For as long as I’ve been playing video games, satisfying movement mechanics have been what matters most. It’s a big reason why I’m such a massive fan of platformers like , , and, of course, , but it’s also what made me fall in love with sports games like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Tony Hawk’s, , and more offbeat titles like 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Jet Set Radio.

While that admiration carried me through the good old days of the PS2 where those games were being pumped out left, right, and centre, they, like my tear ducts, have dried up in recent generations. Sure, we&rsquoꦐ;ve had some bangers like B🐭omb Rush Cyberfunk that aim to breathe some life into movement-focused games, bu꧙t they’re still not as frequent as I like.

I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy, though, so I&rsq♊uo;m always eagerly on the lookout for whatever game is going to chuck me on a bike or strap me into a pair of skates. I wasn&rsq꧃uo;t aware of Parcel Corps , but it immediately won me over thanks to its bike-based movement giving me some heavy Jet Set Radio vibes, something I got to see for myself at .

Door-Dashing Delight

My preview started𓆉 off by letting me choose between three different parcel-delivering factions, the Wallaby Wheelers, East Coast Couriers, and Das-la Poste, who each have their own unique style. I went with the Wallaby Wheelers since their bright red and blue style spoke to the attention-seeker in me, but I’m curious if there’s more to the choice in the full game than just looks.

Once I’d picked my delivery gang, it was time to learn how to ride a bike, something I definitely know how to do well in real life and don’t get incredibly anxious just thinking about. The brief tutorial quickly (and literally) got me෴ up to speed by teaching me how to drift around corners, brake, and even do a little bunny hop to send me sky-high. Well, car-roof high.

Right out the gate, ' movement feels smooth, if a little heavier than I expected it to with my brain having instantly compared it to the likes of Jet Set Radio and Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. There’s a bit more weight to your bike here than in those games, but once I’d cycled around a little and got the hang of grinding on rails and launching off ramps, things started to feel a little more natural.

One thing that really took some getting use💟d to in my short demo was holding down the bumper to grind instead of just tapping it once. Tony Hawk’s muscle memory has cursed me, I swear.

Not-Uber Gon' Give It To Ya

After escaping the car park and getting flashbacks to Driver, I was given my first delivery mission by scanning a QR code on a billboard. Beyond being assigned by a charming NPC who had me giggling, the mission itself was fairly simple and just had 🃏me riding across town and then braking as hard as possible to deli🍬ver a package, which I then repeated for another quirky client called the Wine King.

Outside of the movement (which was the main thing I was focused on experiencing in my demo), one of the main things that stood out to me about Parcel Corps is how effortlessly charming and tongue-in-cheek it is. The bright pastel colours and exaggerated character models already welcomed me in, but I love all of the little details like a live-🎃stream chat in the top right corner.

Once the Wine King had been signed up for my services, I had one more delivery mission to finish, which is where the sudden 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Crazy Taxi influence reared its head. Instead of performing one delivery, this mission had me doing as many as I could within🤡 a time limit which, when combined with having to completel💜y stop to pass someone a package, hit me hard with the nostalgia of jetting around in a yellow taxi with pop music blasting in my ear.

Parcel Corps could also remind you of The Simpsons: Road𝓀 Rage instead of Crazy Taxi. If that’s the case, I’m really sorry.

It's Like Riding A Bike

This mission is also where I started to pick up a few more tricks with the movement, such as ho﷽lding a button down to tuck in and go faster when moving downhill and riding on walls for a bit of platforming action. I expected to instantly catch on to these mechanics considering how many similar games I&rsquo🐻;ve played, but I actually had a surprisingly tough time getting the hang of them.

Most of 🅺my attempts to 🃏tuck in and give myself a boost were met with slamming into cars, while my final delivery ended in failure as I barely managed to pull off a triple wall jump in time to reach my client. Not the star-studded finale I wanted, but the fact that I didn’t learn everything I needed to instantly gave me hope for a decent amount of depth in the full release. Hell, I’d be a bit worried if I had mastered the movement in just 15 minutes.

I might not have become a Parcel Corps pro as well as I had hoped as a self-appointed king of the movement genre, but I still had a good time getting to grips wi💖th the bas♑ics, and look forward to messing around with in the full game. If the mechanics do eventually feel a little more natural to me and the world continues to be as charming as it is, then .