Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast) review "The Sega developer formally known as AM2 makes some of the greatest games, as well as the most original. Now they have released the arcade racer Crazy Taxi--a fun and stylish arcade game--and it's one of the must-play games for the Dreamcast. It is not, however, a must-buy. "

The Sega developer formally known as AM2 makes some of the greatest games, as well as the most original. Now they have released the arcade racer Crazy Taxi--a fun and stylish arcade game--and it's one of the must-play games for the Dreamcast. It is not, however, a must-buy.

Crazy Taxi has you take the role of 1 of 3 drivers in a large city with plenty of streets (only two available, one gripe I have), who must pick up passengers and quickly take them to their destinations. Simple enough, but when the game combines bridges without siderails, jumps, varying amount of traffic (depending on difficulty) it can all be quite frustrating. Following the green arrow helps (or occasionally, doesn't) the player go through the mean, busy streets, and the faster the player gets the more money they make. Doing tricks, like going on ramps, weaving in and out of traffic, and so forth ups the fare.

Before the actual game, you should learn Crazy techniques from the manual or by playing the Crazy Box mode. If you do so, you will find it much easier to play the game.

Crazy Box is a training mode for the player to go through stages in which they will have to make a certain distance jump, consistently use a technique, etc. Play the mode if you haven't played Crazy Taxi in the arcade or aren't used to the controls. It can't hurt, unless you get frustrated like me, and couldn't do a Crazy turn 4 times in one stage to save your life.

Like very many of the original Sega games, level design is at its best. Diverse landscapes, actual restaurant chains (doesn't add to level design, but it was a good idea), and awesome graphics add to the experience.

I would've expected Sega to get an American soundtrack, and so it was a good idea, but there are only 2 bands and their songs become repetitive. I can only stand so much Offspring. Sega could've fit more music into this. I just hope Jet Grind Radio gets a better soundtrack. As for the sound, it's crisp and clear. Also, as should be the case in high difficulty, the gamer works without the green arrow, and only has directions given by the passenger and the direction he or she points to use as guidance.

Control in Crazy Taxi is really responsive, so no one should complain about it even with the Dreamcast controller. I find it best with the controller, actually; you wouldn't believe how amazed I was, after 2 hours of playing the game, to find that I was going through the traffic with ease. I still can't hit those ramps evenly, but despite that the control is not a problem.

Crazy Taxi is a great party game. Every Dreamcast owner should play it once, no matter what kinds of games they like. Crazy Taxi will suck your free time into a black hole.

--Sniper is ''one helluva driver''

Community review by stealthsniper (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.