with the destruction and the storylines of the characters I used to create when I was a kid. To put it simply, it’s just a damn good time.
You play as Winston, a guy who’s down on his luck and needs a job quickly. So after an advertisement he hears on the radio for a company called We Deliver, Winston makes his way down there and becomes the newest delivery driver. From here there is a main story to follow, but the world of Deliver At All Costs is so interesting from both an artistic and gameplay perspective that the story was not the focal point for me, despite how well acted it is.
Deliver At All Costs takes place during the 1950s in the sun-soaked town of St. Monique. So how do they make DoorDashing in the 1950s fun with cars that take 3-5 business days to go from 0-50? Well Far Out Games have decided to remove any resemblance of realism and let the entire world be destroyed and that destruction rests at your fingertips from the moment you enter the first vehicle.
Driving with an isometric view can seem disorienting but there are two control options to alter your steering. I’ve only used the method of steering relative to where the vehicle is facing, which feels great. All of the cars have very nice and tight handling despite their age. Should your company truck be destroyed there are plenty of phone booths to call a new one in, or there are plenty of cars to be driven.
It is impossible for the act of driving from point A to B to be boring, which is an impressive feat given that most of your time spent will be behind the wheel. The physics engine never fails to entertain as the city falls apart to your abuse. However, it’s when the physics becomes incorporated into the gameplay that really left me genuinely impressed. Not that physics in video games are new, Half-Life 2 came out in 2004. It’s more so seeing it utilized in a different perspective that requires a very specific way of thinking that puts a smile on my face.
Early on you have to deliver a truck full of watermelons. However, the watermelons are tainted and have to be cleaned up first. So, you start by taking the truck to get them cleaned then you drop them off to the client. It’s a simple delivery, however each individual watermelon is its own problem as they will bump into one another as you drive. I don’t think I need to explain what happens when you combine loose entities with speed and collision. The absurdity of the whole ordeal left me anxious but I couldn’t help but cackle. I had to tighten up my body because I was scared of more watermelons falling out of my truck, and that alone encapsulates the thrill of Deliver At All Costs.
I am being vague about Deliver At All Costs but it’s only because I highly encourage you all to check it out yourself. At the time of writing this, Deliver At All Costs is free to claim on the Epic Games Store. I’m not quite sure if this was a mistake or not but even so, $29.99 is more than fair as there is an entire world here full of character and discovery waiting to be experienced. It’s a simple game to play despite how much zaniness unfolds through its moment to moment action. Far Out Games clearly knows what they're doing and for this being their debut, you honestly couldn’t tell, so at this point the sky's the limit.
