Crazy Taxi Review: A Whole Lot Of Crazy Fun

App Name:	Crazy Taxi
Platforms:	Universal
Publisher(s):	Sega
Version Reviewed:	1.0
Genre(s):	Driving
Release Date:	October 11, 2012
Price:	$4.99
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Crazy Taxi is one of those minor arcade classics that often gets forgotten. But then Sega goes and puts it out for iOS, and we all get to rediscover the fun again. Crazy Taxi’s fast and easy game design makes it a great pocket game, and a fine addition to your iOS device.

If you’ve never played Crazy Taxi, here’s the scoop: it’s a madcap driving game where you must rush to drop cab fares off at the proper destination, making money (and earning more time) as you go. Getting there as fast as you can is important, and so Crazy taxi does not punish you for driving the wrong way down the street, hitting cars, or going across grass; in fact, the game encourages it and even tips you more when you drive crazy.

Crrzy Taxi was a perfect choice for an iOS port. It’s simple enough to pick up and play at a moment’s notice; and a game can be played in under five minutes. Even with its limited number of maps and drivers, it’s always fun because your routes and choices are so unpredictable. The game also offers multiple modes, letting you play in either Console or Arcade mode, and lets you choose shorter or longer sessions. This helps keep it fresh.

There’s also a depth to the game that will keep you coming back. Learning the map, and learning how to drift and boost, are essential to actually getting further in the game. As long as you’re just driving crazy, you’ll find yourself maxing out at a certain score level; but truly mastering the game means letting go of the crazy a bit. It is a game that rewards repeated play.

And when you do get a little bored with the standard game, there’s the Crazy Box — a series of mini-game challenges that test your driving skills in closed tracks, sometimes doing silly tasks like “Taxi Bowling”. These can be pretty tricky, especially since the controls for the cars are a bit clunky at times. These are big ol’ cabs, not sleek sports cars, and they handle that way!

Crazy Taxi shows some signs of age, though. The graphics are not spectacular, especially on a Retina device; they don’t feel retro, just old. So too does the physics of the game. Not only are the cabs (and every other thing in the game) chunky and blocky, but things are NOT destructible; I suspect that if Crazy Taxi were remade today, we’d be able to crash through fences and lampposts, but everything in Crazy Taxi is annoyingly solid and permanent. Finally, the 90s punk rock soundtrack — featuring the Offspring and Bad Religion — was great for someone like me, who was listening to these bands rock out in college; but I don’t think the tunes have necessarily aged well, especially the Offspring (Bad Religion never gets old).

I do need to give credit to Sega for a great universal port. This game runs great on my iPhone 4S, of course; but it handled equally well on my first generation iPad and my son’s 3rd generation iPod Touch; there’s some minor moments of flicker on the older devices and the occasional crash, but overall it’s a truly universal game.

Despite some gray hairs, Crazy Taxi holds up well on iOS in 2012. It’s zany, madcap, and corny, but it’s also fast and easy to pick-up-and-play. Try it out today!

Our Score: 4 Out of 5

About the Author

Writer@Large Brian P. Hudson is an educator and freelance writer currently living in Dearborn, MI.

 

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