Game Reviews

Cosmic Cab

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iOS
| Cosmic Cab
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Cosmic Cab
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iOS
| Cosmic Cab

A crazy taxi of a very different kind to Sega’s seminal arcade hit is the star of Sybo Games’s intergalactic racer.

Your job, as driver, is to carry your fares to their destination – whether they’re planning on dancing the night away at a space-disco or heading to work, the three aliens that line the spiralling tracks need to get there in a hurry.

You merely need to carry one to the finish line to unlock the next stage, though only through collecting all extraterrestrials on a planet will you be allowed to paint your cab a different colour. Particle parking

Along the route you can pick up anti-matter to top up your income, while slick driving moves will earn you a fortune in tips – even if the scores don’t seem to amount to an awful lot.

Still, it’s a challenge amassing a decent tally given the increasingly daft level layouts. Tracks twist and fragment into several lanes, sometimes narrowing, and often splintering into small pieces, leaving huge gaps to leap with a tap of the touchscreen.

The trouble is that many of the lanes are red herrings – and you often won’t know that you’ve taken the wrong route until you reach the end and realise the road you should have taken is hanging in space above you. Losing track

At this point you’ll be deposited much farther back down the road, having likely lost any chance of a worthwhile tip. At least you keep all the aliens you’ve hoovered up along the way.

Exacerbating these issues are the tilt controls, which simply aren’t fit for purpose. There’s a solid enough sense of speed, but often you’ll find you’re unable to reach the next section of track because turning is so slow.

At other times, the track will dip down before a hole, completely obscuring it from view until it’s too late, and meaning only those with clairvoyant abilities will be aware of its existence on a first play. Engine power

It’s a shame, as there’s a solid core concept here. The presentation, while a little garish, is reasonably polished, and the game engine is impressive.

Once you’ve reached top speed, the whirling track creates a good sense of momentum, particularly when you pass through booster gates and the pace accelerates to almost uncontrollable levels. Thankfully those sections of track are usually relatively hazard-free.

The soundtrack, meanwhile, is repetitive but bearable, though the sound effects are a little feeble given that you’re racing at high velocity through space. Tilt and tumble

An option to customise controls, or even just to tweak the sensitivity of the gyroscope, would significantly improve the game – and more cohesive and satisfying track design could really do justice to the central idea.

As with most other iOS failures, though, it’s not the concept but the execution that falters. Cosmic Cab isn’t far off being worthwhile, but even in a relatively quiet week for quality new releases we’d struggle to recommend it.

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Cosmic Cab

Poor controls and curious track design stifle a compelling concept in this disappointing intergalactic racer
Score
Chris Schilling
Chris Schilling
Chris has been gaming since the age of five, though you wouldn't think it to see him play. Thankfully, his knowledge of the medium is as impressive as his unerring ability to fail at Angry Birds.