Deliver At All Costs is like 1950s GTA (but every building is destructible)

Hands-on with Konami’s explosive delivery game.

Deliver At All Costs / Konami

In Deliver At All Costs, everything is destructible. And I do mean everything. You can smash your vehicle into concrete planters, uproot palm trees, and even collapse entire buildings by targeting load-bearing pillars. But why? Because it’s funny, that’s why.

Nothing in this sitcom ‘50s world makes sense, but that’s what makes it so ridiculously playable. The story sees your delivery driver seeking promotion by taking on increasingly absurd jobs. Actually, that’s a lie - the absurdity can’t increase when it’s already maxed out from the first mission.

This sees you drive your battered pickup truck to Pyro’s Havoc Emporium and load it up with a box of fireworks. Wouldn’t you know it, the fireworks start going off around you. Hit the glowing red ones in the road and your tyres will pop.

Deliver At All Costs / Konami

When that happens, you can exit the vehicle with Y and hit Y again to instantly repair your wheels, all as angry citizens launch themselves at you. One comes flying in with a sledgehammer, another clings to your bonnet and flings around like a ragdoll in a sundress. Get to the destination in one piece and you’ll earn your wage.

According to developer Far Out Games, no two missions repeat. And, true to its word, I don’t see a single reused concept. There’s a seafood delivery where you have to transport a 15ft swordfish complete with floppy, physics-enabled tail; one in which your car goes airborne after it’s fitted with hundreds of balloons, a test of your reflexes as your engine gets a retro rocket thruster installed; and even a delicate trip through the neighborhood with an atomic bomb in tow.

Sure, you can tear right through an apartment complex on your way to the goal, but that isn’t in your best interest when careful driving is usually key. Hopefully a few missions take advantage of the game’s incredibly chaotic potential and task you with smashing stuff rather than avoiding it, because from what I’ve played so far, developer Far Out Games only truly lets you off the leash when you’re free-roaming. 

Deliver At All Costs / Konami

You’re able to test the limits of destruction outside of missions, as well as run over pedestrians and ‘borrow’ stationary cars. There’s little penalty for doing so besides inviting pursuit by easily avoidable cop cars who disappear when you exit your vehicle and hide in a dumpster.

Indeed, Deliver At All Costs is made for short, sharp fun. An example of this lies in the second mission, when I have to head to a bar called The Sunset Sip and fill up my truck with 50 stinking watermelons.

With each one a fully physics object, the trick here is trying to avoid them spilling out when you bank round a sharp corner or brake too suddenly.

Deliver At All Costs / Konami

It’s harder than it looks. By the time I reach the midpoint mission objective, which is to park under a canister and spray the melons in pesticide in a bid to make them edible, I’m down to 20. Stepping foot on the gas, all 20 then proceed to launch out of the bed of my truck. The game restarts instantly, however, and bumps up my number of melons by ten.

One mishap later and I restart again. This time, I’m given a nice extra helping of 20 melons. This sort of generosity removes frustration without chopping out the challenge. By the time the mission finishes, a scorecard at the end tells me how many melons I lose in total during my fruity jaunt: 495.

It’s hard not to be entertained by Deliver At All Costs. An impressively diverse assortment of mission types means if you don’t like one, another will be along shortly, while gloriously comprehensive destruction means you can destroy the world with a smile on your face.