Crazy Taxi

November 29th, 2010 at 8:42 pm -

Crazy Taxi was a giant back in it’s day. In my mind, it was the first open-world 3D driving game that allowed you to race around a huge environment. I may be wrong on that call, but it just goes to show how important this game was in my mind.

That’s not to say that you missed out all that much if you didn’t manage to catch the original release. It’s been ported to several different consoles, had plenty of sequels and spin-offs and created a genre that inspired a host of copycat games. If you’ve had access to a console in the last decade, chances are you could have had access to a copy of Crazy Taxi.

Unfortunately, with every new release the series seemed to decline further, both in terms of critical reception and in terms of sales. It’s a game that has rapidly aged, perhaps because of other games like Grand Theft Auto III including Taxi driving mini-games as part of a bigger design, rather than as the focus of the game.

The release of Sonic Adventure received a plethora of negative feedback, mainly because of the way it had aged. Is this version of Crazy Taxi worth your hard earned, or should you just keep your old dusty Dreamcast copy?

First off, there’s nothing here that hasn’t been seen before. This is a port of the original game and the only differences lie in the use of music and the coyly re-named locations. If you DO own a copy of this game that you have access to and play on a regular basis, it’s probably not worth your money to buy this again.

Gone are all the licenced stores and the original songs. No more KFC, Pizza Hut or Levis, replaced by semi-parody lookalikes. It amazes me that Sega haven’t had any nasty letters concerning this because the stores in-game have a striking resemblance to the original companies.

Bad Religion and The Offspring, who provided the music for the original game, have also been replaced. After going back and watching some videos of the Dreamcast version on Youtube, I can’t say I’m disappointed. With that said, the music that makes up this new soundtrack is no better and I suggest making use of the custom soundtrack option or muting the music entirely from the menu. If you’re anything like me, your score will probably increase.

Changing the names of the stores and the music playing in the background seems to have really bothered some people, but the game is still as fun as it ever was. If you can get past the whining online, you’ll actually quite enjoy stepping back into that cab and crashing into stuff, my main objective it would seem.

Graphically, Crazy Taxi looks just as you’d expect. Jaggie-breasted women and funny, bearded priests need your services, and your goal is to get them there as fast as you possibly can. This includes driving through magically appearing vehicles, flat grass and countless pedestrians. I mean, literally through pedestrians.

The graphics certainly aren’t bad, so long as your suffix the phrase “for their time” on the end. I remember being spellbound by the visual capabilities of the Dreamcast more than a decade a go, and it says something about how far ahead of it’s time it was that both Crazy Taxi and Sonic Adventure look better than several of the other games on XBLA, even specifically made for the service.

Gameplay remains wholly unchanged. You pick up a customer and then deliver them to their destination as quickly as possible, using the giant arrow to guide you. The quicker you get them to their destination, the more money you get from their fare and the more time you get added onto your clock.

The goal is to make as much money as possible whilst keeping your timer as high as possible. You can boost the former with tips by driving close to other traffic, performing jumps or drifting round corners.

It’s a great example of arcade gaming from home.

As well as the two cities to play with, Crazy Taxi also comes with the Crazy Box, a set of mini-games that are designed to both improve and challenge your skills. With 16 games to play, with increasing difficulty each step of the way, this will keep you busy for a few hours and is a nice alternate to the very single-minded arcade mode.

From having to jump a certain distance to having to deliver a group of people to different destinations across a winding path, there’s plenty to keep you occupied and more than enough to have almost anybody biting their nails and throwing their controller.

At least, that is, until you slowly begin to master the skills on show. It’s amazing how subtly you improve and I strongly suggest having a few games of Arcade mode, doing all the Crazy Box in a single sitting, and then going back into Arcade mode to see your improvement.

Something worth mentioning that will probably make this an insta-buy for several people reading. The achievements are ridiculously easy. I’ve managed all 200 points within a single evenings. You simply have to complete the Crazy Box, then get each of the licences in both Arcade and Original mode (with an achievement for each licence).

Crazy Taxi is a series that has not aged well. It’s a archaic symbol of those first steps into really competent 3D graphics and high-speed gaming. Unlike Sonic Adventure though, everything that Crazy Taxi was loved for have been bettered by other, more modern games. This leaves the player with a kind of ‘so what?’ feeling that is hard to shake.

I can safely say though, it’s lost none of it’s addictive charm. It’s well worth the money to be able to load up your current gen console and play when and if you want to. Just don’t expect to get your monies worth in one sitting.

6/10

Crazy Taxi is available for 800 points from XBLA or for £7.99 from the Playstation Store. We reviewed the 360 version and there may be small but noticeable differences from the Playstation version of the game. We received a review copy of this game.

Parental Guide

Other than the obvious scenes of reckless driving, Crazy Taxi is perfectly fine for children of all ages.

Accessibility Guide

The bulk of the control scheme for Crazy Taxi relies entirely on the control stick and the accelerate button. Advanced moves require more dexterity and multiple button presses with the same hand. There are no subtitles, but there is no really important dialogue any way.