There is something evocative about images of futuristic cities with flying cars coming and going in all directions, such as rain-soaked Los Angeles in "Blade Runner," the planet Coruscant in "Star Wars," and future New York in "The Fifth Element. And in the gorgeous voxel-based Cloudpunk, you can be part of such a bustling skyway by driving a battered hovercar and delivering packages in the dystopian city of Nivarus.

This vivid, intricate metropolis is a sight to behold. Neon signs, roaming spotlights, giant billboards, and hovercars bustling back and forth between monolithic skyscrapers. If you've ever watched "Blade Runner" and wished you could get behind the wheel of a spinner, this game is as close as you can get to realizing that fantasy.

It's also great up close. Lower your car to street level and you'll see pedestrians passing by, street noodle stalls, and sleazy nightclubs. The sky is filled with blimp advertisements, trains running on suspended rails, and the gleam of thousands of apartment windows. The density of this place is stunning. It fulfills every cliché of the cyberpunk aesthetic, and yet it is stylish.

And I must mention the extraordinary sound design. The murmur of traffic, the endless sound of rain, voices echoing off billboards, and the soaring synths of the Vangelis-inspired soundtrack combine to create a truly thrilling soundscape. The game sounds as good as it looks and is full of atmosphere.

Now, the city is great. We get that. But what do you actually do there? You play as Rania, a newcomer to Nivarus, who gets a job with a legally dubious courier company called Cloudpunk. The job is simple. Pick up packages, deliver them, and don't ask any questions. Ominously, the dispatcher, a petulant but likable old man whose only name is Control, says that most new drivers don't make it past their first night.

Cloudpunk is almost exclusively a game of exploration and conversation. While making deliveries, you will meet many characters, including a shady nightclub owner, a hacker, a hovercar racer, a CEO, a cop, and a self-aware android. Nivarus is a city full of stories, but the quality of the script and voice acting varies considerably. However, there are some great characters. Huxley is a private detective who speaks like he's narrating a hard-boiled crime novel. And I love Camus, Rania's AI companion, who is infectiously naïve and optimistic. There's also a story. As Rania delivers, she learns about cloud punk, about how the city is run, about the tensions bubbling up beneath the surface. And as Control comes to trust you, you are given more lucrative assignments. This includes visits to the Spire above the clouds, where wealthy corporate minions live and work away from the masses of people below.

But what really sustains Cloudpunk is driving. Or perhaps it is flying. The little hovercar is a joy to control, with its speed, weight, and momentum. Gliding through dazzling cityscapes, weaving through traffic, and firing repulsors to gain altitude is sensational. And it gets even better when you put your hard-earned paycheck toward upgrades. There are also light simulation elements, such as stopping by the garage for refueling or paying for repairs if you swap too much paint for a hoverbus. For the most part, however, Cloudpunk is a fairly easygoing experience. This is first and foremost a storytelling game, and it is more about telling a story than challenging it. There is no real danger. Occasionally, you will be forced to park your car and explore parts of the city on foot. With fixed camera angles and somewhat floating character movements, these sections are not as compelling as they are in the air. But there is a nimble navigational puzzle here, using elevators and passageways to find clients hiding in the dark corners of a crowded city.

There are a few fun extras, such as apartments that can be decorated, optional missions that reveal more about the city, and the opportunity to trade in your hovercar for a faster model. But the core of the game is navigating the city and meeting the strange people who live there.

There is a faint but noticeable disconnect between some of the operating parts of Cloudpunk, as if the city and hovercars came first and the rest were added on later. But despite all that and some distractingly poor acting in places, I basically love the film. Even if the story doesn't grab you, it's worth playing just to fly around that wonderful city. Besides, it's nice to play a cyberpunk game where you're a regular working guy instead of a super hacker trying to overthrow a corporation.