Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom review

An evil Elon clone, hundreds of collectibles, and a Crazy Taxi reference are all part of this wild ride.

I don’t usually begin reviews with a warning, but Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom probably warrants one. If you’re like me and obsess over gathering every trinket in collect-a-thons, you might want to consider whether you want to hail this cab. Yellow Taxi is a throwback to the games of the PlayStation/Nintendo 64 era which tasked players with scouring environments for scattered objects, sort of like a digital Easter egg hunt.

Much like the Spyro and Banjo franchises, each stage of Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is an intricate map that’s filled with secret passages as well as collectable items that often linger just out of immediate reach. Adhering to formula, you’ll need those gears to open additional levels, renewing the whole gathering process until you’ve managed to get all 250 of them.

A Jumping Flash Level of Creativity

And while this description might sound slightly Sisyphean, grabbing gears can be engrossing. Some of that is because of the context, with Vroom set in one of those persistently interesting low-poly worlds filled with head-nodding melodies. The other part of the charm stems from its twist: there’s no dedicated jump button. In its place is the “Flip-O’-Will” maneuver, which is essential a spin-dash. It can be used to send your taxi airborne when used on an incline.

But that’s not the only way to get your cab around. You can cancel the Flip-O’-Will to kill your momentum, prohibiting you from overshooting your target. Or you can double-tap the button, overturning your taxi and getting an extra bit of distance from a roof-bounce. But most of the time, you’ll comb each area for a ramp that can catapult your little wind-up car toward a collectable. Essentially, you’ll think like a skateboarder, seeing environmental objects as tools for mobility.

No Firmware Updates for Wind-up Cabs

Of course, calculating the precise trajectory to get your cab to an elevated platform is rarely a one-and-done undertaking. And there’s where obsession came in. Instead of basking in the grandeur of nature during my Spring break, I was consumed by figuring out how to nab some of those remaining gears. Yellow Taxi creators Matteo and Lorenzo, I hope you guys are proud of yourselves!

Beyond amassing green gears, you’ll also be temped to round up the coins littered around each level, which are occasionally concealed in telltale blocks. Bank enough currency and you’ll be able to purchase cosmetics for your cab. They might not provide any navigational advantages, but it beats spending your money rather than losing it on a misplaced jump.

Curiously, your taxi’s moveset doesn’t develop throughout the game. It’s evident that Matteo and Lorenzo (working as Panik Arcade) aren’t interested in imparting a progression of new abilities. No, they want you to master the nuances of Vroom’s control scheme, as you face an ever-intensifying placement of collectables. Sure, landing a jump can be a bit tricky at first. But before long, you’ll be sending your cab airborne before stopping it on a petite ledge.

Escorting Passengers and Destroying the Flora

Pleasingly, chasing down gears and coins isn’t your only pursuit. Each stage is filled with destructive objects, so the digital vandal in me enjoyed mowing down trees and shrubs with my car. Sporadically, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom breaks up its gathering with one deviation that plays like Crazy Taxi, tasking you taking oddball passengers to their destinations. Yet, another takes place in a surrealistic bowling alley populated by pin-people. My only objection is there weren’t more of these digressions.

Undoubtedly, Vroom’s set-up holds promise. It’s conveyed through an NPC named Morio, who is frequently shown from an unfaltering, under-the-belly perspective. Here, antagonism is rooted in the malevolent machinations of Alien Mosk. As the head of Tosla, he’s contaminated the power supply, corrupting the world’s cars. Fortunately, you’re a wind-up taxicab who is immune from the chief evil officer’s reach.

If there’s an issue with the game, it’s that Yellow Taxi doesn’t do much with its satirical set-up. Sure, there’s plenty of weirdness in the world, with Wario-style clouds floating about and bodybuilders in desperate need of a lift. But given the egotism and erraticism of Mosk’s real-world correspondent, there are a multitude of missed opportunities. Although Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom item collection is undoubtedly sharp, Panik Arcade’s writing goes far too soft.

Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher.