Earlier today, I was introduced to an indie game by the name of Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom, and from the instant my eyes saw the trailer, I was sold. Since the start of the year, I’ve primarily been playing 50-hour+ behemoths, and this silly little game has broken the curse.
As you can see from the initial release teaser trailer, Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is not a game that is bound to take itself seriously — and I loved everything I had seen. The absolute chaos that unfolded before my eyes made me run to Steam immediately to download the demo. Hailed as a platformer without a jump button, I was interested to see how this was going to play out.
I was brought into a world amalgamating of styles, with pixelated backgrounds, Nintendo 64-styled worlds, and an adorable little taxi cab with a key sticking out of its back. Without going into much detail about the story, it’s full of humor and wit, alongside plenty of puns mocking real-life figures. But the gameplay is what matters most here, and it nails it.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom combines the greatest aspects of a platformer — tight controls and level layout, alongside plenty of collectibles for you to gather up. As I learned the ropes of how my new favorite gaming protagonist would maneuver around the screen, I quickly found my first obstacle — a wall. See, you have no jump button here. I’m playing as a taxicab, so why would I have a jump button? I find a character who is totally not a famous Italian plumber, who explains to me that I have a special move that will send me rocketing through the air off of jumps scattered in the environment.
This opened up the world even more to me, but something was missing. The madcap, chaotic energy that I had seen in the trailer was surrounding me, but not to the extent I was expecting. That all changed once I collected enough Green Gears to unlock the second level of the demo. Suddenly, the game turned into a knock-off Crazy Taxi, and I’m speeding through city streets while being chased by totally-not Bob-ombs and an electrifying soundtrack is blaring into my ears. I’ve got only seconds before my spring unwinds, and I come across someone surrounded by an assortment of colorful rings.
I approach too fast, slamming into them and sending them off the screen screaming. At this point, I’m all in. I can’t put down Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom. I approach my next victim — I mean, passenger — and pick them up. They wind up my key and we go screaming through the city at speeds previously unknown to me. We reach our destination and I’ve got plenty of time on my key-wind, so it’s time to explore the world.
I encounter a boss, I do more trials and platforming, and I realize that I’m enamored with the game. Perfect timing, because I’m asked by totally not Mario if I want to Wishlist Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom. I couldn’t disappoint and had to do them one better by purchasing the game then and there. If you’re anything like me need something that is unabashedly itself and you need something to tear you away from games that are too serious for their own good, be sure to give this one a try.
Yellow Taxi Goes Vroom is available now on Steam.
