This may not be the
Crazy Taxi of your dad but this "remake" on the XBox 360 is actually
still an additively entertaining racing game. Although originally on
the Dreamcast, Crazy Taxi required the gamer to drive a taxi around
a fully interactive city in order to collect passengers and take
them from point A to B. Unfortunately you had a timer and sometimes,
the destinations were not that easy to reach. It was fun, it was
addictive, it was Crazy Taxi.
The most noticeable
difference with Crazy Taxi on the 360 as compared to the Dreamcast
is that all the cool music is gone. Crazy Taxi had one of the best
gaming soundtracks of its time with some awesome bands (e.g.
Offspring) lending their tracks to the title. This helped make the
game quite fast paced and also frustrating to boot! This version
contains two gameplay modes that include arcade and original with
arcade being the more enjoyable of the two.
In terms of
gameplay, it's basically a port of the Dreamcast as you race around
this open world, collecting passengers and attempting to get them to
their destination in record time to get paid lots of moolah.
Unfortunately there are quite a few obstacles in the way but
thankfully there are a few shortcuts as well.
The 360 version
allows the player to select one of four drivers (no difference
really among them) and the ability to race in two different cities.
Thankfully you have a big fat green arrow to point you in the
direction as you drive to Pizza Hut... err... Generic Pizza Store to
drop off your passengers. All the real-world stores have also been
replaced as well.
The cool thing about
the 360 version is that it supports some online connectivity such as
leader boards. Add in a variety of mini-games and a few different
gameplay modes and Crazy Taxi definitely becomes value for money. In
terms of music, it's a shame that all the licensed content has been
replaced with generic music but if you want, you can rip your own
soundtracks to the game. A much better idea!
Graphically, the
title looks a little dated but still contains a high definition
resolution. The models still look as does the city but it's very
lacklustre in terms of detail. Thankfully the frame rate is just as
smooth as the Dreamcast version as you drive around in this mad
cartoon world.
In conclusion, Crazy
Taxi may not hold the attention of most gamers but for those wishing
to walk down memory lane, it's definitely a great investment to play
this classic game. The control system works perfect on the 360 and
my only gripe with the title (besides it becoming too repetitive) is
that the great tracklisting of the original is gone.