Taxiball delivers the goods
by Eric March on July 2, 2009 at 12:59 pm
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(7 votes, average: 4.29 out of 5)
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App Name: | Taxiball |
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| Developer: | Self Aware Games |
Version: | 1.0 | |
| Publisher: | Self Aware Games |
Size: | 8.4 MB |
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| Category: | Arcade Games |
Price: | $2.99 |
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In case you haven’t noticed, I tend to review rather lesser known games and apps — stuff that isn’t so much in the mainstream and frankly doesn’t really need the publicity because 90% of its audience will know it’s out and will have already bought it the second it hits the App Store anyway. Did you need me to tell you that Doom Resurrection came out? No, of course you didn’t, because the entire Applesphere has been talking, E-Mailing and tweeting about it since about half a second after it went live.
Did you need me to tell you about Taxiball? Odds are, a lot of you just said, “lol wut?”
For those that did, Taxiball falls into the category of hidden gems; games that aren’t that well known but should be, because they’re good, and they deserve to do better than they are doing, and you should really check it out because there’s a good chance you’ll like it too. I did — paid my own money for this one, too.
You control a yello ball wielding a taxi driver’s license. (Insert your own Robert DeNiro reference here; I’m still having my first coffee.) As you’d expect, your job is to pick up and drop off customers in a timely, and preferably comfortable fashion. (No one bothered to explain how being shuttled around on a giant snooker ball is comfortable to begin with, but this is a fantasy land, so your silly logic and reason can get stuffed.) The faster you do it, the more money you make and the more extra time you gain on your overall time limit — but try not to smash them into walls or dunk them in water, and especially don’t take too long or you’ll lose the fare entirely.
Obviously, easier said than done; wouldn’t be much of a game if it wasn’t, right? The game is played Labyrinth-style, with the accelerometer controlling the ball. The controls have been tweaked quite significantly though so that while it feels more or less like it’s doing a good approximation of obeying the laws of physics, there are actually a number of helpers working behind the scenes to manage and control the movement that so that it feels natural, yet more importantly never lets you feel like you’re losing control. Speed is managed, but so is acceleration, banking and braking, so control is made much easier — but not too easy. It’s just enough so that you don’t feel like you’re fighting the controls, and instead can focus on navigating the levels. The accelerometer can be calibrated so you can play in whatever position is most comfortable for you.
The gameplay is simple enough; roll around, stop near someone waiting for a taxi, then follow where the arrow leads to deliver your fare to his or her destination before their timer runs out. Fares are typically surrounded by a coloured halo that gives you an idea of the length of the trip; green fares are short distance, yellow are medium, and red are long distance fares. Those fares have corresponding time limits you must deliver them within, and the faster you do it, the happier they’ll be; the time remaining on the fare’s delivery limit is added to the overall time limit you are given to complete the city, and while it’s not necessary to pick up everyone in the city before the time runs out, you make more money if you do. If you do deliver them with particular speed and accuracy, you’ll get a nice tip, too. You can bump them around a little bit and they won’t mind — apparently one of the accepted inconveniences of ball travel — but shake ‘em up too much and they’ll express their displeasure with frowny-face speech bubbles — or if you’re transporting a dog, a steaming pile of doo — and probably not bother with your tip. Hit a wall at high speed and your fare might take a tumble and you’ll have to pick him up again.
Besides smacking into buildings, you’ll also have to watch out for water and ice. Water will give you and your fare a nice dunking; your fare won’t like that, but you can pick them up again and continue your journey at the expense of your recovery time. Ice doesn’t pose an immediate threat, but as expectd it’s difficult to navigate on. You’ll also find moving platforms indicated by scrolling arrows; moving with the flow will give you a speed boost, and while you can travel against the grain, it’s slow going. Scattered around however you’ll likely find some ramps that will let you jump over obstacles and hazards — but not everywhere, so you’ll have to keep an eye out.
Taxiball features an achievement system with dozens of achievements to unlock. Some are earned easily — even just for playing normally, such as completing a city, but others you’ll really have to work for. There are also online global leaderboards so you can see the world’s best players, as well as a bit of a social network baked right in where you can add friends and see their scores and achievements — and then try to beat them.
Graphically, Taxiball matches the somewhat abstract game world with somewhat abstracted graphics. They’re hand-drawn, isometric 3D in a chunky block style — a bit like lego — that contrasts with your smooth curve. It’s all animated looking, but very clean and professional in a style that is whimsical yet hard not to like. The audio deserves special mention here, because most of the sound effects and all of the music were created vocally. The music is all acapella vocal, and even more interestingly is dynamic, seamlessly changing tempo and instrumentation slightly when you have a fare, and dropping back to a more casual tone while you’re looking for one. We’re not quite talking Bobby McFerrin or The Flying Pickets here, but it’s very well done all the same, and fits the general feel of the game perfectly. They’ve even posted an enlightening case study on Instructables about how it was done.
All in all, Taxiball is a thoroughly enjoyable game with a lot of unexpected little bits and notions all wrapped up in a polished package with enjoyable gameplay, well-tuned controls and loads of replay value. There are 7 different cities each with their own unique aspects to work through, and a forthcoming update will add a further two cities to the roster. If you’ve only got $3 to spend and don’t have it already, Taxiball should be on your shortlist of choices.
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