Review: Crazy Taxi HD

1 Dec, 2010

Following hot on the heels of Sonic Adventure, SEGA’s high-definition assault on the Xbox Live Arcade continues forth this week with a 720p update of another hugely successful Dreamcast classic, Crazy Taxi.

Crazy Taxi puts you behind the wheel of a bright yellow cab and gives you an allotted time to pick up fares and get them to their destination in style. By style, of course, I mean as quickly and as dangerously as possible. Drive into oncoming traffic, brush doors with an 18-wheeler, drift around corners and make death-defying jumps. Any way you could possibly facilitate your piteous passenger giving birth to their liver? Do that. The old lady loves it!

There are two game modes to choose from – the original Arcade game or a console-specific variant – and each mode can be played in 3, 5 or 10-minute rounds. Potential fares flag you down from a variety of points all over the city. The colour of their marker indicates how far away their destination is and, subsequently, how much money you’ll receive for getting them there (un)safely. Whether you take on several short fares or a few long-distance trips, is entirely up to you.

If – not when – you ever get bored of this simple-yet-brilliant concept, there’s always Crazy Box mode, a collection of sixty unassuming mini-games, including the infamous Crazy Bowling, transforming your cab into the world’s most impractical bowling ball. On the surface, everything Crazy Taxi has to offer can be sucked dry in two hours of cheap and sleazy gratification.

The “Crazy Through”… only works if you don’t actually crash.

Look a little deeper though, and you’ll see a surprising amount of depth for an arcade title. Each character has their own distinct charms, each of the four cars controls differently and you’ll need to learn a variety of techniques to become the ultimate cabbie, finish those mini-games, locate the hidden fares and unlock all the other secrets the city has to offer. Regardless, Crazy Taxi is instantly accessible and effortlessly fun.

Not much has changed in the course of updating Crazy Taxi for 2010. Modern-day licensing issues mean that the branded stores are gone, as is the 90s punk-rock soundtrack. Dropping your passenger off at a generic clothing store as opposed to a FILA outlet doesn’t exactly have a crippling effect on your experience and for those that can’t imagine playing the game without the menthol-cool vocal stylings of The Offspring or Bad Religion, custom soundtracks will make all your slightly-questionable wishes come true.

Crazy Taxi isn’t exactly a pretty-looking game – even with a lick of high-definition gloss and full widescreen support, it still looks a decade old – and it probably won’t convert anyone to the cause but for those that loved Crazy Taxi in 1999, here’s another gem in SEGA’s winning HD line-up.

Crazy Taxi is available now on the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.