There are few games that lend themselves as well to anecdotes as Crazy Taxi. After all, we've been in some Crazy Taxis in our time. But whether it's getting lost in Wakefield while trying to find Team 17, or having to effectively act as a built in sat nav for our own taxi as we travelled the five minutes from Stourbridge to our home, none are quite as crazy as this.
Set in the film-friendly (but suspension killing) hills of San Francisco, Crazy Taxi is a fast paced, arcade interpretation of what it means to be a man (or woman) who spends their days ferrying people to and fro with little in the way of a thank you. It's about as far away from reality as you can get, as you leap over the iconic tramways, smash into cars and send them flying, and hurtle down the pavement with little regard for human life (don't worry - they all dive out of the way), all while your passenger sits there cheering you on. At least, we think they're cheering.
Jump in - let's take a ride.
It's a simple enough premise to get your head around, and a great concept for a game - all you have to do is get your fares to their destination is as short a time as possible, as you attempt to rack up the most cash, and get a high score. Delivering happy passengers to their destination as quickly as possible, you'll be rewarded with time extends, and the quicker you are, the more extra time you'll earn, giving you that extra incentive to put your pedal to the metal.
As with many arcade games, by design, Crazy Taxi is a game you'll get better at the longer you play. With a huge, and complex city on offer, the game's littered with back routes, short cuts, and simply less crowded routes to take, and the only way to achieve the biggest high scores is to simply keep playing. It won't take long to learn the location of popular joints (like Southern Fried Chicken, which seemingly everyone wants to get to), but even the most seasoned driver will have to rely on the big helpful navigation arrow at times.
Near misses, jumps, and drifts all *add* to your fare. People from San Fran really are insane!
One of the weirder parts of Crazy Taxi is the controls, which seem a bit counter-intuitive. With no automatic option, you can accelerate fine, but if you want to reverse, you'll have to push a button to do it. Apparently, the whole reasoning behind this is so you can do a "Crazy Boost", or other "Crazy" manouvres, by putting it into reverse, and then switching into drive, but it all it really means is that the game takes a lot of getting used to, as when you're just starting out, reversing is something you'll often find yourself having to do.
But, most importantly, Crazy Taxi is a lot of fun. It's hilarious watching your taxi career out of control into the side of a building, before getting caught at a crazy 60 degree angle between the floor and it, as your passenger jumps out and complains at you for being late - and accidentally landing on a car after a jump, to watch it flip off into the horizon always raises a few laughs as well.
With a number of other minigames on offer when you feel like having a break from simply taking people and dropping off, such as bowling, drift competitions, and long jumps, there's at least an attempt to offer plenty to do in Crazy Taxi, but that still doesn't stop it getting a bit long in the tooth if you ever try to play it for more than a few minutes. In short bursts, however, Crazy Taxi is a lot of fun, and for 800 points, or around £6.80, it's worth investing in.
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
