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Crazy Taxi Review - Gamecube

Mundane tasks have become really popular in gaming. Support for the Harvest Moon series is growing, Nintendo's Animal Crossing was a sleeper hit, and The Sims has taken the world by storm. So how does taxi-driving sound?

Gameplay

This version of Crazy taxi is exactly the same as the Dreamcast equivalent released in 1998. It's a complete port, and nothing has changed. It gives those who missed out on the fun of Crazy Taxi in arcades or on Sega's dead machine the chance to play it, but be warned: The same flaws that annoyed people in the original are still here.

In Crazy Taxi, you take control of one of four cab drivers in a large city full of a lot people who need to get somewhere, fast. And fast is how you shall get them there. Your passenger will pay you depending on how quickly you get them there, and how special their ride is. If you narrowly squeeze through two colliding semi-trailers, do a U-Turn and speed up and over a hill, your passenger will scream abuse at you, then shower you with cash.

There are three main modes, and after the exceedingly long start up of the game, you'll be able to pick from Arcade, Original and Crazy Box. First, the Arcade Mode. This is an exact replica of the arcade version (who would have thought?), and contains the same city. The Original mode is the city built for the Dreamcast version, and features lots of brand name shops, including Burger King, KFC, and many more.

Crazy Box is where it starts to get a bit more interesting. It contains nine minigames built to test your crazy driving skills. Here's what you'll find:

• Crazy Jump: Accelerate down a ramp and leap off the end.
• Crazy Flag: Try to reach a flag as fast as possible.
• Crazy Drift: Do the Crazy Drift manoeuvre as many times as possible in a time limit.
• Crazy Turn: Basic practice at picking up and dropping off your passenger.
• Crazy Balloons: Pop all the balloons in a certain time limit.
• Crazy Rush: Deliver five customers before time runs out.
• Crazy Bound: Make your way through a winding route without falling into the sea.
• Crazy Pole: Deliver all the passengers to their destinations.
• Crazy Jam: Ram your way through a traffic jam to deliver your customers.

This is probably where the majority of your time will be spent during the game, for the other modes offer little interest after you have set all the high scores and worked out the best routes of the game. You'll spend hours trying again and again to beat these games, mastering your Crazy Drift (THE essential manoeuvre for the game), and promising yourself that you really will only try once more.

The game's controls are simple. The first setup uses R to accelerate and L to brake. The A button puts you in drive, ... (continued next page)