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"Amazing" - DOSGames.com
"An ode to (90s) arcade games" - RetroManiac Magazine
In DEATH TAXI 3000 you must master the drift through the corners of a procedurally generated city to deliver passengers from point A to point B, all while avoiding traffic and learning shortcuts to save time.
This new retro arcade racer is inspired by classics from the 1990s and the whole Synthwave aesthetic.
Death Taxi 3000 uses a custom raycaster graphics engine, a technology seldom used by racing games of the past, and at its core is completely compatible with vintage MS-DOS hardware.
Free with Shareware release! Play against the clock picking up as many passengers as you can, challenge your high scores and the global leaderboard.
Earn money doing fares to repair and upgrade your cab in the garage. Choose between fast-paced racing action or a chill driving experience, exploring the procedurally generated city streets.
Death Taxi 3000 is the first retro indie game of its kind to be designed for the CD-ROM format, unlocking the power of digital audio soundtracks.
This special edition of the game is recommended for those who wish to play on original MS-DOS or Windows 95/98 hardware. It comes in a DVD case with high-quality inlay, including the custom printed CD-R and manual. Optional floppy disk also available!
Approx. $25 USD + shipping. Exchange rates apply
These are the minimum requirements for DOS/Windows 9x:
- Pentium 166
- 16MB RAM
- VGA graphics
- PC Speaker
Recommended:
- Pentium II
- SVGA graphics
- AdLib or Sound Blaster compatible card
- CD-ROM drive
Q: The game crashes on DOSBox after the sound card selection screen. Why?
A: DT3K requires core=dynamic to run under DOSBox. It is a default setting but some people change it to "simple" or "normal".
Q: Why can't I get fullscreen to work?
A: Try using the OpenGL renderer instead. The software renderer relies on your video card and monitor, and though most support 640x480 as a legacy video mode, some might not or will not give you correct scaling and colors.
On Windows you need to set taxi.exe to run with 256-color compatibility mode.
Q: What is the difference between DOS and Windows/Linux? Are those just emulating DOS?
A: No! All versions share the same assets and codebase, with different implementations for video rendering and sound support. The DOS version has a half-size map due to memory constraints.
Think of the Windows/Linux versions as a modern Doom source port: they allow support for many different video modes, perspective-correct 3D rendering, higher resolutions and colorspace, and run much smoother. There are also some cool video effects (grain filter, view skewing) that are disabled on the DOS port for performance and stability issues.
Q: Is this the sequel/spiritual successor to [insert game name here]?
A: No! While it would be easy to piggyback my way to fame on a previously established fanbase, Death Taxi 3000 really takes inspiration from several sources, some more obvious than others:
- Crazy Taxi, Sega's most innovative title since Outrun;
- Vice City Manhattan, a weird budget title that mixes Crazy Taxi and GTA elements;
- MS-DOS racing titles that used similar rendering techniques were Quarantine and Super Karts;
- And much of Duke Nukem 3D for the gritty nocturnal landscapes.
Q: If this is inspired by Quarantine, then where are the guns? I want to kill people.
A: The game is actually quite peaceful and meant to be a chill driving experience. There is no violence other than blood splats on the windscreen and some mild swearing.
On a serious note: while the "Death" in the name stuck for various reasons, one of them being evoking the "edgyness" of gaming in the 90s, several games after Doom (ab)used violence only to generate sales through controversy and would have been fine on their own without the added shock value. Racing titles like Carmageddon were huge offenders in this.
For instance, I always enjoyed playing Death Rally with guns disabled. Quarantine, though more cartoon-ish in its violence, handled more like a FPS with tank controls than a proper car game. So focusing only on the driving aspect was a different spin I wanted to take DT3K on.
