Crazy Taxi 2

"My hands ache."

Crazy Taxi was one of my very first Dreamcast games. It was so addictive that I ended up with some serious gaming-induced hand injuries. I just couldn’t stop playing it… so for weeks, I spent countless hours gunning it around the huge cities after the illusive S-ranking. After a few months the addiction began to fade and I pretty much forgot about the game and moved on with my life.

I’ve been following the progress of Crazy Taxi 2 since I first heard about it. The game was released a few months ago, but I’ve only recently grabbed a copy. VERY BAD IDEA. Once again I find that I’m completely addicted. The hand injuries are getting worse and worse, but I just can’t stop playing. I’ve got some important exams for the duration of next week, and I’m going to have a very tough time putting the game to the side for a week, let me tell you.

For those of you who have managed to avoid playing the first game, here’s a quick explanation of how the game works. You choose from one of 4 cabbies, choose from one of the two huge cities, and play by the normal rules, or work for 3, 5 or 10 minutes. You have to pick up and successfully drop off as many passengers as you can. Depending on how far or close the destination of the passenger, you will be given a set amount of time to drop them off in. By successfully dropping off a passenger you will earn money. To get a bit of extra cash along the way, you can give your passengers a great ride (the higher the adrenaline pumping ride, the more cash you’ll make. They’ll give you generous tips for near misses with other cars, big jumps and so on. Each successive near miss or insane piece of air will earn a progressively larger amount of money. That’s about all there is to it. You’re a taxi driver. Drive people to their destinations and give them a great ride to earn a nice fat tip… hard to believe how fun this formula actually is, but when it comes to innovative and fun games, Sega know how to deliver.

The most noticeable addition to Crazy Taxi 2 over the first game is the crazy hop. Your cab is fitted with a device in all four shocks which (when you press a button) will launch your car into the air. This will not only help you reach new heights and take big shortcuts over rooves, but if you get stuck behind traffic, you can simply jump over it. Who said rice was all bad?

The second thing you’ll notice after a while is that you can pick up multiple passengers (up to four), who all want to be dropped off at different destinations. Picking up groups will increase your tips (for each person in the car, the tips are multiplied by one). When you pick up a group, you are given one time limit, and in that time, you have to drop off ALL of your passengers. Often you will be given enough time to only make very slight mistakes, so there is some degree of risk involved with picking up a full cab because if you don’t drop everyone off, you don’t get a single dollar.

The two cities you can race are based very loosely on New York, and are named Around Apple, and Small Apple. Both cities are huge, and it will take hours upon hours of playing to really get to know your way around them. There are only a set number of destinations in the city, including sponsored locations such as HMV and Burger King, to destinations such as a generic basketball court and various city landmarks.

If you want to hone your skills, have some fun, or just want to get away from the main part of the game, then head to the Crazy Pyramid. There are over 15 mini-games that will test and fine-tune your crazy driving skills. Some of the games are designed to be more fun than a challenge, such as the golf game, where there is a giant golf ball on a giant tee, and you have to charge it with your cab, and hop into it to send the ball flying. The further you can ‘hit’ it the better. The crazy pyramid is set out just like a pyramid. It has 5 challenges on the bottom, 4 the next row up, 3 the next row up, until it finally stops at the peak, which has just one challenge. To unlock the next challenge you have to beat the one before it, which will take you from the base of the pyramid, up to the top. Each row that you beat will unlock something for you (including the two cities you race in), as well as extra cabs (one being a bike, and the other a huge baby pram…).

Another new feature is the ability to save replays of your driving, not particularly revolutionary, but nothing to sneeze at either. I’m sure a few people out there may have the desire to show off an awesome city-run to a friend once or twice.

Visually, Crazy Taxi 2 is a treat. While it isn’t the very best looking game you will find on the Dreamcast, it is certainty still very impressive. The draw distance over the first game has been pushed back quite a bit, and pop-up is uncommon. Textures are decent, and do the job, and help keep the frame-rate running smoothly which in turn keeps the action fast-paced and intense.

For what it is, the soundtrack is great, heavily featuring the Offspring. Their music suits the game perfectly, and their return is more than welcome. Come out Swinging, Walla Walla and No Brakes are three of the songs featured. Even if you’re not a fan of the Offspring, it’s easy to appreciate the songs for what they’re worth, and there is no denying they really do fit the game well.

Crazy Taxi 2 takes everything that made the first game great, throws in some welcome additions in terms of gameplay and features and combines them to create a very addictive sequel, worth checking out if you’re already a Crazy Taxi fan, or missed out on the first title.

Pros
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- It’s back, and better than ever.
- Fine graphics.
- Excellent soundtrack.
- The Crazy Pyramid rocks.

Cons
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- This games makes my hands hurt due to the extremely addicting gameplay.
- The addictive gameplay is like most drugs. Reaching your high will come in no time at all, and while it lasts, it’s fantastic. The problem is it won’t last forever..

Sega have once again proved why they are considered to be one of the best developers in the world. If you can get your hands on a copy of the game for about 2-3 weeks you’ll be set. While it lasts, Crazy Taxi 2 is an absolute riot. Really great fun. If you can find it cheap (and I don’t think that will be a problem these days) buy it. Otherwise try and borrow or rent it for a couple of weeks.

8.5/10 – Great.
(Rounded to 9/10 for GameFAQs)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/13/01, Updated 11/29/03