TAXI Jam Review
Okay, okay, okay… it’s time to come up with a name for the genre that seems to have started with Flight Control. I’m not even sure if that game was really the first, but it’s the one most people point to and it’s the first time I really saw this genre take off (so to speak).
The genre I’m talking about is the “draw your path to the location you want to go and try not to run into anything along the way” genre, and that title just isn’t working. They mostly get lumped into the “time management” group, but with so many of these games it’s time someone come up with a title just for them. Path Management? Let’s go with that for now…
“Taxi Jam” is the latest path management game to hit the app store, though not the first taxi version of the genre. In the game you control taxis around a city trying to pick up fares and get them to their destinations before they get too angry to pay you (wow, I’m suddenly really wanting to bust out my Dreamcast and play Crazy Taxi right now).
You draw a path through the city to reach your customer and then plot out the course to the destination. Pretty simple set up, and exactly what you’d expect with this style of game.
Where Taxi Jam goes to distance itself from the others in the field is that you can actually decide how many taxis you’d like to have out. You can play it safe and go with two taxis and just have them try to round up things, or you can bring out some more cars and try to make even more money. My suggestion… stay with the two for a while. This game can get really nuts when you have too much to keep an eye on.
There is also a few other cars on the road to worry about… manly police and fire trucks. You’ll hear sirens and then notice that a red or blue path is now on the screen and you’ll have to adjust your taxis so as to not run into the emergency vehicles.
Taxi Jam has a good look and the cities (there are three of them now, but I’m hoping for more) stand out nicely. Your taxis are easy to see, but there are a few areas I’d love to see fixed with the graphics.
I’m (sorta) okay with the way the customers look like little bowling pins, but the real problem is the colors. You see, a green passenger needs to go to the green drop off zone, blue to blue, etc..
The colors don’t pop enough and at times I really had to examine the screen to see where the green zone was. This became a real problem and one that I think can be fixed easily. Get the colors brighter and maybe even blink a bit.
As for controls, you have pretty much what you’d expect. Draw the path and then watch it go. Re-draw the path if you need to change things up. But… there are a few things I’d like to see with the controls as well.
It would be nice to be able to tap on a cab to stop it if you need. Since it’s all about getting to the destination in time there should be no problem just stopping a cab. If you don’t move it you won’t get the money so let me hit the brakes if I need to take a moment and see what’s going on.
Also, why can’t the cabs stop in the zone when they hit them? If you draw the line a little too far the cab will roll through it and you have to draw it in reverse a bit to get to the zone.
In the end you’ve got a nice entry into the Path Management genre. Taxi Jam is only a few tweaks away from being a front runner in the field and even without them is a great deal of fun considering the price. It will take a little bit of time to unlock the other cities, but that’s part of the fun.
It’s time to drop the flag and get out your Hack’s License. Taxi Jam will have you beating a new path to management fun.
The Good
Control As Many Cars As You Think You Can Handle
Real Nice Challenge To The Game
Three Cities (So Far)
The Bad
Colors Need To Be Brighter
A Few Control Glitches
Online Board Is A Little “Too” Online
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Category: Games
How about “Traffic Control” for genre name.
Fixed the name sorry! Wine and Medicine don’t mix…
All additions to the genre are a-ok in my books as long as they keep adding interesting elements which seems to be the case here.
I think that a lot of these “draw your path to the location you want to go and try not to run into anything along the way” games are just copies of Flight Control, but this one does actually look pretty neat.
Also to me the colors is a big problem because I’m colorblind.
It’s great, and your right about the name for a genre i dunno
I LOVE this game – I don’t have any problem seeing where I am supposed to drop off the passengers.
I found it really easy to pick up and play, I kind of know what this review means about the online leaderboard being too online, it would be cool if the scores could just be displayed in the game without having to go to safari.
I would reccomend Taxi Jam to anyone….hehe not Traffic Jam though. *blushes for admin*
Accurate review… Though actually I quite like the fact that you can ‘draw’ through the drop off zones – the passenger on board is quickly dropped off – and continue to draw on through them to another passenger pickup somewhere else in the city. It means your taxis are pretty much always on the move and you can ‘set and forget’ one long drop off and pickup journey.
I think the touch on a cab to stop it idea would be a useful addition though!
I’ve played several of the other ‘path management’ games (Flight Control owes me many hours!) but Taxi Jam just has that little something extra for me. I’m looking forward to the multiplayer modes!
I
Thanks so much for the review – it’s great!
One thing – the game is called TAXI JAM, not traffic jam. Can you tweak your review so it’s correct?
We’re already working on the update which includes more cities, multi-player modes (co-op and battle) and improved colour (including a colour blindness mode). Hopefully these improvements will convince you that Taxi Jam is the best path management game out there.
Thanks again.
My many apologies… My brain had drawn a path to the next sentence and I messed up.
I actually went back and caught one before I sent in the review and was relieved that I had caught it… Yikes!
Bob
multi-player modes (co-op and battle),
I’m sorry but how can you battle in a taxi?
Maybe it will be like “Mad Max” or the game “Car Wars”. Now there’s a game I’d love to see made for the iPhone!
I like the fact that you control how many cars there are.