Full Review

14 July 2003 - Crazy Taxi is one of those classic arcade games that never seems to die. Perhaps it should have. Ok, that isn't really fair, but it has been around a long time. The thing that struck me when I first got it, was that it is a classic Sega game. Having grown up in the console world where Sega vs. Nintendo was the Friday night fight to watch (pre-Sony days), it still makes me somewhat cautious about Sega ex-arcade titles, on the PlayStation2...

Anyway, as far as mindless-arcade-cross-platform-games go, it ain't 'alf bad. This is because it was a fun game to play in the first place, a good playable concept. Nothing has changed on this version of the game - the sound is a little repetitive, the graphics are 'all right' (in a kind of moaning teenage way) and the gameplay is great, as was the arcade version of yester-year. The real advantage here is you don't need a pocket of change to play it. As far as game setup goes, you have a choice of two maps, which are different, but not especially so. There are a number of different game options, allowing you to set a timespan to play in, or the original time-per-successful-customer format. There is also a range of stunt options, where you can attempt to do various other tricks and so on, but to be honest, it is kinda dull.

For those who don't know what Crazy Taxi is all about, you play a taxi driver, you drive around and pick up customers who want to go somewhere in particular. You take them there, in the allotted time, you get paid. The faster you go, for more you get. If you manage to do some jumps on the way, you get a bit more. And that is it! Simple, you deliver as many people as you can to keep the game going, or to get as much money as you can.

VERDICT
Where Crazy Taxi excels is filling a slot of time where you would be doing nothing, like waiting for a cab to arrive, or you mate to call round (or waiting for your girlfriend to get changed). You can play in a consequence free environment, you don't really care if you get a high score or not. And therein lies to problem. Crazy Taxi is a stopgap, guaranteed entertainment, but it will not last you long before you want to do something else.