I loved the original Crazy Taxi in
arcades and on Dreamcast (let's try and forget about the PS2 version, shall
we?). Hitmaker's original premise was one of the most refreshing gaming
experiences of 1999. Heck, I still randomly pull out the DC version and play for
hours on end - it's that addictive. And now Hitmaker is here with the sequel to
the excellent original, Crazy Taxi 2. And, in almost every way, the sequel
surpasses the original.
The setup hasn't changed much - you still drive around a city crowded with
pedestrians and other cars searching for customers and trying to rack up as much
money as possible within a time limit. Every customer increases that time limit
a certain amount, although you still have to be as efficient as possible, taking
every shortcut you can.
And that's one of the better new additions - the shortcuts. In part one, you
simply drove on a predictable path (usually the fastest one). Now, with the jump
button, you can take a shortcut over a few small buildings and possibly even get
a higher speed ranking. You can also jump to a higher or lower level (i.e. - from
an underpass to a bridge) to save time. My one and only problem with this is
that it gets a little confusing, particularly with the directional arrow, what
shortcuts you can take. Instead of pointing directly towards the destination,
the arrow points at which streets you need to follow, so stumbling upon a
shortcut is usually accidental.
Another cool new addition is the cash you get for good driving. Good driving
meaning basically that you don't hit other cars and get there as fast as
possible. The customer rewards you with anywhere from a quarter to seven dollars
for driving close to other vehicles without hitting them, or jumping over them
(although you get money for simply pulling off a jump). This turns into a major
way of racking up points when you pick up more than one customer, because that
money is then doubled or tripled depending on the number of people you picked
up.
And while a nifty new addition, that makes Crazy Taxi 2 somewhat easier than the
previous game. It takes maybe three or four pairs of customers to get a Class S
license, whereas in the previous game getting that would require about fifteen.
You get a lot of time to deliver them as well, and it's almost too easy if you
know all the shortcuts. But I'm not complaining too much, since this is still a
fairly tough game if you mostly go for one or two customers.
I have to register one more small problem with the game. CT2 was touted to
support multiple customers at the same time, but that doesn't mean picking them
up at different areas. They only come in pairs, and even if you deliver all of
them, if you fail to deliver the last you lose all the money. That's sort of
cheap, but again a very small problem. I was expecting more freedom in this
area.
CT 2 takes place in New York, unlike the San Fran-ish city of the previous
title. But not unlike the previous title, you get two different modes based in
the city - Around Apple and Small Apple. There isn't much of a difference
between the two, despite the locations being different. Around Apple is the
original arcade mode while Small Apple is the 'extra' mode added to the DC port.
Aside from that, Hitmaker also added in a cool new mode called Crazy Pyramid.
It's essentially a bunch of mini-games that vary in difficulty and test out all
of your abilities. Some of them involve hitting a golf ball as far as possible
with the Jump/Hop ability (whatever they call it). Another has you racing along
arches trying not to fall off. The mini games are extremely fun and add a ton of
replay value to the game.
The controls are mostly unchanged, with the exception of a few new abilities. As
I mentioned, you get a Crazy Jump/Hop feature, but aside from that, there's also
the Dash ability which is basically a turbo. The controls are perfectly suited
for the DC pad, and I have no troubles with them at all, aside from the Dash
feature which, for some reason, doesn't work half the time. It should have
simply been assigned to a button, but thankfully, it's not necessary to use it
most of the time.
Graphics
Hitmaker has crafted some of the cleanest and thus most impressive visuals for
any Dreamcast car game with Crazy Taxi 2 (and even the original). The taxis
themselves look excellent, and besides a few bland textures the environments are
easily up to par. I haven't yet ran into a single chip in the frame rate
(consistent 60 FPS) and that's all that really matters as far as visuals go,
that it doesn't slow down and bog the gameplay up.
Sound/Music
The Offspring return again, along with Tommy Lee for the CT 2 soundtrack. None
of the music from the previous game returns (no All I Want), but to make up for
that you get four new tracks from their latest albums (I'm guessing). The
Offspring's music fits CT perfectly - it always has, but now the soundtrack
complements the game even further. The sound effects are cool as well,
especially the voice actors.
Overall - 9.1 / 10
CT2 is only making me more anxious to play CT 3: High Roller, which looks
amazing at this point. I honestly wouldn't mind it if Hitmaker simply kept
releasing expansion packs to the CT formula, using different cities and making
small, subtle changes along the way. CT 2 is no less fun, despite the lack of
innovation. This one gets my highest recommendation.
9.1
