Deliver At All Costs, But Maybe Wait For A Discount

You're familiar with the situation in movies based on comic book templates, where heroes "save" innocent civilians from a terrible threat. Still, in the process, they destroy half the city, and the amount of damage caused is greater than it would probably be if they hadn't "saved" them. Well, you'll leave a similar general chaos behind you in the game Deliver At All Costs, delivering - balloons! 

This is a new game from the well-known Konami, in which you take on the role of Winston Green (that's what he claims to be called), who ends his job search by getting employed at a company called We Deliver. It's a delivery job, but if you think that's all there is to it, you're badly mistaken.

If you are in the mood for something a tad more serious, check out our Spirit Of The North 2 review!

The Story of Deliver at All Costs

The main joke of the game is that you're not transporting fresh milk, diapers, or fragrant magnolias, but sea creatures, dragons, and atomic bombs! Okay, one of those is a lie, but the creativity of the main missions in this game knows no bounds. The gameplay itself matches the absurdity of the main narrative, so you can hit any pedestrian with your van without worrying about them losing their life, and the driving model is extremely arcade-like, allowing you to have a good time driving recklessly on the road. 

The physics of the car is present at a decent level, but what catches your attention is the amount and level of destruction of residential buildings. Most walls can be destroyed, leading to the total collapse of objects into countless broken parts.

The Missions Are Truly Something

The main missions are enjoyable and quite distinct from one another. In one mission, you'll be delivering balloons that make you lighter, so you'll jump high into the air with every bounce. In another, you'll carefully transport watermelons, ensuring they don't all fall out during your chaotic drive. And then, in some third mission, you'll be avoiding projectiles from what seems like the entire US Air Force while transporting a trampoline... don't ask why!

Outside of these fun missions and wandering around the city, the game turns into one of those titles that take away your control now and then. Just as the previously scripted scene ends and the game lets you move around, entering the next room will trigger another scripted scene.

The appearance of the car imitates those that could be seen on American streets in the 1950s, and the plot takes place in the late 1950s to early 1960s. Your primary vehicle is a yellow van that you can upgrade with various gadgets, often ones required for the next task.

The Worldbuilding of Deliver At All Costs

As for the location, you have several larger regions at your disposal, each with its districts. The game functions on a semi-open-world principle; more precisely - you'll have a loading screen when transitioning between districts. Since the areas are relatively small, this results in frequent interruptions to gameplay for a few seconds while the subsequent area loads, and I thought we left that behind.

Now and then, you'll have to wait for the loading screen when transitioning between smaller areas on the map.

On the map, which resembles old postcards, you can see the wider area or choose to display only the area you're currently in. On the other hand, the way the player is guided to the goal is nicely done through arrows that appear on the asphalt, and they fit in well with the environment.

The Gameplay

The driving controls are very responsive, and the car reaches its maximum speed very quickly after pressing the gas button. The general arcade-like driving is briefly interrupted by mild simulation segments when snow appears and the car slips a bit more on the road. Movement is experienced through a fixed-position bird's-eye view, which requires you to adjust your driving accordingly.

This is where the first criticism of the game lies because apart from the decision not to give the player free control over the camera, it's disappointing and surprising that you can only position it from two angles, and those are adjacent. So, you can either look in the direction of north-south or northwest-southeast.

Apart from the decision not to give the player free control over the camera, it's disappointing that you can only position it from two angles.

Like in GTA games, you can exit and enter other people's cars that are naively parked without locks. When walking around the city, you'll have the opportunity to climb onto some lookout point or violently push passers-by, and some of them might even move back. Wrecking outside of the car and inside will go unpunished, as there is no police presence except in scripted situations.

Don't Be Fooled, Deliver At All Costs Has A Solid Story

However, if you thought this was a game with one trick, and that's all the content, you're wrong for some reason unknown to me. The game features a substantial narrative component. Our silly courier, Winston, is hiding some secrets and a completely different life he led before embarking on this delivery adventure.

 You'll witness relationships within the company We Deliver, who likes who and who doesn't, and on top of that, a nearby volcano erupts! Without revealing the strange and unnecessary plot twist of this story, it's all mixed up with some secret agents, either FBI or CIA, and there's plenty of dialogue. You'll wonder, what's the point of all this?

It's equally interesting to describe the presentation side of the game. As I mentioned, a lot of text is saved for this game, and the scenes are surprisingly meticulous and detailed directed. There are many camera angles (if only there were that many during world exploration), the voice acting is excellent, and there are even short comic book sequences, but terrible visuals ruin all of this.

 This can still pass when the camera is far away at bird's-eye view height, but in directed scenes, the graphics stand out. At high graphics details, you'll wonder: well, how does it look on low? This is a pretty polished title, and apart from one or two minor bugs, there were no other issues.

In Conclusion

To cut to the chase, Deliver At All Costs is a game where your courier is constantly on the move from one location to another. At the same time, you're listening to a lot of recorded dialogue in carefully directed scenes where you're discovering one strange twist after another while wondering: where is all this going, and why are the character models so ugly? 

The impressive physics of falling parts of street banners and signs, as well as broken objects, is negatively contrasted with frequent loading and clumsy camera positioning. But since you can fortunately skip scripted scenes, you can focus on what was supposed to be the central point of this game – delivering crazy things. Just don't expect to have a wild time.

Rating: 6.5/10

The game earns this grade due to its fun and creative missions but is hindered by poor visuals, limited camera control, and frequent loading screens.

Recommended age: 10+

We recommend this game for kids aged 10 and above due to its relatively mild content and arcade-like gameplay. However, parental discretion is advised, as the game contains some mild themes and humour.