Bicycle delivery sim Parcel Corps is delayed but at least it's funny about it
Committed to the bit
We've been negligent in our duty as watchkeepers of extreme sports games. Parcel Corps is a light-hearted bicycle courier sim set in a colourful totalitarian regime where the police do not like things to be delivered in time, or at all. Perhaps that's why the game, which was due to arrive on Steam tomorrow, has been delayed until an unspecified date. That's okay, half the news stories we write seem to be about release setbacks. At least the developers announced the delay in a funny and thematically appropriate way.
The announcement of the delay includes the jokey use of a "Sorry we missed you" leaflet, with the accompanying text saying that the delay is due to the developers "taking extra time to tune things up for the best possible launch".
I enjoy the use of the recognisable leaflet, even if the sight of these things in real life sends me into an apoplectic spin cycle of rage. (I was right here, Evri nee Hermes, you didn't even knock!) It's in keeping with the game's schtick, which sees you scooting around on bicycle for one of three profit-hungry courier companies, earning a "modest wage" and performing tricks to outpace the police and shorten your delivery times. There's a demo on the Steam page, if any of that sounds Jet-Set-Radio-ly appealing to you.
Developers Billy Goat Entertainment are based in Northern Ireland, and previously made satirical sci-fi adventure Her Majesty's Spiffing. I must concede a mild whiff of bias here, since I too am a scarred survivor of the Northern Irish wasteland, and I feel nice and warm when professional game studios arise out of the twisted bricks of Belfast. Even more so when things from our - ahem - quirky history make it into games. The police vehicles in Parcel Corps, for example, appear closely modeled on the militarised Tangi Land Rovers that cops still drive here sometimes. Ah, home sweet home.