MiLE HiGH TAXi
- March 13, 2023
- Cassius John-Adams
Get on Steam"Mile High Taxi" is a sci-fi hover taxi racing game inspired by "The Fifth Element" and reminiscent of "Crazy Taxi," with fast-paced arcade-style gameplay. Experience heart-pumping action as you race against the clock in a vibrant, futuristic city, transporting hilarious and chatty passengers while avoiding obstacles. Mastering the game won't be easy, but the "easy" setting allows for a smoother start.
Mac OS
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Linux
Reviews
- The game offers a nostalgic experience reminiscent of Crazy Taxi, with straightforward controls and a fun gameplay loop of picking up and dropping off passengers.
- The futuristic vertical city design and the flying car mechanics provide a unique twist on the traditional taxi gameplay, making it engaging for fans of the genre.
- The developer is receptive to community feedback and has shown commitment to improving the game with future updates and additional features.
- The game is plagued by bugs and unfinished elements, including frequent asset unloading and awkward controls that hinder the flying mechanics.
- Graphics and character models are underwhelming, with a repetitive city layout that lacks variety and visual appeal, making the gameplay feel monotonous.
- There is a lack of essential features such as audio settings, keyboard support, and meaningful gameplay variety, which detracts from the overall experience.
- graphics42 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 48 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with some praising the vibrant futuristic aesthetic and nostalgic retro elements, while others criticize the visuals as blurry, underwhelming, and inconsistent with promotional materials. Many users noted a lack of graphical options and poor player models, leading to a disappointing overall experience. Despite some good-looking visuals, the game's graphical shortcomings detract from its potential enjoyment.
“Visuals are pretty good and the city is cool to fly through.”
“The rendering of the game looks quite nice in the Unity engine, and the overall futuristic aesthetic is vibrant and eye-catching, with dozens of billboards, streams of traffic, and little pockets of life.”
“Art style is really almost perfect.”
“The graphics are more disappointing and blurry than the trailer.”
“There's horrible jagged edges everywhere even with anti-aliasing turned on, there's no graphics option other than post-processing, there's a horrible green glow to things, and it seems like anything not directly in front of you is rendered at half the resolution of your monitor.”
“The graphics are horrendous; they looked filtered, washed out, and not the correct resolution.”
- gameplay36 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 22 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of frustration and potential, with many players criticizing the clunky mechanics, poor waypoint navigation, and lack of variety, which detracts from the overall experience. While some appreciate the core concept reminiscent of classic arcade games like Crazy Taxi, they feel the execution falls short, leading to a slow-paced and often unenjoyable experience. Overall, despite some effort in design, the gameplay lacks the polish and depth needed to fully engage players.
“The gameplay is solid; the core idea of the game lives up to the arcade experience and the legacy of Crazy Taxi.”
“The actual gameplay loop of picking up passengers and delivering them to their (often rudely) requested locations is spot on.”
“Part of what made Crazy Taxi's driving so fun was the gear-shifting mechanic that allowed you to do insane launches and crazy drifts.”
“The main race-the-clock mechanic manages to recreate the worst feature of arcade games - the sudden stop, frustrating the player into putting in more coins - but we can't even do that, it's just bam, game over, restart or quit.”
“The behavior of the waypoint arrow is terrible, shrinking, pointing up at odd angles when inappropriate, turning colors that are then hard to see against buildings, etc. The actual gameplay isn't fun either.”
“Couple that with the annoying tidbits I mentioned earlier, the poor visuals, and the boring gameplay, and this game is simply just not worth your time even for its low price point.”
- music28 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 11 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the fitting and hypnotic tracks, many criticize it as basic stock music that lacks variety and depth. There are complaints about audio mixing issues, making it difficult to hear important game sounds over the music. However, titles like "Mile High Taxi" are noted for their strong soundtracks, suggesting that a more robust musical selection could enhance the overall experience.
“Mile High Taxi, however, is a great step in the right direction: with an incredible setting, a great choice of soundtrack (very important for this genre) and tons of references to 90s sci-fi, Mile High Taxi oozes with personality and gives you plenty of reason to explore it in roam free mode.”
“The controls are not that bad, it takes some practice, the music is very good (although not that many songs) and overall a very fun experience.”
“For true immersion, play the game to the song 'Alech Taadi' by Khaled, and I promise you the game plays 100 percent better!”
“The sounds are an aggravating jumble, such that I can't even make out what my car's computer is saying over the music and passenger admonishments. The last few attempts to play this have been with my audio muted to cut down on the annoyance.”
“The music is basic stock music; the game is in dire need of a proper soundtrack.”
“The game offers no way of mixing audio levels, or on/off buttons for music and sound effects.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for its instability, with frequent bugs causing asset unloading and incorrect loading, resulting in player models going out of bounds and soft-locking issues. While there is potential for enjoyable gameplay, these technical problems significantly hinder the overall experience.
“Has potential, but it is a buggy, unfinished game that frequently unloads assets and often doesn't load them in correctly, leading to player models being out of bounds and resulting in soft-locks.”
“Gameplay would be fun if it weren't so buggy.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The optimization aspect of the game lacks clear performance indicators, making it difficult for players to gauge their success during gameplay. Unlike other titles, such as Crazy Taxi, which utilized a color-coded timer to reward players based on their delivery efficiency, this game does not provide similar feedback mechanisms. This absence may hinder players' ability to strategize and improve their performance effectively.
“There's no indicator telling you that you're doing well, such as how Crazy Taxi had a separate timer for the pedestrian that was color-coded; if you delivered them while the timer was still green, you got a performance (time/money) bonus.”
“If you delivered them on yellow, that was standard performance (time extension only), and red was poor performance that rewarded you no time bonus.”
“There's no indicator telling you that you're doing well, such as how Crazy Taxi had a separate timer for the pedestrian that was color-coded; if you delivered them while the timer was still green, you got a performance (time/money) bonus.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game has been widely criticized, with users expressing disappointment and frustration, suggesting that it fails to deliver any comedic value and detracts from the overall gaming experience. Many feel that such low-quality humor could negatively impact the reputation of the platform selling the game.
- character development2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Character development has been criticized for its lack of appealing design and style, which detracts from the overall experience. Additionally, the pacing of character progression feels rushed, leaving players unsatisfied with the depth of development.
“The character design is unappealing; there is just no style to it.”
“Movement picks up in momentum way too fast, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
- replayability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The replayability of the game is considered poor, primarily due to frustrating controls that detract from the overall experience. Additionally, players feel that the focus on releasing DLC instead of improving gameplay further diminishes the incentive to replay.
