Crazy Taxi in full is a different type of game. The original CT was a big hit which started out as an arcade game. With it's huge popularity and Sega's plans to port all their best Arcade games to the DC Crazy Taxi successfully found a home on the Dreamcast. That reached many new gamers and quickly became a Sega favourite. It was a game with everything you needed except it was really short, leaving you wanting more. Soon after it came to no surprise Hitmaker got the go for the sequel.
Crazy Taxi 2 is really similar to the original. Infact when I first gave it a spin I was amazed how much it was recycled. This is both good and bad. It's good in the sense that if you enjoyed the first you won't be dissapointed with the sequel. The bad is that if a game isn't changed up too much it feels like playing the same game again. Nevertheless CT2 has some new stuff and still is a very nice game. It has all that was present in the original and a little more. What makes the game stand out above the first is the whole New York theme it carries with it. People that know the apple well say the game resembles it very closely. What also makes the game more exciting is the Crazy Hop. Yes it's a new move and it sure is a sweet one. Now not only can you do all the other crazy moves like the Crazy Dash, or the Crazy Drift you can also combine the previous with the Hop. This really makes things crazy. I actually found the hop to be the funnest but hey it could be because I'm bored of the others and this one is new. Another cool new feature is the Map which you can win by passing levels in the New Crazy Pyramid. Just like in CT you get a set of levels to practice and have some fun on and unlock next ones above if you pass them. Crazy Taxi is a different experience and as long as you like action you will enjoy it. The action only got better in CT2.
The graphics in CT2 are about the same which we all have goten used to. The good news is that the game seems to run a lot smoother now as well. As some of you might remember in the first CT there was parts of the city like the park where the games frame rate droped significantly. Through all the time I spent with CT2 I haven't encountered any droped frame rates like in the first. Even with a lot of detailed objects on screen the game flew nicely. Even though they didn't change the visuals up too much they are still high quality. There are many games out there which look a lot worse so I can't complain.
The soundtrack in CT2 is once again nicely done by The Offspring. CT2 doesn't feature as many songs as the original but they are still great songs that fit the game and give it the proper atmosphere. As for those of you wondering, yes the rusty old mans voice is still around. The actual announcer is different but Hitmaker still kept some of the classic sayings in the proper parts. Even though thats repetetive I found that a good decision. It's part of the Crazy Taxi symbol.
The gameplay in CT2 is once again undissapointing. There is just as much craziness as before and more with the added Crazy Hop. I was surprised how much more you can do with this game now just because of the hop. If I was to choose the best thing that happened to this sequel I would choose the hop. The gameplay is great no doubts about it. Once again a nice job by Hitmaker.
Really the only problem with the game is the same thing it used to be before. Crazy Taxi 2 has everything there is needed to make it an awesome game except the lastability. It's a fun game but you can't put too much time into it. If you get bored by action games quickly I wouldn't recommend picking only this one up. Get another game to play in between this one. It is addictive though so even after you beat it you will want to play it again.Other than that you can't blame this game for too much. So "come on over and have some fun with Crazy Taxi 2".
-dreamflint |
