The siren call of the Crazy Taxi arcade cabinet never ceases to produce a warm sense of nostalgia… and bemusement. It was odd enough on the Dreamcast, wondering why the game was harassing you to “come on over” when your butt was planted firmly on the couch in front of the TV. Now, with the game spinning in the UMD slot of the PSP planted firmly in your own hands, it’s even more nonsensical. But it’s a criticism we’ll let slide, because Crazy Taxi is every bit as much fun now as it was back then, though it’s only fair to say that there are more roadblocks than poorly placed wooden crates to contend with this time around.
For those of you unfamiliar to all things relating to taxi cabs and lunacy, a brief recap. Crazy Taxi was birthed in the arcades and was ported (extremely well) to the Sega Dreamcast. In it, you took a high-powered taxi, sought out passengers, and then proceeded to break every traffic law ever made at the speed of light to get them to their destination in time. Weaving through traffic and sending your cab airborne increased the fare you’d receive for the trip, as well as add precious seconds to your ever-decreasing timer. There was no way to truly win Crazy Taxi. It was a simple game – one which hails back to the early days of arcade gaming, where your only goal was to survive long enough to rack up a high score. But the crisp visuals, rock-solid frame rate, sprawling city, insane speed and pedal-to-the-metal Offspring soundtrack made it an experience like nothing before it. In many ways, it was a forerunner to other high-speed racing titles (Burnout) as well as games that featured huge open environments (Grand Theft Auto 3). And whilst gaming has progressed significantly since then, the game has aged surprisingly well. A sequel showed up on the Dreamcast, the original was ported to the Playstation 2 and Nintendo’s GameCube, and another sequel (Crazy Taxi 3) showed up on the original Xbox. A paired down, sprite-based version was also released for the Gameboy Advance, but the less said about that the better.
And now both the original Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2 have been paired together for release on the PSP. So did the title make the transition to portable hardware intact this time, or is Sega flogging a decomposing horse corpse? Thankfully, the answer is the former. For the most part.
If only rush-hour traffic was this much fun in real life.
To start with, the presentation of the game is fairly standard. Once you boot up the title, you’ll be given the option of playing the original or the sequel, and from there, you head into the Start screen and subsequent menus of the original games, almost entirely unaltered. It’s a shame that the developers weren’t able to bring the games closer together, but it’s not a huge issue. The biggest disadvantage is that, whilst the majority of load times are fair, it can take upwards of a minute to exit out of one version, get back to the front-end, and then start-up the other.
The graphics on both versions hold up well, though the visuals suffer in terms of aliasing and textures in some places. The game seems to run at 30fps with a few dips, and when things get really hectic, the game slows to about half-speed. Oddly enough, the latter is actually preferable, as the slower speed can give you a moment’s relief from the blinding speed and actually prevent you from crashing, when a frame rate drop would be disastrous. The original title had its moments of pop-in, and these are more prevalent here, but they’re relatively momentary and don’t interfere with gameplay. Veterans of the game will notice other minor shortcomings, such as the absence of fish and the orca whale in the ocean (perhaps a subtle warning from the developers about the dangers of overfishing?).
Life's a beach.
Other minor alterations fans of the original will notice is that the licensing deals with various chains (Tower Records, Levi Jeans, etc) have apparently expired, as the various destinations have been changed. Instead of “Pizza Hutt,” it’s now the tad more generic “Pizza Parlor,” and in place of “KFC,” we have “Fried Chicken Shack.” The landmarks still retain their distinctive shapes, and it took several playthroughs to even notice, but it’s an alteration nonetheless.
Perhaps as a result of this, the voices for all the NPC characters are different from the original, though the opposite has occurred in regards to the 4 drivers, which is a welcome throwback. The PS2 and GameCube versions had inferior voicework for the drivers (presumably another licensing issue), but the PSP version goes back to the original Dreamcast voices, for which we are thankful. There are a few loading issues with the sound effects, and whilst they don’t affect the game adversely, it can be odd when you hear your driver reply to your passenger’s directions before they give them to you.
Another soundtrack issue is the absence of Offspring – a blatant oversight which would prompt us to give the game a 1 out of 10 were the negative not offset by a far superior alternative: customisable soundtracks. In a move we’d like to see repeated by more PSP titles, the game allows you to drop any MP3 files you have into your memory stick’s music folder to play in favour of the generic rock music contained on the UMD. It’s an effortless set-up, and whilst the same song will repeat over and over during the course of a game, tapping the Select button will switch to a new song, which you can do at any point. A random song is played each time a new game is started, which is a god-send for the various mini-games. When all is said and done, we much prefer this new system to the original, as you can always load up the original soundtrack if you own any Offspring CDs.
The PSP’s controls have always been a point of contention, and with Crazy Taxi, these issues are more prevalent than ever. The developers at least give you the option of using either the D-pad or the analog nub, and whilst it’s hard to imagine playing the game without analog, the D-pad is the more comfortable alternative, with the analog nub causing thumb cramps in a matter of minutes. As with the original, the cross and circle buttons switch between Drive and Reverse, with the right trigger set to accelerate and the left to brake. There are several alternative control layouts on offer, but anyone accustomed to the original title would be well advised to stick to the original configuration, as any attempts at deviation will be an exercise in madness.
More an issue for air traffic control than the police.
The PSP version includes the Crazy Box and Crazy Pyramid mini-games from the original titles, and these work extremely well in short bursts, which is important for a portable title. The challenges are all time based, and pit you against a series of challenges, including getting a passenger from point A to point B, popping a number of balloons, performing a set amount of tricks and so forth. It’s in this area that Crazy Taxi 2 has its moment to shine, as although the full game is, at best, only on par with the original, the addition of a jump move allows for a wider variety of fun challenges. Rarely will you be able to pass a task on the first attempt, but as restarting the challenge is quick and painless, it can be a great way to pass five minutes waiting for the bus (or taxi).
There are also a few multiplayer options on offer for friends with their own PSP, which pit you and a friend in an all-out battle royale to get the biggest fare in a set amount of time. If you build up some steam and collide with your opponent, you can actually send any passenger they're carrying flying out of the back seat, thus losing them their fare (hence the term, “Fare Wars.”) Another multiplayer option can even be played on a single system, which is the Crazy Taxi’s answer to the game DONKEY, where kids would take a shot from somewhere on a basketball court, and then their friend had to make the same shot or get a letter. The same principle applies here, where the first player will get their passenger to their destination, and then the other player has to beat that time. Whoever was the slowest gets a letter, and the first person to spell out C-R-A-Z-Y loses. What makes a 2-PSP set-up better with this title, is that the secondary player has a set number of “interferences” they can use at any point, which can make their opponent’s car suddenly slam on its brakes or veer to the right or left, which makes the whole affair extremely hilarious, chaotic and even – dare we say it – crazy!
Whilst Crazy Taxi has a few minor kinks in terms of visuals and control, it’s hard to find fault with a game that offers two classic titles with the addition of multiplayer and custom soundtracks for such an affordable price (Sony's official site has the RRP listed at AU$79.95, but the majority of online stores are selling it for under $50). It’s fair to say that it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re a fan of high speed arcade racing games like Burnout or Sega Rally Revo, there’s plenty of fun to be had. So load up that UMD and come on over!
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