Crazy Taxi offers some classic fast paced arcade fun that can easily draw you in for another round.
(-) Dreamcast-caliber graphics aren't so impressive on the Gamecube; car handling is kind-of skittish; a little light on game modes
Sega created the Dreamcast in an effort to steal the attention from the Nintendo 64 and Playstation. What they did appeared to be a smart move, making an early next-generation console with improved processing power as well as some exciting new titles for it, such as Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi. But in creating the Dreamcast lead them to their mistake as console developers, because Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo easily trumped the system with their more powerful consoles, and therefore Sega forfeit the console making business. After doing so, Sega released several remakes of their old Dreamcast games to these more recent consoles in an effort to stay alive as game publishers as well as continue to deliver to their audiences.
Crazy Taxi is a fairly simple game. You choose one of four characters, I prefer either the iconic BB Joe with his XTREME ATTITUDE that made him a star also in Sonic and Sega Allstar Racing, as well as the heavy on sex-appeal Cassie. Once you choose a driver you get to passengers and drive them to their destination to earn money. The main key to winning is to get the ones that actually pay an acceptable amount of cash, and this can be indicated in a floating S symbol which green stands for a long distance and a lot of pay, a orange stands for a little less distance and little less pay, yellow stands for average distance and pay, and red stands for short distance and very little pay. This adds a certain level of strategy to the game, where a player can go for the biggest distances possible to earn the most money.
The game is somewhat lacking of different modes. All you have is a standard arcade game, where you have a time limit that increases as you deliver passengers which means it could potentially last forever, or you could play at a more relaxed pace by choosing two, five, or ten minutes. There are two fairly large open cities which vary in difficulty, where the destinations like KFC, Church, Stadium, and Pizza Hutt to name a few, are presented.
The game is incredibly fast paced, and that works both for the better and worse. The taxi cab you drive runs at an exaggerated speed, which even though its kind of slow at starting up, it's not difficult to go at blistering speeds knocking down traffic and driving up large hills. And this terrific and chaotic sense of speed keeps the game from getting repetitive, even know you're doing the same thing over and over again. It really has a true to the arcade sensation, and that really influences the fun factor as well as the short learning curve. Pretty much anyone of any skill level can jump in and have some fun, and not very many games these days can do that, which is impressive.
But alongside the fast paced action are controls that react about as fast. Your ending result is some pretty skittish car handing. It makes perfect sense because it fits the theme of the game, but it's practically impossible to skip through traffic at these insane speeds with controls that react to the very slightest of contact. Making turns is thankfully easy because in order to bring the passenger to their destination it requires some quick thinking, but the action can become too chaotic very fast especially when you get in nasty highway smashes.
It's plain to see that this is a raw port of a Dreamcast title, and the visuals show that. The Gamecube is significantly more powerful than the Dreamcast, yet this looks exactly like the original version. The cab as well as the environments are colorful but lack detail, and the draw distance is noticeably a little closer than it should. Still the frame rate is smooth and the quick pace never suffers from slow down, which that would relinquish this game's intended experience. Still, a lot of the hardware potential of the Gamecube could really fine-tune these visuals, which is a small disappointment. But the ending result is still a solid looking game that doesn't look too shabby compared to other Gamecube titles.
The sound fares a bit better. You'll hear music from Bad Religion and The Offspring, and it has just the right crazy and outrageous vibe the game was striving for. They're catchy industrial rock that encourages you to drive fast, and that makes sense with the game's approach. There's only a few songs, but they're only thinly layered over the action so they don't hinder at the game even when you hear the same one again. You'll also hear voice clips from your driver as well as passengers, like B.D. Joe's infamous "Move you butt over!" and some girl screaming "Watch it you dork!" are far from authentic but far from annoying.
Crazy Taxi offers some classic fast paced arcade fun that can easily draw you in for another round. Fast and addictive driving action as well as two open cities, and a good soundtrack make this one well-rounded package. However there could have been more game-modes, some slightly better car handling would have been appreciated, and some fine-tuned visuals would have went a long way. But as it stands, Crazy Taxi is a good game that may not engross you for extended periods, will make you come back time to time for one more cccrrraaazzzyy dash!