Totally Reliable Delivery Service Review

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Fast Facts

Totally Reliable Delivery Service

Developer: We’re Five Games
Publisher: tinyBuild Games
Website: https://www.werefivegames.com/totally-reliable-delivery-service
Genre: Action, Simulation
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Age Rating: PEGI 3
Release Date: 01/04/2020
Price: £13.49

A code was provided for review purposes.

Delivering the goods

Totally reliable Delivery service is a quirky title that recently appeared on the Nintendo Switch eShop.  It has a lot of similarities to Human: Fall Flat as you guide a floppy character around a sandbox environment. However, Human: Fall Flat had you solving problems to overcome obstacles so you could reach an end goal.  Whereas Totally Reliable Delivery service sees you freely moving around a huge open-world map delivering parcels to key locations in a wide array of vehicles.

First day on the job!

Once you begin the game, you can either play by yourself or with up to 4 players locally, which is an excellent feature, bringing back the good old fashioned couch co-op with your family.

However, I was unable to try this feature out due to the circumstances currently affecting us all.

After selecting how many players you want, you will appear in the world to begin your career. There a few options available in the pause menu, including the ability to edit your character. More characters will be unlocked over time by completing missions. There’s not really any in-depth tutorial on how to get started. You’re simply thrown into the world and given the basic controls via the loading screen, or on the fly as you play.

Once you begin, look out for the orange delivery machines. These can give you missions which once completed, will reward you with a cash prize, or an unlockable cosmetic for your character.

On certain missions, you will receive either a bronze, silver, or gold trophy. These can unlock additional vehicles and aircraft in your HQ – the large blue building. I’d say check the map for a general overview, but there’s no map during play. That and waypoints sometimes don’t display, so it’s easy to get lost.

Unlocking vehicles will allow you to drive further afield, see new locations, and find new missions. Each vehicle also allows you to transport your deliveries a little easier. For example, the first car is the airport trolley which is really unstable and can be turned over pretty easily. However, when you unlock the pick-up truck, you will see the difference straight away. Not only is it a lot bigger, but it has a larger trunk allowing you to transport items more safely to there destination.

Parcel machine!

As I mentioned before, orange delivery machines can be found all over the place. To activate one simply pull the lever on the side to receive your parcel and start a mission.  Some of these missions have you racing against the clock to earn one of 3 trophies while others allow you to take your time without the hassle of rushing.

Art of failing, delivering!

You can deliver on foot or by car, it’s your choice, but the real challenge comes in the form of flying deliveries. This is where it can go from being a fun experience to a frustrating one. The helicopter is one of the main transport options for aerial deliveries, but I found controlling it to be quite tricky. There’s very little forwards motion in the helicopters and the slight change in angle can result in your parcel falling out of the small ridged compartment where it’s being stored. This results in an instant mission failure.

This is where my main issue arises with Totally Reliable Delivery Service mechanics. Most of the parcels don’t feel like they have any real weight to them meaning you could place one in a vehicle, drive a few metres, and the parcel will fly off the back wasting time. Climbing out and retrieving it is not fun and soon feels very tedious.

Fun… but feels unfinished?

However, there is a charm to sloppy parcel delivering service that can be funny and entertaining to play. This only increases when played online with random people.

Working together can make them tough jobs a lot more manageable. For example, one person can drive while the other holds the parcel in place.

Sadly the online play on the Switch is laggy, and the game glitched continuously for me.

My experience so far has resulted in a hard crash with parcels, and other players phasing through vehicles and the ground. When you’re driving the large truck and trying to get into the back of the truck to retrieve a few parcels, you’ll be instantly teleported into the ground mile away.

It just doesn’t feel finished, and while there is fun to be had, the performance is nowhere near where it should be.

Its not perfect…But it is fun!

Ok, I’ve been a little critical of Totally Reliable Delivery Service, but I can’t deny that game is incredibly funny. Both offline and online. With everything going on in the world at the moment it’s a scary time. Yet TRDS helped me laugh for the first time in a good few weeks. I was laughing my socks off at the hilarious moments unfolding in front of me.

A few highlights were operating a Ferris Wheel, and seeing the person on-board unable to get off as it was spinning so quickly. Another was delivering a parcel to a house on the mountainside in a helicopter with me piloting it and the other player hanging off holding the parcel. It was utterly bonkers but terrific fun.

If the game gets a little support and could tighten some of the issues, then this could be the winner, it’s just not as refined as Human: Fall Flat sadly.

DLC

Totally Reliable Delivery service also has DLC which comes in the form of costumes and two new islands.  And while it’s nice to have some additional content, I felt like bundle option is way too expensive considering the issues game has right now. I feel like if you’re going to purchase the game your best going for the stand-alone version. For the time being.

Graphics and Performance

Graphics in Totally Reliable Delivery Service are bright, colourful and decent enough. The performance, however, was a mixed bag as I did notice a lot of pop in. There were glitches, and bugs aplenty making the experience unstable, especially online, which is a shame.

Verdict

I want to love Totally Reliable Delivery Service; it’s fun and silly, and there are lots to unlock. Items like new cosmetics, costumes to edit your character, and vehicles to see and steer. Not forgetting that the online aspect is fun.  The single-player can be enjoyable, but certain missions can become overly tedious by yourself. It’s just a shame that the game doesn’t perform very well on Switch Online. There’s an enjoyable game / online experience here that is buried under too many technical issues.

Rapid Reviews Rating

You can get your copy of Totally Reliable Delivery Service from the eShop today.