Should you have just called an Uber instead?
In Taxi Life, the player manages a personal transportation company, set in none other than Barcelona, used as the open world playing field. The player progresses in the city’s iconic neighbourhoods and can admire more than 200 of its buildings, monuments, museums, parks and sculptures, all faithfully reproduced. The game uses the studio’s proprietary technologies, in particular ‘Traffic AI’ and the ‘City Generator’.
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator is what you would expect it to be. You’re a cab driver in Barcelona who picks up passengers and drops them off, while keeping their needs met by driving safely, unwinding/winding the windows, engaging in small talk and so on. The replication of Barcelona itself is impressive and the game looks decent, so what could go wrong?
The game itself handles poorly on PS5 with random stuttering as it tries to load objects, a framerate that can’t decide what it wants to run at and poor AI drivers don’t help. The cars control well enough, though it is tougher than you would think. I would recommend doing the tutorial driving test first so you can get a feel of how to manoeuvre, U-turn and parallel park.
There is a management section but its very simplistic. You have to keep enough fuel in your car, as well as take it in for repairs over time. You’ll also need to obey the rules of the road, so no speeding, crashing or over-taking during your trips. It seems to be okay to ignore all this on your way to your client though, which is a bit odd…
You can get better cars if you save up enough over time and don’t blow all your profits on fuel and repairs! The performance issues aside, the game does look good and Barcelona is a sight to see. I hope future patches improve things, because there is a good game here…it just feels like it needed more time on the production line.
The Verdict
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator has potential. The city of Barcelona is beautiful, the taxis are tough, but fair to control and there’s something satisfying about completing a successful trip. Hopefully, patches will improve things but sadly in its current state of performance woes and poor AI, it isn’t the taxi experience you would have hoped for.