Chico’s Delivery Review: A Mediocre Sliding Puzzle for Xbox

Chico’s Delivery, the latest sliding puzzle game from publisher Afil Games, has arrived on the Xbox Store during a turbulent period for the company. With PlayStation having recently removed 900 of the publisher's titles from its own storefront, there is naturally a heightened level of scrutiny on this release. While Chico’s Delivery manages to dodge the “shovelware” label—as it genuinely offers a playable, coherent experience—it ultimately lands as a mediocre, forgettable entry in a crowded genre.

Gameplay and Mechanics

The core loop of Chico’s Delivery is straightforward: you control a rollerskating chicken tasked with delivering pizzas to dining tables. You slide in cardinal directions until you hit a wall, aiming to reach your destination before a move-counter ticks down to zero. It is a standard sliding puzzle format, and unfortunately, the attempts to spice up the formula feel a bit tired.

The game introduces two primary "wrinkles" to the design. First, there are brown-disk seats that pop up and become obstacles once you travel over them. While this adds a layer of planning to your movement, most levels require you to pop them early, meaning they don't change the puzzle dynamics as much as you might hope. Second, the game relies on portals. These are a staple of budget indie puzzle games, and seeing them here felt uninspired. They function exactly as you would expect, allowing you to slide through one and emerge from another, but they fail to provide the spark needed to make the game feel fresh.

The Verdict on Content

In terms of puzzle design, the game is competent. The grids are constrained to 10x8, which keeps the challenge focused, and there is a decent mix of puzzles that range from self-evident to genuinely tricky. However, the experience is hampered by a lack of quality-of-life features. The most glaring omission is an undo button—a standard feature in most puzzle games and one that Afil Games has included in their previous, better-received titles like Avenue Escape and Sands and Relics.

With only 30 levels on offer, the game is over in a flash. For those motivated by achievements, the 2000G on offer might be the primary draw, but as a puzzle game, it feels like a "margherita pizza"—functional and edible, but ultimately bland. It isn't the bottom-of-the-barrel content that some critics of Afil Games might expect, but it certainly isn't an essential play.