Takes the core of the original game, and adds nothing to it.
User Rating: 4.6 | Crazy Taxi PS2
The game Crazy Taxi started off on Sega Dreamcast, and was a huge success. Everybody loved the fact that anyone could pick up the game and play, but also that more advanced moves could be learned for those looking for difficulty. Now Sega has ported it's taxi-driving game onto the Playstation 2. The simple fact is, the Playstation 2 is a bigger system, with higher expectations than the Dreamcast, and Crazy Taxi just doesn't meet those expectations. The point of the game is simple, pick up customers in your taxi, and drive them to the varying locations (KFC, Pizza Hut, etc.) in a set amount of time. The quicker you get to their location, the more advanced moves you use, and the safer you are, all add together to get your final pay from the customer. Sadly, the game goes nowhere past this. There is simply two modes in this game, driving around for a set amount of time, and mini-games. There is no reward to any accomplishments, which gives no reason for them to be done in the first place. All there is to reach are high scores. And in the words of Shania Twain, high scores don't impress me much. Okay, maybe high scores wasn't in that line. The graphics are plainly okay, with nothing that shatters your mind, and nothing too horrible. The sound is also a mixed bag. The soundtrack is great with bands like The Offspring, but the sounds in the game can get very annoying. I can only stand hearing, "Let's play CRAAAAAZY TAXI" so many times. The customers have very few different lines too, which gets very repetitive, causing you to turn down the sound and the great soundtrack. The main positives in this game are the core gameplay taken from the Dreamcast version, and the smooth controls. The controls can be difficult to get a handle on at first, but are not too hard to learn in the long run, and you'll be gapping between cars in no time at all. The negatives highly outnumber the positives though, with the two main problems being the lack of multiplayer mode and story mode. This game is made perfect for a multiplayer mode, but just like any additions you could've hoped for, it's nowhere to be found. The lack of a story mode is also a pain, as there really isn't any reason to keep playing after an hour or two. In the end, this game is worth a rental if you're a big fan of the Dreamcast game, but anyone looking for a good taxi game should just turn to Simpson's Road Rage, and it's inclusion of a story mode and multiplayer mode.
