"Damn! Rank 22?? What the hell man!"; "Ha! I beat you by one customer"; "Bet I can beat you in the 10 minute challenge yo." This was the conversation taking place between me and my best friend last Friday. So what were doing? ...playing Crazy Taxi of course, the port of the actual arcade hit.
The game is simple. It is what its name implies: crazy taxi. Your mission is to pick up customers and drop them off at their destinations as fast as possible. The catch here is--the crazier you drive, the more tips you earn. You'll start off by choosing one of the four crazy cabbies. After choosing your character, you have to pick what mode you want to play. There is arcade mode, original mode, and crazy box mode. In the arcade mode, you play the same course that was featured in the arcade version; in the original mode, you play the course especially designed for the dreamcast version. The crazy box mode is full of challenges that sharpen your skills, plus you can show off to your friends how you kick ass. There are also four ratings depending on your speed: speedy, normal, slow (a customer actually threw sand on me!), and bad (where the customer will actually jump out of the cab). This all may sound overwhelming, but after a couple of runs, it'll all make sense. Just pick up a customer, cut in close to the passing vehicles (without hitting them) to receive those nice tips, and drop off the customer as fast as you can. If you don't, believe me, they can get nasty!
The gameplay is easy and feels natur-AL. The people with the colored circles around them are your customers. Red circle represents the shortest distance and green is the longest distance. The colors start with red, then orange, yellow, yellow green, and finally green. Brake within the circle to pick anyone up. Do this by using the left trigger. Then press the right trigger to accelerate and get you going. Steering can be accomplished by the d-pad or the analog thumb pad. The B button will put you in the drive gear, and the A button will put you in the reverse gear. The X button can be used for destination reminder. It's not nearly as hard as it sounds.
The graphics are pretty nice. The settings are semi-realistic. For instance, you can find a FILA store, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken, etc. There are buildings everywhere as you fly by them. You'll encounter people rolling out of your way if you try to run them over. If you hit an object, let's say a chair for example, it will keep rolling in front of the cab till it's knocked aside or you're out of its way. The graphics are pretty decent. They have that cartoonish, vibrant feel and look to them. Very amusing.
The fun factor is great. Play it alone or with a friend, you'll always be competing and cursing. The replay value is extremely high--that is what the game is about. This is one of those games where you try to out do yourself and your friends. You'll laugh at your friend as he/she crashes into a number of cars, goes the wrong way, or gets that bad rating. I found it especially hilarious when a huge truck blocked off my friend, which cost her some valuable time. It's too great when a customer jumps out of your friend's cab or when you hit a car, they make those rude yet funny remarks. This game has been included in Sega's "ALL STARS" list and is available for $20. You'll definitely make a good investment with this game.