How fun is Crazy Taxi?.... More fun than driving a dazzlingly bright yellow car ever ought to be that’s for sure....
For the first hour or so of playing Crazy Taxi you will undoubtedly be wearing one of the biggest smiles ever to have graced your face. This game is just an absolute joy and has the kind of "simple to learn, hard to master" gameplay that Sega have always done so well. Five years on from the games original release and I'm still improving. The game has multiple modes such as Arcade and an Original Mode that features an entirely new city made specifically for the console version. Each can be played with arcade rules, where you must pick up and drop off fares to raise your time limit, or you can just play either city for a set amount of time. No matter which of these modes you choose though, obtaining the best grade remains a mean feet indeed. You will have to make very few mistakes, learn the layout of the of the cities and most importantly learn how to pull off your crazy moves. These include drifting and boosting and are a little hard to get use too as they require you to do various combinations of shifting into reverse and/or drive while hitting the accelerator. Once you have learnt these skills though they become pretty much second nature and as a result Crazy Taxi's inventive use of controls is one of its highlights.
Once you think you have become competent at the game there are still other things for you to do, the main attraction as far as extras go would be the brilliant Crazy Box Mode. Here you are given set tasks that will test your driving abilities to the full. These mini missions include picking up a set amount of passenger within the time limit, doing the longest, biggest jump you can off a ramp and my personal favourite... Crazy Bowling... where yes, you actually have to knock down bowling pins with your car...
If there is anything wrong Crazy Taxi, it is only things that can nearly always be associated with arcade conversations. Things such as slightly old fashioned graphics and repetitive music were probabaly some of the compliants critics had with the game five years ago. So taking that into account you would think it would probably look even worse now, yet Crazy Taxi's graphics actually still hold up pretty well and have a good sense of style about them, and while the music is certainly repetitive, well just be thankful they decided to use the Offspring songs they did and not Pretty Fly For A White Guy, because that would have been annoying.
If you like arcade games or.... No scratch that, if you like having fun then Crazy Taxi is simply a game you need to own, the game has received two sequels but nether had quite as much charm as the original and while some people may say that they require more from a video game in this day and age than just an arcade perfect port... well they don't know what they are on about, Gameplay is what’s important and Crazy Taxi definitley rules that department....
The good stuff:-
Its just so damn fun!
Arcade Perfect
Presentation still hold up
Did i mention that it is fun?
The Bad Stuff:-
Repetitive Music
Not the biggest game ever..