Final Glimpse: Crazy Taxi goes portable at last. Thank you Sega!
When it was released on Sega’s much loved Dreamcast, Crazy Taxi was a huge success. It took similar gameplay to that of Driver, added in some craziness and replaced the criminal characters with reckless drivers and pedestrians who just wanted to get to their destination, hence the game’s title. Not long afterwards, Crazy Taxi 2 was released on the same console and was again a successful title. Now you can do it all over again – quite literally – in the PSP game, Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars.
You can do it all over again ‘quite literally’ because this isn’t a brand new Crazy Taxi title – far from it. What Sega has done here is to take both the original and second game and combine them to make a new experience. Of course, just doing that wouldn’t have done the publisher any justice, nor would it have made any new enhancements to the gameplay. One of the really appealing things is that not only are the first two games included, but you also have the option to play the Dreamcast or arcade versions, each containing different map designs.
Those wise minds at Sega have brains, not surprisingly, and have also added some new multiplayer modes (co-operative and versus) to what’s already there.
The control system is near identical to how it was on the Dreamcast games, with the left and right shoulder buttons being used to brake and accelerate, and X and O being used to switch between reverse and acceleration gears. Gameplay wise, it’s nice to know that – other than the new multi-player modes – nothing has really changed. Innovation can be forgotten about just this once, because the original arcade-like gameplay was a pretty much unbeatable experience. Much like the way Tony Hawk’s used to be (now Classic mode in the newer titles), the game features a countdown timer until it runs out, where the score, rating and other important information is summarised. This means you’ll need to drive like hell if you’re to better your score, and be quick picking up new passengers.
With Crazy Taxi 2 on the Dreamcast, some new elements were implemented into the existing game formula. Chief amongst these for obvious reasons was the map which went from California to New York, followed by Crazy Hop, the ability to make your taxi jump, and being able to collect groups of passengers when they appeared on the roadside. Along with that, many genuinely fun mini-games were in the second game – hurdles, golf, balloon popping among others – which are also going to show their familiar faces in Fare Wars.
On top of all that’s been mentioned, Sega are speaking of a frame rate update and you’ll be able to play your own custom MP3 soundtrack too. Look out for the game when it hits shelves this August.
