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By Elias Dounis on December 29th, 2001
Introduction In 1999 SEGA developed the arcade hit Crazy Taxi which was developed on SEGA’s Naomi arcade board and not too long after the game ported to the SEGA Dreamcast with ease , thanks to the Dreamcast being closely related to the arcade board. Now two years after its release on the Dreamcast , Crazy Taxi has found its way onto the Nintendo GAMECUBE after an odd turn of events that caused SEGA to go third party and for Acclaim to get the rights to publish many of their titles.Even though a sequel and the original can be found on the SEGA Dreamcast for much cheaper than purchasing it on the GCN , Acclaim still went on in publishing the arcade hit. The end result can be found below.
Presentation The game is a blast to play and the opening sequence will make sure you know what to expect when playing this game. It shows the cabbies doing incredible stunts around the cities all mixed together with music from the Offspring and Bad Religion playing in the backround.The menus are very simple and easy to navigate through which are all presented in front of a yellow backround with a simple drum beat in the backdrop.The menus are pretty straightforward which make it even easier to just play. Unlike most GAMECUBE games the load times are noticeable but nothing to get aggrivated about. Load times range from 5 to 15 seconds at most as well as saving your progress. Now onto the visuals... Graphics & Sound The visuals are dated and really what else would tou expect from a two year old Dreamcast port, but even thought they are dated the game still runs at a solid 60 frames per second without any framerate drops. The cities in the game present you with a great atmosphere and are massive in size , so there are plenty of areas to look at. Crazy Taxi’s visuals really show its age though, jaggies are noticeable along with a noticeable amount of pop-up.The tunes in this game are provided by Bad Religion and the Offspring , so I guess it depends what kind of music you like judge if the music is great or horrible. I thought the music fit the title perfectly and even though I dislike the music of those two bands I couldn’t help signing the songs, you just give in after awhile. There is one thing that upsets me about this Dreamcast port sound wise, I don’t know why but Acclaim decided to change the voices of the cabbies and passengers which in my opinion are much, much worse than the original voices. Other than the passeger and cabbies remarks can get somewhat irritating at times , the sound in this title is great. Gameplay This game is a traditional old school arcade game which has only one real goal , which is to get the highest score possible. But since this is a console port , SEGA decided to add a few extras such as another city and Crazy Box. Crazy Box is a collection of mini games which help train your skills as a cabbie but are also fun to play. Some of the mini games include bowling, and jumping of a ramp to see how far you can go. But Thanks to the GAMECUBE’s controller this game plays exactly like its Dreamcast counterpart. The control is very tight and accurate which has an end result of making sharp turns and insane stunts incredibly easy to perform. The standard control setting has you using the R trigger as the gas , the L trigger as brake , the A button as the forward gear and the B button as the reverse. Everything is positioned very well so their is no hastle in making large loads of cash. Lasting Appeal Gameplay is where the game really stands out , you will always want to play to get first place and so will your friends. The game is a blast to play and it will keep you addicted for many nights to come.Conclusion After two years Crazy Taxi has spun off a sequel, a movie deal, and many rip offs that can’t touch SEGA’s attempt. If you think this game appeals to you then give it a chance , I doubt it will dissapoint and remember it’s the gameplay that counts so don’t let the dated visuals of the Dreamcast bring you down in this cubed world. | 
