In 1999, SEGA released a very unique arcade game. While on the surface the arcade machine appeared to be for a racing game, the truth was that it was anything but. The yellow cabinet with black and white stripes easily stood out among the other driving games in the arcade, but its gameplay is what truly made it well-known.
The game was called Crazy Taxi, and just as the title implies, it is a game where you play as a taxi driver. You pick up customers, drive them to their destinations, rack up some cash, and then call it a day. What may sound like a strange concept at first turned out to actually be a hit, and not too long after its release, Crazy Taxi came to home consoles.
Crazy Taxi's Core Mechanics:
Crazy Taxi is not a game you play for the story, mainly because there really isn't one. Each time you start up the game, you get to pick from a few taxi drivers, and you then instantly hit the streets. Once the game starts, a timer begins to count down, and it is your job to make as much money as possible before that timer runs out. While in the original arcade mode you gained time by picking up customers, the home console version added a separate option as well. In the home console version, you can either "play by arcade rules" (where the timer gains time as you secure more customers), or you can select one of the predetermined time limits, which go up to a maximum of "10 crazy minutes." It really doesn't matter which one you choose, though, since the game will basically always be the "same."
After you have started the game and picked your preferred time system, you are then ready to start making money. As you drive around an open-ended city, customers will show up in different locations and call out for a taxi. Above each customer's head is an icon that shows you the "difficulty" of that fare. Depending on that difficulty, you will either get more or less money for helping them out. For example, someone with a green icon above their head will ask to go to a close location (which will net you less cash), but someone with a red icon above their head will require you to push the time limit and take them to a faraway destination (allowing you to gain loads of cash in the process). Whether you pick someone up or not is completely up to you, but if you want to take them on as a customer, all you have to do is stop the car and let them get in.
Once a customer gets in the car, an arrow will appear at the top of the screen, a second timer will appear above the customer's head, and the customer will ask you to drive them to their location. At this point, it is your job to do everything you can to get them there before their time runs out. Squeeze between cars, ramp over buildings, crash through phone booths, nearly run people over as you drive down the street (don't worry, they'll always jump out of the way), or even drive through the ocean; it is up to you how you get them there. By performing dangerous actions and exciting your customer, you can gain some extra cash, but keep in mind that a single slip-up will sometimes cost you the precious time needed to reach your destination. Sure, you could squeeze between those cars, swerve in front of a vehicle in the opposite lane (while narrowly avoiding a collision), and then end the whole thing by ramping over a parked tow truck and landing in front of another car, but is the risk worth it? What if you crash, spin out, cause a pile-up, and then run out of time? Your passenger will be yelling "YOU SUCK" before you know it, and they will then leap headfirst into a car as it speeds by you, all while their body magically vanishes into thin air upon impact. In short, it might not be worth the risk.
If you manage to make it to a location on time, you will see a glowing zone around the building, and that is the area you must park in. If you cannot get the car stopped in time and you run out of time, the customer will still jump out of the car and take all of their money with them. However, if you do manage to park, it will be a different story. Depending on how fast you get a customer to their destination, you will earn different amounts of cash. If you get them there fast, you will get a high bonus; if you get there in an "average" amount of time, you will earn the normal amount; but if you're slow, you will earn less. This is what you want to avoid at all costs, but it will happen from time to time. Once you have dropped off your customer (or once they have jumped out of the car as you speed down the highway), you can pick up another customer and begin the process all over again. Once your time is up, you will be graded based on how well you did, and you will then be free to play again. It is a simple, arcade-style game, but it is also one that becomes very addicting. Still, that doesn't mean it is completely simple.
Advance Tricks:
The thing is, Crazy Taxi is all about skill and learning how to use everything to your advantage. While fully memorizing the map can go a long way in helping you figure out the best paths, that isn't always going to be enough. If you truly want to do well in Crazy Taxi, you will have to learn how to use the crazy stunts. By quickly shifting into reverse and then back into drive as you floor the accelerator, you can pull off a wide variety of stunts. If you do it as you turn, you can pull off a "Crazy Drift," which will swing you around turns at full force, but by doing it as you simply drive down the road, you can perform a "Crazy Boost." Along with these two tricks, you can also pull off a "Crazy Stop," which allows you to stop faster, as well as a few others. Using these different tricks to handle different situations can really go a long way while playing the game, and they truly are a system you must master.
Original and Arcade:
Although the arcade version of Crazy Taxi only featured one city to drive around in, the console version actually features two. The first map option is, in fact, the arcade map. This map is a large open city that mostly consists of flat land, a park, a beach, a parking garage, a single hill, an overpass and highway system, and a few business and residential areas. The map is a great place for beginners, and it is a pretty easy map to learn. The second map, on the other hand, isn't quite as simple.
The second city to explore in the console version of Crazy Taxi is the "Original" map; yep, that is its official name. This map is clearly based on California, and it features a city that is almost completely built on a hill. The winding roads twist and turn around buildings, waterways cut off access to specific areas until you can find a bridge or another way to cross, a subway system twists and turns underground, and the Millennium Tower will always feel lost within it all until a customer shows you how to get there (yes, apparently this city is in fact San Francisco). Overall, the "Original" map provides a bit more of a challenge than the arcade map, but either way, it doesn't matter which one you play on. You are never going to become truly lost because the green arrow will always guide you to your destination, and there are always people standing around asking for a taxi. You will be able to find a fare no matter where you are; even if you drive underwater, you will still find a diver or two who needs your help.
Another Day and Secrets:
Despite the fact that Crazy Taxi can be a very addictive game, sometimes doing the same thing over and over again can become boring. Each time you start up a game, everyone will be standing in the exact same spot, and because of that, you can follow the same pattern over and over again. After spending hours repeating this process, you may feel ready to give up... That is, until you find out about the "secret" modes!
Crazy Taxi also features a wide variety of secrets. There is "Another Day" mode, which changes the placement of the people in the town; there's a mode that lets you turn off the destination arrow; there are settings that let you fine-tune how heavy the traffic is; and there are even other vehicles to unlock, such as the bicycle! (I actually found that one myself one day while mashing buttons out of boredom. Can you imagine my surprise when the game loaded up and Axel was on a bike!?) With these options, you can make the game as hard or as easy as you want, and you can also use them to mix up your gameplay experience. If you are truly a Crazy Taxi master, you can turn off the arrow, turn traffic up to high, activate "Another Day" mode, and play by arcade time rules. Not only will you have to be fast, but you will also need to have memorized every single location in the game and know the fastest route to get there from your current position. It isn't easy, but it sure can be fun.
The Crazy Box:
While the console version includes basically everything the arcade version had (plus more), it does have some completely new content as well. The "Crazy Box" is a new mode exclusive to the console release, and it is filled with mini-games and missions that test your driving skills. At the start of the Crazy Box, you are greeted by a grid-like selection screen where you can pick any unlocked challenge you want to tackle. There are missions such as the "Crazy Jump," which tests how far you can launch your taxi off a massive ramp; a mission where you must pop every balloon on the map within a strict time limit; and even a challenge that requires you to leap from floating platform to floating platform at sea, which demands perfect Crazy Drift skills. As you clear these challenges, tougher missions are unlocked, and completing them can reward you with extra bonuses for use in the main game.
Although the Crazy Box isn't the primary focus of Crazy Taxi, it really is a fantastic extra, and it is one I personally spent a lot of time playing. It is a great mode to pass the controller around with family and friends, and it even keeps track of your best scores on a traditional high-score board.
Brand Names and Music:
Back in the early 2000s, two things that really stood out about Crazy Taxi were its product placement and its music. Whenever a customer who wanted pizza jumped into your car, they didn't ask you to go to some generic pizza place; they asked you to go to Pizza Hut. If a customer wanted chicken, you took them to KFC; if they wanted to buy clothes, they went to the Levi's store; and if they wanted music, they asked you to go to Tower Records. Although it may not seem like much, these brand names really helped Crazy Taxi feel as if it were set in the real world. Sadly, however, these licensed brands did not remain throughout Crazy Taxi's lifetime.
While the original versions of Crazy Taxi (Arcade, Dreamcast, GameCube, and PlayStation 2) did in fact include the brand names, future releases had them removed due to licensing issues. Although this doesn't change the gameplay, it is a bit disappointing to see them replaced with generic locations. Despite this change, Pizza Hut still looks like a Pizza Hut and KFC still looks like a KFC, so you are still driving to the original building designs. Because of this alteration, the voice acting had to be re-recorded for later releases, which might take some getting used to if you are a long-time fan of the series.
The soundtrack for Crazy Taxi also stands out because it features licensed music from bands like The Offspring and Bad Religion. Even if you aren't a fan of punk rock, almost everyone can agree that the music perfectly fits a fast-paced game like Crazy Taxi, and it is hard not to get pumped up as you speed down the streets picking up fares. As soon as you jump into the driver's seat and hear the iconic "YA YA YA YA YA" at the start of "All I Want," you know you're ready to roll. Sadly, the original music was removed from several later versions of the game (such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC digital releases), but those versions do include custom soundtrack support so you can manually add the tracks back in. Fortunately, the modern iOS and Android versions actually brought back the original soundtrack, which was a very welcome return for fans.
Should you play it?
Crazy Taxi is a solid arcade game, and it is one that you can easily spend a lot of time playing; however, it really all comes down to what type of games you actually enjoy. If you don't like games where the primary goal is to get a high score, or if you don't like driving games at all, Crazy Taxi may not be for you. The gameplay is heavily based on repeating the same loop over and over again, and each time your only real goal is to beat your previous run. Even with the ability to mix things up with "Another Day" mode, it can get repetitive. If this isn't an issue for you, however, then you will find a lot to love about this classic title.
Other than a few minor hangups, the game is basically issue-free. The gameplay is smooth, the controls are responsive, and you will never really feel cheated by the game's difficulty. Crazy Taxi is all about knowing how to play, and each time you start up a round, you will slowly get better.
Although on the surface Crazy Taxi is a single-player game, it also makes a great party game. Back in the day, I used to sit around the TV with friends and family as we each took turns with the game, and we never got bored. Customer voices would constantly echo throughout the house, and no one cared. You would hear screams from people diving out of the way as someone crashed through a phone booth, or you would hear others yelling, "YOU'RE ONE HELL OF A DRIVER!" as whoever was playing got their customer to their destination fast. Whenever someone was playing Crazy Taxi in the house, you knew it, and you almost always wanted to join in on the fun.
The gameplay truly became addictive, and you always wanted to push for that next high score. When a friend or family member beat the top score, that only pushed you to jump back into the driver's seat and try to top them. Despite being away from the arcades, the competitive leaderboards helped keep the arcade experience alive.
If you are looking for some old-school arcade action, or if you just want to play one of the great classics of the past, Crazy Taxi is definitely a game worth picking up. Nowadays, it can be found on most major platforms and mobile devices, and it is still just as fun as it was all those years ago.
VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on SEGA Dreamcast
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