Game Review: Doodle Taxi (Xbox Series X)

HEY, HEY, HEY! It’s time to make some CRAZZYYY money, ar’ya’ ready? HERE. WE. GO!

Crazy Taxi is a great game, and while Doodle Taxi initially seems to be it, albeit with a different skin, it doesn’t take long for its flaws to show that there is no touching the original. It’s like all the karting games that try to be Mario Kart, but can simply never be Mario Kart, so end up delivering something obviously worse.

The similarities come from the basic gameplay premise that you drive a taxi, pick up customers, and drive them to their destination. The faster, and safer, you get there, the more money you will earn. It’s a basic premise that worked so well in Crazy Taxi, yet is found lacking here, and all for fundamental reasons. It’s not fun.

However, before I get into why, let’s talk about the story and the ‘unique’ style of the game. Yes, you read that right, Doodle Taxi has a story and a compelling initial reason to play. The former surrounds a witch who has put a spell on you removing all the colour from your world. The only way to get it back, is to be a taxi service. As you take more customers to their destinations, colour slowly returns to the world, giving the game a really unique look. This is the latter, the compelling reason to play and it is done well.

Return all the colour to your world and break the curse, expect sike! The witch wants you to do it all over again, in a different, larger city. Yes, the game’s story is stupid and completely lacking in imagination. Who cares through, right? It’s a Crazy Taxi clone; it doesn’t need a story. Except for that to be true, the gameplay has to be as additive and fun as the likes of Crazy Taxi, and that is not the case here at all.

For starters, you’re rewarded for being safe. Oh, how fun. So instead of feeling like an arcade game, even though it looks like one, it feels more like a simulator. Except it doesn’t do that either. The controls aren’t great, and some of the faster cabs (you can unlock more with money) are simply uncontrollable. Although that’s also because the design of the cities are pretty horrible to get around, lacking in shortcuts (useful ones anyway) or fun reasons to deviate off the main roads.

In fact, be careful as it’s easy to get your car stuck in a bit of wall that you thought you could blast over. Not that running out of time really matters, it’s game over, but in an instant, you’re back in the game. Once you’ve returned colour for a second time, the witch leaves you alone and you’re free to explore and earn money until you’re bored. Which won’t take long at all.

It is impressive that this game comes from a lone-person studio, and while that does deserve praise, the overall product doesn’t. It’s not very good, and certainly not a patch on the OG.