Bit of a short one this week because with yet another camp out under my belt, my time to play games was near impossible. With me returning from camp the same day I update the site, the option would be either to skip this week, or talk about something short. So let's come on over and have some fun with Crazy Taxi.
Crazy Taxi was originally released in 1999 in arcades to critical acclaim for its fast and fun game play, and catchy soundtrack. In 2000 it was re-released on the Dreamcast with a new map and the Crazy Box, a number of challenges that tested players in the crazy moves they can do in the main game. This version was later released on the Gamecube, PlayStation 2, and the original Xbox. Then it was released on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network with HD and a changed soundtrack and was also released on mobile phones. So Crazy Taxi has certainly been around, so let's grab it on our system of choice and have some funI shouldn't use that joke again. And the version I'm playing is the Gamecube version, as to avoid confusion.
Because this is a pick up and play arcade game, there is no plot. Okay that makes things easier on to the gameplay. The goal of Crazy Taxi is to get rich. That's it. You get money for being the greatest darn taxi driver in the city, getting the customers to their destinations as quickly as possible while going through as many cars, making as many jumps, or doing as many drifts as possible in order to score extra cash. The controls of take some time to get used to, as for the default controls use the R button for acceleration, and the A and B buttons for turning the gear into drive and reverse respectively. Also doing some of the moves like short bursts of speed and drifts require specific button presses that take time to get used to.
The game can be played in the Arcade Map or the Original Map, the Original Map being the new one, and the Arcade Map being the old one. "Won't that get confusing?"asked one Sega employe. "Why yes it will but we feel really clever about it because original can mean new too." another employee answered. Each map can be played for 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or by the Arcade rules, where each time you pick up someone, you get extra time, and you get more if you get them to their destination quickly, meaning you can play forever in theory, though you'll have to get really good with the games controls in order to do that. Though that's what the Crazy Box is for, which is just nine challenges used to test players in the crazy moves they can do.
On the topic of presentation, the game looks like a Dreamcast title. The characters look like well polished polygons, but since you'll be driving too fast to notice them, its not an issue. Even with the HD of the recent releases it still looks good, though I would expect nothing less from a game made by Sega. The games soundtrack features tracks from the bands Bad Religion and The Offspring, and the songs are catchy and fit well with the fast pace mood of the game. The song "All I Want" in particular stands out for being the most common and the most memorable, as its one of the few things I immediately think about when I think about Crazy Taxi, besides KFC.
So about replay value. When playing by Arcade rules, you'll get a ranking for how well you did. Later versions would have online leader boards for this stuff, but for early versions like mine, your just playing to beat your own personal best. Besides that, there's not much to do after you beat the Crazy Box, besides playing again every now and again just for fun. Which is good because it is fun. Its cheap and available on just about any system, so its worth at least one play, just to say that you weaved through traffic after making a huge jump in order to get someone to KFC in 24 seconds.
The Silent Protagonist recommends not driving after playing Crazy Taxi for at least 12 hours. Everyone in town will like you better if you do.
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