The Dreamcast came out at the wrong time. Sega was down, everything was down. Heck, even the games were down. Who here actually replays Sonic Adventure past the first two levels? The disagreeable guy in the back does not count, put your hand down! OK, see? No one.
Then, suddenly, this game is on the horizon. It's called Crazy Taxi. No, Travis Bickle does not make an appearence. Sorry, film buffs. Crazy Taxi was a huge arcade smash. I'd never heard of it, but supposedly everyone loved it. Sega was promising an arcade perfect port. People were wetting their pants.
The magazines wrote glowing previews. Then, glowing reviews. Friends raved and, yes, wet their pants over it. I was skeptical. But, hey, why not? All the games I've gotten for the Dreamcast so far, at that point, had been huge disappointments. Except for Soul Caliber, of course.
I got Crazy Taxi for my birthday. I loved it. I was smitten with it. I played it for days straight. For about three days I was utterly gobsmacked. But, wait, are you telling me there is nothing more to the game? Wait, huh? Back up!
The arcade version of the game consisted of you driving around, picking up fares, and then driving like a bat out of hell across town to their destination. Taking shortcuts, weaving in and out of trafic like a mad man, increase your fare rate by wowing your passenger. Seems like a great ride, right? I mean, what could be more fun than driving around, high speed, doing massive jumps, and scaring all your fares for a high score that consisted of collecting money!? Nothing, right?
Well, while this worked in the arcade, it doesn't work for the home system. Even while the addition of driving lessons, and even an extra map adds a tiny bit to the playability, they're nothing to play over and over. The lone replayability factor of this game, being the top scores list, is this game's downfall. It's just not worth it.
The controls are great, but after a while they make your hands sore. My big hands just aren't meant to perform quick trigger presses like this one requires for speed boosts and whatnot. The engine also bogs down on the dreamcast in high trafic areas. Which is odd because I've seen the Dreamcast pull much higher quality graphics than this.
The soundtrack is repetitive and dull. While a rock soundtrack is great, the selection of tracks isn't Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2. Not enough vareity. The songs got highly annoying after a while.
But, the main issue with the game is, yes, the replayability. There isn't any! The second DC-only track they give you is just horrible, and the first track is just kind of dull after you play it for the fiftith time. It's just not fun after a while. This game was paraded around as magnificent because of it's replayability, because that's all it's really got going for it. But, there's no room for improvement in like Tony Hawk. You hit a point where you just can't go forward in the game anymore, which is the only reason a game like this is worth playing.
After you get to the top, you can't go further. There's just no point, and that's the very reason this game will stay on my shelf for the rest of time.
Bryansvideotrader store This listing is fora brand new Crazy Taxi for the Sega Dreamcast system. It is factory sealed, other than some sticker residue...More at eBay
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