Did somebody order a Taxi with a side order of Chaos? ‘Taxi Chaos 2′, developed by Focuspoint Studios and published by Current Games, has finally arrived on Steam. Today, we find out if this latest entry in the Taxi Chaos franchise can deliver, or if it suffers from another nostalgia bait hit and run. Without further ado, let’s dive into the hustle and bustle that awaits in the city of San Valeda.

‘Taxi Chaos 2’ is a high-energy arcade racing game that is set in the city of San Valeda, a city under siege by AI-controlled Taxis. You must race against the clock, outwit, and outdrive the rival taxis, and deliver passengers through chaos-filled streets where every shift you work plays differently. Taxi Chaos 2 aims to build upon its old-school taxi arcade racing roots with tighter pacing, a clearer shift system, and much deeper progression. Each run focuses on making fast decisions, taking risky routes, and keeping passengers happy under pressure.

Drifting into San Valeda faster than a Domino’s driver with a late order rush, I decided to dive straight into the story mode. Playing through the story mode, players follow the chaotic journey of Vinny and Cleo as they try to shut down their AI-driven rival TaxiBot Corp. I thoroughly enjoyed the way the developers explored the highly contentious topic of AI and its looming threat to replace humans and take away valuable jobs.

I think what made this most enjoyable was that it really leaned into the repercussions of creating such a wonderful technology, only to have to clean up the mess that it has left in its wake. Personally, I think AI is a wonderful tool when used appropriately, and although this is a very over-the-top representation of AI replacing human jobs, I feel the message that human jobs should never be replaced lands in all the right places.

Each shift you play represents a new day in San Valeda, and with each day/shift you complete, you will be presented with a whole new set of objective challenges which you will need to complete in order to raise your driver rank and progress further into the story.

While the objectives generally appear pretty straightforward, like delivering a required number of passengers to their destinations, maintaining a certain customer satisfaction rating, or destroying a required number of AI-driven taxis, TaxiBot Corp will throw everything they can at you to make your shift as chaotic as they can.

Complete every objective on a shift, and you will earn maximum driver rank points. Picking up higher-paying customers will net you bigger earnings, but that also comes with a higher risk of failure as the AI ramps up the difficulty of your route. Using the money earned and the data points received from increasing driver level and taking out your AI competition, you can invest in faster, more durable taxis and even research new tech that helps you to outwit the AI taxi bots.

Regarding the tighter pacing I mentioned earlier, I believe the team delivered very well on this promise, as each shift played out. However, the pacing between story segments makes the game feel way more grindy than it needs to be. I loved the chaotic high-energy run of each shift, but when you have to repeatedly bang your head against that grind wall, the thrill of the chaos is quickly defeated.

I would have preferred an even shorter story playtime and the addition of endgame content that was just as thick and fast-paced. Thankfully, Arcade mode does exactly that; it is all chaos all the time, and I love it. This is the type of chaotic fun that the story mode needs more of.

Visuals are bright, crisp, and colourful, like Fortnite or even The Simpsons: Hit & Run. The city design itself is a bit hit and miss; some sections flow beautifully, even when you’re attempting a riskier shortcut, while other sections are so tight that you couldn’t even swing a cat in there, which makes driving through them extremely difficult and often painful. There are plenty of places where you can find yourself stuck, literally between a rock and a hard place, without being able to reset the vehicle to a drivable state. This is run ending and just sucks.

The audio experience is also quite the mixed bag. The sounds of motors humming, tyres squealing through the city, metal clashing against metal as you take out traffic that is in your way, it’s music to my ears. Also making a fine pairing is the backing soundtrack of high-energy instrumentals that play out of the car’s radio.

Audio cues from the AI navigation system often lag because they are queued to play after a radio broadcast, which can lead to driver confusion. Hearing the AI navigation system speak an objective when I was halfway through the delivery made me feel more like I had a backseat driver than a helpful assistant. Hear this over and over, and you can bet I will turn this car around and we’ll go home.

‘Taxi Chaos 2’ is a great deal of fun to play and is certainly worth giving a go. It delivers a strong message that AI can simply not replace human jobs and does a fantastic job with its over-the-top viewpoint.

I love the fast pace and chaotic gameplay in each shift, but sadly, this is overshadowed by grind, places to get stuck, and laggy audio cues. If the team can fix these issues, then ‘Taxi Chaos 2’ will be a brilliant addition to your Steam library. Maybe it will even fill the Crazy Taxi-sized void that’s been missing from the genre.

Written by: Gary Nielsen