Its Crazzzzzzy (Crazy Taxi (DC))

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Product:	Crazy Taxi (DC)
Date:	05/11/01 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: original , fast and furious

Disadvantages: not much to come back to, novelty wears off

Every now and then along comes a game that is completely different to anything seen previously in the game market but is unfortunately back shelved by more popular titles, that is of course until now! Sega have defied the convention of the racing genre with this superb action packed taxi-a-thon, Crazy Taxi is it’s name and Taxis are in it and Crazy is definitely how to describe it.

Originality has always been a big factor when gamers by new titles and this game gives gamers what they want, you play from a choice of four taxi drivers in the busy streets of a large San Francisco style city, with everyone from little school girls and rambling vicars to fragile old ladies walking the pathways, you must pick up these pedestrians and drive them to any location they wish. The order of the day with this game is to crash, smash and speed your way through hundreds of people, cars, trains and other obstacles that may get in your way to arrive at you destination in record time, earning more money as you go.

The sounds in this game fit the surreal style of the game with Bad Religion and the Offspring pumping out their punk rock tunes as you drive at high speeds in the most unsafe way possible over ramps and crashing through other cars while you passenger will either praise or complain at you for doing so. Your passenger will either pay you more money for any devilishly dangerous stunt you perform while carrying them to their destination, maneuvers such as jumping over cars or lorries or speeding through the middle of two oncoming cars unscathed and weaving in and out of traffic will earn you some well deserved readies but crashing and ramming your way through other vehicles may be fun as hell but doesn’t earn you much cash wise.

You will from time to time notice your passenger ask you to go to take them to some well known places such as KFC, Pizza hut, the original levis store, Fila and may others which adds a nice ‘realistic’ f
eel to the game, this along with the real-world landmarks and variation on the lively population help Crazy Taxi feel more somewhat believable!

The control system fits the game nicely with your hands resting comfortably on the analogue and using the right back button to accelerate, the A and B buttons used to shift between forward and reverse, tips and tricks to help you do well in the game can be learnt in the new Crazy Box mode, here all the tips of the trade can be learnt everything from getting a speedy start to doing U turns with the most deadliest of accuracy, not only does this help newcomers to get a grasp for the game but an extra special vehicle is unlocked by completing this mode.

Now some of you may be thinking that Crazy Taxi is simply a conversion from the arcade version with pumped up graphics and one or two extra options and you would be right but isn’t that what we want, the arcade feel in our own home? Of course it is, the visuals are a treat and there is no signs of slowdown when the screen gets busy and everything trundles along at a nice rate, the surroundings are large and simply jaw dropping with colorful textures and pixel perfect vehicles and pedestrians there’s always something new to see or do. Countless times you will play the game just to do the things you’ve always wanted to do in real life driving you will intentionally go full speed into an oncoming car or purposely set up road blocks in the busiest of areas, a favorite would be driving through telephone boxes and other scenery and watch the debris fly and driving at horrific speeds through the local mall scaring pedestrians to the very brink of fear never gets tiring, maybe though the game could do with extra cities or options to make it last longer.

Overall this game seriously needs to be played to be believed it really is one of the most fun titles you will most likely ever play and with this game clocking in at a mere 19.99 this is defi
nitely one Dreamcast classic you should be adding to your collection!

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