Dreamcast

Crazy Taxi 2

Although the replay value on this title is a lot higher than the first, it can only go so far until you’ve seen all it has to offer. It still makes for a great title to pull out once in a while for a quick fix of excellent gaming fun. With the days of the Dreamcast numbered as they are, its good to see that Sega is still giving us quality titles, with quite a few more still in the pipeline. All in all, I have to give Crazy Taxi 2 my full recommendation. As far as pure, arcade racing fun, it’s tough to beat. So pick up a copy of this great title, batten down the hatches and remember...the gas is on the right.

CT2 is only making me more anxious to play CT 3: High Roller, which looks amazing at this point. I honestly wouldn't mind it if Hitmaker simply kept releasing expansion packs to the CT formula, using different cities and making small, subtle changes along the way. CT 2 is no less fun, despite the lack of innovation. This one gets my highest recommendation.

Crazy Taxi 2 is a great deal of fun, and that's mostly due to the flawless design of the game. Where many racing games ramp up the challenge by making it difficult to tame the vehicles' incredibly accurate physics and control, Crazy Taxi does the reverse. Control is simple; the difficulty comes from tackling kamikaze traffic and ludicrous minigames. Two opposite approaches – the other might be more ambitious, but I say Crazy Taxi's is more fun.

I may have done a little bashing in this review. But, honestly, this is one great game. The fun factor is unbelievable; I can overlook the non-multiplayer gameplay because it wouldn't have run too well anyhow. This game is well worth your money; you’ll get into it right away. Plus you can make all of your PS2 owning friends jealous. But this game, it’s the last time we’ll see CT on Dreamcast, “next” time you’ll see it on Xbox, hopefully the raw power of that machine will allow for some multiplayer and online action. Look for Crazy Taxi “neXt” to hit shelves at the end of this year or the beginning of 2002, but for now, back in the greatness that is Crazy Taxi 2 and get to playing, THEY’RE BAAAAACK! TIME TO MAKE SOME CRRRRRRRRAZY MONEY!

Crazy Taxi 2 may have new gameplay mechanics, new cities, and new mini-games than Crazy Taxi but that doesn't make it better than the original. And like I said above, there are some controls issues that I noticed, but that really doesn't effect the enjoyment of the game. For that matter, it's not that I didn't enjoy Crazy Taxi 2 at all; the new gameplay features, new mini-games, and new maps will certainly make most Crazy Taxi players feel home as they go out and make some more - but not better - crazy money.

After a year and more thankless hours as a San Fran cabby than I'd like to recall, I thought it was time to hang up my fuzzy dice for a much-needed break from the business (and the Offspring). Then the opportunity came to ply my craft in surly New York City. A guy's gotta feed his pet scorpion, so I took the job, and Crazy Taxi 2 is born. New York is a much bigger place, at least from Crazy Taxi 2's point of view. You'd be hard-pressed to see every nook, cranny, and crack house in a single Sunday drive. The skyscrapers add to the big-city atmosphere, but there's plenty of green grass to make skidmarks in, too. Pop-up is more of a problem than in the original, with buildings, and sometimes even vehicles, appearing out of nowhere. It appears that – this soon after Dreamcast's inception – the system’s graphical limitations are already being reached. Still, as these shots show, Crazy Taxi 2 is a handsome game.

Crazy Taxi 2 is the console-only sequel to Sega's 1999 arcade driving game, Crazy Taxi. The game sticks close to the winning formula of the original game, delivering new levels, new cabbies, and a new move to the series. The resulting game at times feels more like an add-on than a full-fledged sequel, though there's more than enough new content to satisfy fans of the series.

Dankzij de soundtrack en de lokaties zoals de Burger King en de HMV die weer lekker herkenbaar ontworpen zijn, kreeg ik toch weer opnieuw dat warme Crazy Taxi gevoel dat me vertelde dat ik hier weer urenlang plezier mee zou gaan hebben. De Dreamcast is misschien stervende maar Crazy Taxi 2 doet een dappere reanimatie poging.

At the end of the day, Crazy Taxi 2 delivers a fine gaming experience to the Dreamcast. It has its faults, most prominently displayed in its overall lack of any real missions (I can't consider the mini-games to be missions), and completing everything won't take long. Yes, it has the potential for endless replay, but I guarantee that the single-player will get stale after a few hours of play. By 2001 standards, it wouldn't have been worth the price, but for the asking price of $5-$10 today, you can't go wrong.

For any fan of the original, Crazy Taxi 2 might not deliver much in terms of innovation... but sometimes change isn't necessarily required to make a great sequel. Sega certainly scores another point in a recent string of fine games for the Dreamcast with this one, but the question remains -- how long must we wait until Crazy Taxi 3 sneaks up on us?

What the game is missing, however, is the multi player modes Sega promised from the first press releases of Crazy Taxi 2. But even with this disappointment, Crazy Taxi 2 does live up as a fun game, but not much of a sequel. It's really more like Crazy Taxi ver. 2.0.

The songs are fine, but they all start to sound the same after a while - a little variety would have been nice. Controls include a new "hop" move that lets you leap over traffic, and even ride the rooftops. Crazy Taxi 2 is a lot of fun, but if you burnt out on the first one, this will get old in a hurry.

In the end I can’t see why the Dreamcast failed to be a bigger splash in the console entertainment world. With so many AAA titles like this one, how can a system fail, and a system with abysmal launch titles is so hard to come by? Crazy Taxi 2 is just one of the 30+ must have titles released for the Dreamcast. It is definitely something that should be had by the Crazy Taxi 1 veteran, casual/hardcore arcade gamer, or just someone looking for a good game to pass by some time. Crazy Taxi 2 is one of those kind of games that you can play for 10 minutes or 2 hours, it really depends on your mood, but every time you come back, you get a fulfilling and fun experience that makes you want to jump in your car and see what crazy stuff you can do.

Evidemment, le soft souffre toujours du même défaut inhérent aux jeux d'arcade, à savoir la durée de vie. A vous de savoir si vous voulez investir dans un soft vraiment délirant sur lequel vous reviendrez régulièrement pour y jouer entre amis, ou si vous préférez ne pas prendre le risque de regretter votre achat en investissant dans un produit aussi court que répétitif. Dans tous les cas, essayez-le si vous en avez l'occasion, il serait vraiment dommage de passer à côté d'un jeu aussi dément, qui constitue une véritable bouffée d'air pur au milieu du sérieux des productions actuelles sur consoles.

Crazy Taxi 2 pourrait paraître comme une réplique du premier épisode au premier abord, mais l'ajout du saut, le changement de ville et quelques améliorations (notamment au niveau de la sensation de vitesse) font de ce titre une bonne suite. Tous les fans de conduite type "arcade déjantée" ne manqueront donc pas de s'éclater au volant de leur nouveau taxi jaune et Crazy Taxi 2 restera au même titre que le 1, un des meilleurs jeu du genre sur Dreamcast. L'arme ultime pour se défouler un bon coup lorsque l'on n'a que 10 minutes à tuer est de retour, qu'on se le dise...

Crazy Taxi 2 is a good game in its own right. Due to the booming success of its predecessor, changes like the ability to jump are going to be seen as controversial and this judgment comes with some bias. There’s really no point spending extra time covering that function; its reception will vary. For hardcore fans, CT2 is a must. For anyone else, feel free to stick to the Dreamcast original. In many ways the first one is probably an even better overall product than the arcade hit which started it all. At the very least, it’s a good place to start. And if you enjoy the original, but want more, then just go ahead and buy an Offspring album already.

Crazy Taxi returns to the Dreamcast for another drive of passenger-based racing in a brand-new city. Yet while Crazy Taxi 2 retains most of the fun elements from the first ride, the new features added to this year's model, along with uninteresting cities in which to work, leave it trailing in the dust.