As the name may suggest, Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator aspires to immerse players in the day-to-day reality of driving a taxi, encapsulating the art of city navigation and passenger interaction. Who wouldn’t want to experience the complexities of being a cabbie in a big bustling city, from the comfort of your own home!?
Unfortunately with numerous glitches, lack of diversity, and the soulless fingerprints of AI, the game left me wishing I had caught an Uber instead.
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Developed by Simteract, Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator invites players to tour through the historic streets of Barcelona. Thanks to AI, the developers have replicated the Spanish city on a 1:1 scale, transforming every taxi ride into an exploration of the city’s rich culture and heritage.
At its core, the game is about mastering the art of navigation through Barcelona’s intricate streets, from bustling avenues to quiet, hidden alleyways. Players must balance speed and safety while managing expectations and destinations of their clientele.
Money earned from fares is spent on improving and customising your vehicles. After banking enough cash, you’re able to spend it on shiny new cars, and hire employees. The game blends in aspects of the tycoon genre, as you grow a thriving, self-sufficient business.
Objectives and Gameplay
The core gameplay loop involves picking up passengers and safely delivering them to their destinations, all while managing the day-to-day operations of the taxi business. Players must maintain their vehicles, and cater to the specific requests of passengers, such as adjusting the radio or air conditioning. Meeting these sub-objectives ensures the customer leaves a tip.
Passenger conversations add a little more depth to that gameplay loop, offering a glimpse into the colourful stories that fill a taxi driver’s day.
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I was party to various chit-chat about the history of Barcelona, the cost of maintaining a taxi, and even consoled clients over the breakdown of their relationships. When these conversations occurred, the ride was so much more engaging, but unfortunately, they didn’t happen often enough.
The conversations were mostly short and somewhat forgettable; I’d love a future update to offer more of these interactions and explore deeper dialogue paths. There are only a very small handful of models and voice actors in the game, so while the names and destinations might be different, it quickly feels like you’ve picked up the same person multiple times.
After about 20 hours, I’d completed everything I could and the game started to repeat itself.
Traffic Flow and Violations
I attended school in inner-city Sydney, so I’m well-acquainted with tight streets, bumper-to-bumper traffic, and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. In that sense, Barcelona actually felt quite familiar to me.
The AI controlling other vehicles generally performs well, though there are bouts of erratic behaviour. Cars halting indefinitely at crosswalks or rear-ending at traffic lights can be frustrating and impact gameplay. When this happens, often in a short space of time, it can be excruciatingly frustrating.
These glitches make the driving experience difficult. Unpredictable and odd pedestrian behaviour, like jaywalking, can be a complete mission killer. Though, I guess it kind of reflects the chaotic nature of city driving, which can prove incredibly frustrating when you’re just trying to relax and play a game.
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Obey the Law!
Just like in real life; you cop fines for speeding, driving against the flow of traffic, collisions, running red lights, driving on sidewalks, and of course hitting pedestrians.
A lot of traffic laws can be broken without punishment if a police officer doesn’t see you — again, a bit like real life! However, there are speed cameras around the map ready to ping you, and hitting pedestrians will always end your current task and land you with a hefty fine.
You could be at the end of a thousand-dollar trip and at the last moment, a pedestrian walks out from behind a dumpster and you lose it all. Good day, sir!
Traffic violations and their penalties don’t scale with your progression and higher earnings, making the consequences of breaking the law less significant over time. No repercussions for repeat offending, such as court or jail, makes for a less accurate sim (I am a stickler for the rules!).
A Roadblock in Diversity
The game’s lack of diversity, notably the absence of a female main character option despite featuring female character models as passengers and employees, is a glaring oversight.
With only four character models available, all of them male, the game fails to represent a diverse range of identities.
This oversight raises questions about the developers’ priorities and highlights a significant shortfall in cultural representation.
Does driving feel realistic?
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator features an excellent physics engine; turning, driving over speed bumps, and even colliding with other vehicles feels relatively real — without the whiplash, of course.
Keyboard and mouse inputs allow for relatively smooth navigation and responsive handling, but the controls do take some time to get used to.
As the taxi driver, the player’s perspective is mainly focused behind the steering wheel, adding another layer of realism.
In fact, when I first played the game I felt genuinely car-sick! It’s something that I regularly suffer from in real life, but I had never experienced it in a video game before. Luckily this did ease over time.
The car’s interior is extensively detailed, equipped with an array of interactive elements to engage with while driving.
Functional rear-view and side mirrors, an adjustable air conditioning system, a radio with tunable stations and volume control, and a rear-view camera.
There’s also hazard lights, windshield wipers, the ability to toggle headlights, and collision detection sensors. It all adds to the immersion.
True to Life Sound… Mostly
The sound design is notable, capturing a range of noises that sound true to life. From the clicking of blinkers to the muted hum of your vehicle. It goes further by incorporating distinctive sounds for different driving surfaces.
While it’s not perfect, the auditory sensation of being behind the wheel is there.
Despite Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator including a range of ambient sounds that enrich the environment, like the distant chatter of pedestrians or the cawing of crows, there could have been more nuanced soundscapes to help bring Barcelona to life.
Incorporating more varied urban sounds, such as street music and diverse crowd noises, would help deepen the immersion. Vibrant sounds from nightlife would also provide a more layered and authentic experience.
The Virtual City of Barcelona
Simteract has recreated a decent chunk of Barcelona at a 1:1 scale. I put this to the test by visiting various landmarks, including ones not tagged on the in-game monument marker.
I have to say, there is a lot to see that replicates the historical and artistic city.
Even some petrol stations are mostly modelled after real world locations. I felt like I could actually navigate real-life Barcelona in Google Street View simply because of my time in the game, it’s a crazy experience.
I ran into some glitches like cars defying gravity, NPCs walking on the spot, and bushes that miraculously appeared out of thin air. Often textures would distort as I drove past and getting into garages was tricky at times, not recognising my attempts right away.
An Ethical Dilemma? AI in Game Development
Developers Simteract started in 2014 as a software house, and only in 2018 did they start creating games. Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator is powered by two major software, developed in-house by Simteract: “Traffic AI”, and “City Generator”.
City Generator used data from “Open Street Map”, a free and open geographical database, to generate a large section of the city of Barcelona. They took the generated replica of the city and used other programs (like Houdini) to further customise the buildings and landscapes by generating more accurate specifics.
Almost every landmark, notable building, or even sculpture that I found in-game that matched in real life, was very likely generated by AI — and they’re not hiding it. The developer’s website openly promotes these pieces of software and its two published games.
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The technical execution, for what it is, is commendable in its own right. That said, their heavy use of AI raises various ethical questions.
While AI can accelerate a game’s development and create impressively detailed environments, it leaves a noticeable absence of human creativity. I experienced many dull moments in game where some genuine artistry could’ve gone a long way.
Despite the technical achievements, the game lacks the soul and passion that comes from a human touch. This game makes me apprehensive about game development in the future, particularly with so many layoffs in the industry lately.
Should I buy Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator?
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator offers an intriguing glimpse into the world of taxi driving, presenting players with the challenges and intricacies of navigating the bustling streets of Barcelona.
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While the game impresses with its driving physics and immersive world-building, complete with detailed environments, it falls short in several areas. Glitches and technical hiccups disrupt the experience, while the absence of diversity in both character options and cultural representation is a significant drawback.
Potential buyers should weigh the game’s strengths and weaknesses carefully before making a purchase.
Simteract recently shared an update offering fixes to pedestrian AI and performance. New AI taxis are also now roaming the streets as you play.
Quest Daily Scores Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator:
5/10
A copy of Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
