Description
Crazy Taxi is an arcade-like racer where the player takes the role of a taxi driver who weaves his way through crowded streets, across sidewalks and even under water, in a wild and frantic race to deliver passengers on time. The courses are largely set inside cities crowded with general traffic and pedestrians (which can't be run over, they dive away). The main goal is to bring as many customers as possible to their destination in time. Available customers are marked through circles and the colour represents the distance and the fare they offer. Green means long rides with plenty of money, and red ones are very short.
In the main Arcade mode there is a timer that quickly runs down. It can be replenished by picking up customers. While driving reckless maneuvers are encouraged. Players can disregard all traffic rules and customers give extra tips for speedy and dangerous driving, but these can only be cashed when the customer arrives at his destination in time. By the same token the reward at the end of a ride is based on the amount of time left, as each customer also has a personal timer. The city is filled with slopes and jumps, and the game uses a very loose driving model. No damage can be done to the car, so driving as fast as possible is encouraged. While driving players can toy with the gears to perform two special tricks: a crazy drift and a crazy boost to speed up more quickly.
Next to the Arcade mode there is an Original mode, and Crazy Box where specific goals need to be met on closed down courses. In the regular modes it is possible to disregard the usual timer and play for a fixed amount of minutes. At the end of the race the player is rewarded with a license, either D, C, B or A, with S for an outstanding performance. Next to the interactive courses from the arcade version there is a new course for home consoles. There are four cabs and drivers to choose from. The cars have different statistics and the drivers different attitudes while racing. The game has a soundtrack featuring The Offspring and Bad Religion (not for the Xbox 360 version).
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
The Press Says
| GameZone |
Jun 21, 2001 |
9.5 out of 10 |
95 |
| Gamezilla |
Jun 26, 2001 |
86 out of 100 |
86 |
| Consoles Plus |
Jun, 2001 |
85 out of 100 |
85 |
| 4Players.de |
Jun 27, 2001 |
85 out of 100 |
85 |
| Game Informer Magazine |
Jun, 2001 |
8 out of 10 |
80 |
| Gaming Target |
Jun 05, 2001 |
8 out of 10 |
80 |
| GameSpot |
May 08, 2001 |
7.8 out of 10 |
78 |
| PSX Extreme |
Jun 29, 2001 |
7.5 out of 10 |
75 |
| GamerDad |
Jul 13, 2003 |
  |
60 |
| PSM |
Jul, 2001 |
6 out of 10 |
60 |
Forums
There are currently no topics for this game.
Trivia
Lawsuit
The December 2003 lawsuit filed by Sega against Fox Entertainment claims that
The Simpsons: Road Rage infringes on a patent owned by Sega of America. Specifically, Sega claims that
The Simpsons: Road Rage gameplay is too close to that of
Crazy Taxi. It was eventually settled in private.
The abstract for the patent reads as follows:
A driving game, wherein players having various driving skills--from beginners to those advanced--may enjoy both aspects of amusement and simulation in consistency. The game device of the present invention has an element for providing to a player a plurality of different movement modes upon moving the vehicle along a traveling line. Upon selection of a desired movement mode, a vehicle-driving game relating to the driving mode selected by the player is executed. Included in this plurality of driving modes are an assist mode in which auto-brake control is performed and a training mode in which various indications, such as the timing of the braking point, are given.
The full patent is available
here.
Product placement
Product placement at its best: Kentucky Fried Chicken, Tower Records and Levi Jeans. Each one is present as a location in
Crazy Taxi.
Information also contributed by
Terrence Bosky
