Taxi
- August 22, 2014
- Excalibur
"Taxi is a single-player simulation game, where you manage a taxi firm in 3D cities based in America, Europe, and the U.K. Your goal is to pick up passengers, fulfill dispatch missions, and upgrade your cabs and staff. Choose drivers wisely, as inexperienced ones may lead to collisions and costly repairs. Each city features unique cars and road rules, requiring you to adapt your driving strategy."
Reviews
- The game offers a unique taxi simulation experience that is unlike other titles on Steam.
- It has a good selection of dispatch missions and allows players to manage a taxi company by hiring drivers and upgrading cars.
- Some players find it relaxing and enjoyable, especially at a low price point.
- The game is riddled with bugs that make it unplayable at times, including issues with saving progress and mission failures.
- Graphics and overall presentation are dated and lack detail, making the game feel lifeless.
- Many players report that the driving mechanics are poor, with frustrating controls and repetitive gameplay.
- story50 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 86 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story is primarily driven by a variety of taxi missions, including timed fares, sightseeing jobs, and VIP escorts, but players report significant issues with mission execution due to bugs and glitches. Many missions, particularly "follow that car" assignments, can become impossible to complete due to AI behavior and navigation failures, leading to frustration and a sense of repetitiveness. Overall, while the premise offers potential for engaging gameplay, technical shortcomings severely hinder the storytelling experience.
“The trailer looked quite good, and was boasting 3 cities and 6 types of missions.”
“Besides regular fares, you can drive clients in timed missions (get to the location ASAP), sightseeing jobs (fares with numerous stops), people with lots of luggage (placed on top of the cab for some unexplained reason, so you have to drive as careful as possible), VIP escorts (drive the celebrity to an event, then drop them off farther away from the crowd), follow-the-car assignments, and some light getaway missions (e.g., get to the location without getting any fines).”
“Id say even this is ...ok?... but...as someone wrote in review, there are missions when I need to follow a car.”
“The 'follow that car' mission occasionally doesn't give you the target car, but the passenger is still in your car.”
“For VIP and timed missions, the game sometimes forgets to draw the route on the GPS, making it very hard (or impossible) to complete the mission, as you don't know where the destination is.”
“These are especially problematic because you cannot cancel or switch missions - in case a job bugs out and is stuck, you have to reload your previous save and continue from there.”
- stability20 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with numerous bugs affecting gameplay, including navigation glitches, erratic camera behavior, and freezing mechanics. Reviewers consistently highlight poor driving mechanics and graphics, leading to a frustrating experience that undermines its potential. Overall, the game's stability problems are a major detractor, making it difficult to recommend.
“Other glitches I encountered were navigation points that led nowhere and would not trigger a mission, the camera freaking out like it lost its mind and had no idea where the taxi was, and customers declaring I wasn't being careful with their luggage and becoming unhappy before the car even started moving.”
“Very buggy, poor driving mechanics, bad graphics, crap physics, and not worth any price.”
“Good potential but buggy as hell ends up ruining the gameplay.”
- graphics19 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 26 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game receive mixed reviews, with many users describing them as subpar, antiquated, and occasionally glitchy, leading to noticeable performance issues like frame rate drops. However, a few users find the graphics spectacular, indicating a divide in player expectations and experiences. Overall, the consensus leans towards dissatisfaction with the visual quality and performance.
“The graphics are spectacular.”
“I am a bit of a critic on games if the graphics are not good or so on.”
“Graphics and car handling are passable.”
“Overall graphics quality is subpar; I don't really understand all the stuttering (FPS decreases around ~20-25 when drawing long boulevards).”
“Very buggy, poor driving mechanics, bad graphics, crap physics, and not worth any price.”
“The graphics are antiquated.”
- gameplay14 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been criticized for its poor mechanics, including slow driving speeds and numerous bugs that render it nearly unplayable. While the concept of driving a taxi has potential, players find the experience frustrating and boring due to the game's technical issues and lackluster graphics. Overall, the gameplay fails to deliver a satisfying experience.
“Look at the gameplay videos.”
“Very buggy, poor driving mechanics, bad graphics, crap physics, and not worth any price.”
“Gameplay bugs that make the game unplayable.”
“The main concept of driving a taxi seemed fun, but after playing this game for almost 30 minutes, I gave up on this annoying and boring gameplay.”
- grinding6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game frustrating due to slow income from fares, which necessitates repetitive driving missions to progress. This tediousness, combined with numerous bugs and flaws, detracts from the overall enjoyment and makes it hard to recommend the game.
“With the slow income from fares, it just didn't seem likely to get them unless you kept farming fares.”
“The repetition of the driving missions gets tedious.”
“As much as I like the concept of the game (being a fan of casual vehicle simulation games like Euro Truck Simulator 2 and Farming Simulator 2017), I cannot really recommend this game due to its many flaws and game-breaking bugs which will probably never be fixed.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is criticized for significant stuttering and frame rate drops of around 20-25 FPS, particularly when rendering long boulevards, despite the overall graphics quality being deemed subpar.
“Overall graphics quality is subpar; I don't really understand all the stuttering. FPS decreases by around 20-25 when drawing long boulevards.”
“Overall graphics quality is subpar; I don't really understand all the stuttering. FPS decreases by around 20-25 when drawing long boulevards.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game often stems from its numerous glitches and issues, which users found amusing rather than frustrating. This unintended comedy adds a unique charm to the overall experience.
“The issues were so bad that they were funny.”
- music1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users appreciate the option to disable music in inn settings, allowing for a more personalized and potentially quieter gaming experience.
“Thankfully, in settings, you can opt to have no music.”