Overview – developed by We’re Five Games and published by TinyBuild Games, Totally Reliable Delivery Service is a ragdoll physics sim about terrible delivery couriers. Work alone or with others to deliver packages, using a variety of vehicles to accomplish your tasks. This title is available for all major platforms and mobile devices, including a new release for steam out today. Links to purchase the game will be at the bottom of this review.
Disclaimer: before I get into the review, I want to thank TinyBuild Games for providing the copy of Totally Reliable Delivery Service that was used for this piece. The provision of this software has not influenced the contents of this piece, all thoughts and opinions contained within are my own.
So with the introductions out of the way, let’s get into the review. There is no real story contained in this game so I will go straight into the gameplay section.
Gameplay – the player is part of the Totally Reliable Delivery Service, a team of couriers that deliver packages around the city and surrounding islands. Starting from the headquarters, the player must activate delivery stations, setting off a delivery for the player to complete. Across the land, over a hundred challenges are available to complete, with gold, silver and bronze rewards based on performance.
When the player activates a delivery station, a package and vehicle will appear for the player to use. The provided equipment can be just a suggestion, with the player having the option to approach each situation creatively. If a van is provided, but a buggy or helicopter is available, you can choose to use that item for your delivery. Alongside the variety of vehicles is a selection of delivery types, including the time based Red Hot Rush and condition focused Fragile delivery.
As the game progresses, the player unlocks vehicles that can be accessed from the headquarters. Alongside the vehicles, the player unlocks cosmetic items for character customization, as well as monetary rewards with each trophy tier. The cash rewards can be used to purchase cosmetic upgrades for the different vehicles, including aircraft and boats. The inclusion of unlockable cosmetics and vehicles is a great incentive, adding a reason for the player to try to improve their performance.
As this title is a sandbox game, you have the ability to openly explore the available islands and take part in entertaining side events. However, there is a downside to this feature. There is additional DLC content that locks off some of these events and features that are accessible, meaning the player must pay an additional fee to get the most out of this title.
The last thing to talk about is the way that the rag doll physics function. This game has elements of other physics based games, similar to other titles like I am Bread and Goat Simulator. The player controls the characters arms independently, making it difficult to handle packages and other objects. Ragdoll effects can also make using vehicles a pain to handle, with packages falling of the back of trucks when going uphill and losing points during events. The worst is when explosive barrels fall and send you sky high upon ignition.
A frustration that I had while playing was clipping, due to the physics implemented, the player wiggles around and gets caught in scenery. The issue with clipping can affect the way that packages are handled, with the characters arms going behind them and struggling to control the player character. These frustrations can make things awkward, leading to poor timing and missing out on a gold trophy. I will say that the ragdoll mechanic is fun when playing with others. The entertainment of launching a friend over a building in a canon, smashing a buggy into them and crashing a plane into a building as they hold on for dear life is delightful.
Speaking of multiplayer, there is local and online play available to players on all systems. The local play uses a split-screen display, allowing players to explore the game world freely but bear in mind that only one challenge can be done at a time. To lessen the boredom that may be experienced during when separated, there is a variety of ramps, vehicles and even a rocket league style mini game that can be enjoyed. The online is the same, allowing players to host their own games and join other players.
Now with the gameplay covered, let’s move onto the other aspects of the game, starting with the controls.
Controls – Totally Reliable Delivery Service uses an awkward control scheme, with a frustrating and awkward button layout. The characters arms are controlled by the shoulder buttons, with the back triggers being used to grip items and front bumpers to lift each arm. Being able to lift arms and grip items can be very uncomfortable, but there is a saving grace of the twin lift button mapped to the face. Moving and turning is clumsy, jumping is a little delayed and the overall control set up can be uncomfortable.
Presentation – the graphical style is quirky, with all the character models being chubby, having rotund bellies and stubby limbs. There are a couple of flaws with the visual performance of this title, as the rendering distance isn’t great during flight and on rare occasions the textures for the ground can fail to load. Both of these issues can cause frustration during play, with the rendering problems getting a little worse when in handheld/tabletop mode.
There isn’t much to say about the sound in this release. The music is an endless happy and poppy composition, and it gets tiring rather quickly which is unfortunate. The sound effects for vehicles and interactions with the world are effective, using booming explosions and deep engine rumbles to add life to the world. There isn’t really anything wrong with the sound design, it just starts to get a little repetitive over time.
Final thoughts – I did enjoy Totally Reliable Delivery Service, although there were some issues. The frustrations of trying to get packages to the locations did put a bit of a downer on the experience. Much like I am Bread and Surgeon Simulator, this could be classed as a rage game, entertaining in bursts but likely to get increasingly annoying over time. I can recommend this to people who do enjoy physics based games and sandbox experiences, having a lot of things to experiment with during play.
In the end I give Totally Reliable Delivery Service a score of 4/5, a fun and enjoyable experience when played alone or with others, blowing up planes, sinking boats and crashing cars. An entertaining sandbox romp, although it does have some minor flaws. If you are interested in picking this game up, links to all versions of the game are below.
Link to Nintendo Switch version (HERE)
Link to Steam version (HERE)
Link to PlayStation 4 version (HERE)
Link to Epic Store (HERE)
Link to Xbox version (HERE)
Website link for info on the mobile versions (HERE)
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