Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Taxi 3: Extreme Rush blends single-player thrills and multiplayer cooperation into one seamless experience, allowing up to three friends to tackle the entire story mode together. You’re not actually driving a taxi—instead, your cab has been stolen and you must claw it back by dominating a series of underground races. From the moment you jump into the driver’s seat, the game makes it clear that this is pure racing action: no fares, no passenger interactions, just heart-pounding speed and high-stakes challenges.

The core of Taxi 3’s gameplay revolves around three distinct modes: drag racing, street racing, and city racing. Drag racing demands precise timing and manual transmission prowess as you launch off the line and battle for every millisecond. Street racing, on the other hand, turns your car into a wrecking machine—ram opponents, smash through barricades, and embrace the chaos of high-speed collisions. City racing shifts gears once more, tasking you with navigating complex urban layouts under time pressure or while being pursued by the police.

Progression feels rewarding thanks to up to five randomized races within each mode. Winning earns you respect points and cash, which you can spend to unlock new contacts—fictional Team6 developers who open the door to special events. Every new contract raises the stakes, introducing tougher opponents, more devious track layouts, and even helicopter chases that test your evasive driving skills. The dynamic of unlocking content keeps each session fresh and encourages you to explore every mode thoroughly.

Graphics

Visually, Taxi 3: Extreme Rush delivers a competent but unremarkable presentation. Cars have a decent level of detail, with visible dents and scratches after heavy collisions, and the lighting does a good job of accentuating streaking headlights and tail-lights at night. On the downside, some environments can feel a bit sparse, particularly in drag strips or back-alley street-race settings, where background assets repeat noticeably.

The city racing segments showcase the game’s strongest visuals, featuring winding roads flanked by neon signs, reflective wet pavement, and shadowy alleyways that heighten the sense of speed. Draw distances hold up well, minimizing pop-in even as you accelerate toward the horizon. During police and helicopter pursuits, occasional frame drops pop up when too many AI vehicles or effects appear on screen, but these hiccups rarely disrupt the fast-paced action.

Special effects—smoke from drifting, sparks from metal-on-metal impacts, and bursts of flames from nitro boosts—add a visceral punch to every race. While textures can look dated compared to more recent racing titles, the overall visual package remains serviceable, especially if you’re focused on the thrill of the chase rather than pixel-perfect fidelity.

Story

Taxi 3’s narrative is intentionally lightweight, serving more as a framework for its racing mayhem than a deep, character-driven saga. The premise is simple yet effective: your prized cab has been stolen by a shadowy organization, and the only way to reclaim it is by proving your dominance in the underground racing circuit. Contacts you unlock along the way—each representing different Team6 developers—offer bits of dialogue and lore that flesh out the world, but the heart of the story remains firmly in the driver’s seat.

Cutscenes are brief and stylized, often depicting tense face-offs, fast-talking backroom deals, or high-speed escapes through urban canyons. Though voice acting occasionally veers into cliché territory, the energy is high and keeps you motivated to pursue the next race. Character development is minimal, but Taxi 3 doesn’t claim to be a narrative-heavy title—it delivers exactly what fans of arcade racing crave: the promise of ever-greater challenges and a tangible goal to drive toward.

By merging the story mode with cooperative multiplayer, Taxi 3 makes the plot feel like a shared adventure. Rallying friends to tackle a particularly punishing race or to outmaneuver a relentless helicopter chase creates memorable moments that go beyond mere lap times. The story may not win awards for depth, but its pacing and integration with gameplay ensure you’re always engaged from start to finish.

Overall Experience

Taxi 3: Extreme Rush offers a robust package for racing enthusiasts who crave variety and cooperative play. The blend of drag, street, and city racing ensures that no two events feel identical, and the random race generator keeps the competition unpredictable. Unlocking new contacts and unlocking increasingly dangerous events provides a clear sense of progression, fueling your desire to push harder, drive faster, and outsmart the competition.

While the graphics and story won’t overshadow other top-tier racing titles, the core gameplay is solid, accessible, and consistently exciting. The occasional performance hiccup during big police chases is a minor blemish on an otherwise enjoyable ride. Sound design—complete with roaring engines, screeching tires, and pounding techno music—immensely enhances the adrenaline rush, making each race feel like a pulse-pounding adrenaline shot.

For players looking to team up with friends or dive solo into an underground racing saga, Taxi 3: Extreme Rush delivers a satisfying blend of speed, strategy, and showmanship. It may not reinvent the wheel, but it brings enough fresh ideas and cooperative fun to earn its place in the racing game lineup. Strap in, hit the nitro, and prepare for one extreme ride.

Retro Replay Score

5.2/10