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Atari’s Paperboy, whilst not the greatest game to ever exist, is most certainly a classic; an icon in the gaming industry if you will. And whilst I don’t remember the exact time when I first jumped aboard the little BMX and started throwing newspapers at all and sundry, seeing as I was fully immersed in the gaming scene in the mid-80s, it would have been around then, probably on the ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64. Wherever and whenever it was I played, I remember sinking hours into its frustratingly addictive gameplay.
Since that time, various games have tried to capture the magic of that original, mostly failing in the process, with just The VideoKid getting anywhere close. But what happens when you chuck a cyberpunk style into it, ditching the old 80’s town for a futuristic land, and switching out newspapers for noodles? Well, that’s where Death Noodle Delivery comes in.
Very much inspired by Paperboy, Death Noodle Delivery has you dropped into a futuristic, cyberpunk feeling world. You play as Jimmy, a guy on the edge, looking to bumble through his dark and twisted life as best he can. With a hoverboard as his best friend, it’s up to you to help Jimmy navigate the troubled land, keeping his precious, but deadly, job in the process.
Jimmy works for Death Noodle, a delivery service intent on feeding the citizens of this world. If you hadn’t guessed, it’s the noodles which reign supreme and with Deliveroo and Uber Eats long out of action, there’s room for a lone delivery person to muscle in on the market. Although – and no spoilers here – you soon find out that competition in this delivery business is rife. Who knew that pizza and noodles could ignite such flames…
Death Noodle Delivery is very much split into two distinct gameplay sections. There’s the delivery side of things, evoking old school Paperboy with aplomb. And then there’s the off-board stuff, as Jimmy heads back to his apartment, diving into VR, chatting with neighbours, getting the rundown on the world and becoming evermore annoyed with life itself, all whilst unravelling the secrets of the land.
Set as a 2D split section of his apartment building, if I’m honest, the chat, the setup and the uncovering of narrative and lore is the side of Death Noodle Delivery that frustrates. It’s all a bit too slow paced, as Jimmy trudges from flat to flat, hoping to stumble upon whatever the devs at Stupidi Pixel and Tiny Pixel have decided to use to push the story. It’s also incredibly coarse, full of vulgar language that, in my opinion, really isn’t needed and just takes too long to get going. Perhaps this is the world decades from now and it’s fine in regards to the developmental choices the teams have made, but if this is our future world, I’m glad I was around in the more humbler times, delivering newspapers and the like.
Get out onto the road and Death Noodle Delivery ups the game. Whether it be through a simulation that helps add new mechanics and ideas, or on the mean future streets of this neon-drenched world, pushing up on your left thumbstick will see you cantering forward at pace; hoverboard moving full speed ahead. Moving left and right then allows for obstacle navigation, whilst slowing down, mostly as you approach a customer is a cinch. Although the more you slow, the higher the chances your job will be put on the line.
Your goal is to chuck noodles at prospective customers, each dictated by a glowing circle; miss a single delivery and you’ll be fired, there, then, on the spot. Aim right, hit the X button at the perfect timing and onwards you will go to the next stop off, all prior to reaching the end of the road, moving on through the week, into a new day, broken up by some cutscenes and more time back at your flat.
But of course, it’s in the navigation of the road where success or failure will be found.
Death Noodle Delivery’s roads are full of situations that can put an end to a delivery person’s career; lumps in the road, cars pulling into and out of junctions, drones hovering overhead, fire welding protestors, AI entities and the like will all look to put a stop to your plans. Skirting through and around problems will dictate that success, with a single hit to Jimmy or the hoverboard enough to push you straight back to the start of the day again.
It’s good then that you have a few tools for the job. A dash is essential, charged and running on a timer, it’s this which can just about help you swerve and stay out of trouble, particularly when being chased down by irate members of the competition. But then you also have some explosives – a cat bomb – thrown forwards, helpful at clearing pathways. Drop in some time manipulation, slowing things down, and you’ll fast discover that, again, much like the delivery of the noodles themselves, it’s all about the timing…
From there, rinsing and repeating is very much the order of the day, as Jimmy uncovers secrets, upgrades his gear and starts to become known around town as the go-to noodle guy. It’s just that for the excitement of the action, sitting at the back of the mind is the constant requirement to head home in order to move the tale forward, shifting between flats, taking in news and uncovering VR oddities. Whilst the story is fine eventually, it is that which slows this otherwise fast-paced delivery service down; occasionally to levels of annoyance.
There’s not an awful lot going on either visually or aurally either. There’s nothing wrong per se in how Death Noodle Delivery is delivered to the eyes, and it’s just about clear enough for you to understand at a split seconds’ notice what is required for the situation ahead. But again, some of the off-board, back-at-home stuff is a struggle to work through; menus, conversation trees and the like flitting from here to there, playing on the futuristic vibes and overall confusion.
But all that said, if you have a fondness for Paperboy from back in the day, you should probably give Death Noodle Delivery a once over – it’s certainly good enough to evoke memories of a golden age of gaming. It’s just a shame that the off-board action slows the pace down, as we are left to trawl the complexities of cyberspace. And it is that which rips a load of the fun away.
Ride or Die: Survive the Streets on a Hoverboard in Death Noodle Delivery on Consoles – https://www.thexboxhub.com/ride-or-die-survive-the-streets-on-a-hoverboard-in-death-noodle-delivery-on-consoles/
Buy Death Noodle Delivery on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/death-noodle-delivery/9nqnrfvgpt7b