Review: Paperboy: Special Delivery - The Paperboy Is Back On The Route
by Staff Writer
November 5, 2010
Overview
The classic Paperboy game is getting new life on the iOS platform thanks to Glu's Paperboy: Special Delivery. Ride along the sidewalk tossing papers to your clients, and breaking windows of your non-clients. The classic game from the 80's has the same elements, but has brand new visuals and story mode.
Features
The heart of the game is the brand new story mode with 20 levels total, and each giving you a different mission. There is also classic mode with three difficulties as you try to go over your route for as many days as you can, and there are online high scores. The life of a paperboy is far from glamorous, and you'll need to avoid cars, dogs, hedges, trash cans, and more.The Good
The game style is just fun as you bike through all kinds of obstacles while timing your tap to toss the paper to the doorstep or mailbox of your customers. You also get to toss papers to break windows, and each house presents a different yard with different obstacles to deal with. You need to be on your toes the entire time as there is always something to do.
The story mode is a great addition to the classic game as you have to deliver a certain number of papers, of beat a time limit, or cause a specific amount of damage. As you progress you can unlock special abilities to throw a paper faster, or three at once, or have a miss return to your bag. The story itself is pretty amusing, and all the various elements in the neighborhood are great to see with some 80's flair.
The classic mode is also plenty engaging with actual conclusions to each day, and you lose customers based on your performance. If you liked the original you'll be right at home with this version that maintains the style, but enhance the artwork of the game. There are three control methods to help you find one to fit your style, though the default is easiest to use, but joystick is more reminiscent of the classic.
The Bad
The story mode comes to a conclusion quite rapidly leaving you just with the classic mode. You just expect more content for $5 with the current pricing structure in the App Store. The graphics are nicely redone, but there is some stuttering from time to time when certain obstacles come at you. None of the control methods offer that much precision, and will cause some mistakes. The default mode is the easiest to use, but even it messes you up a bit as you tap to throw only for it to recognize your action as trying to move left or right. The joystick and tilt controls are too jerky, and even the directional buttons take awhile to get used to, but they do allow you to enjoy the game.
Occasionally there are glitches where you crash into nothing on screen. When trying to access the high scores in the game it crashed every single time, but you can still access them from the Game Center app itself. The game would be helped out with the addition of some Game Center achievements.
