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| Source // MobyGames |
Pick up and deliver. Fetch quests. On the surface, they don't sound so appealing, but the success of the Crazy Taxi series says otherwise. Driving old-school Taxi's across sunbleached cities at absurd speeds to the sounds of The Offspring is perhaps the best iteration of the pick-up and deliver mechanic there is, and Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller is the chosen title for the 1001 list.
I've only played the original for the PlayStation 2, so a few sequels later, what can this high tempo arcade title offer?
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| Source // MobyGames |
Frustrations
I own Crazy Taxi 3, but not the Xbox that it needs to be played on. I bought it knowing this but hoped it would be backwards compatible, if not now, then by the time it came around on the 1001 list. It's not.
My options are tracking down an Xbox, tracking down the PC release, tracking down the Arcade cabinet, or watching YouTube and trying to remember what Crazy Taxi felt like. I went with the latter.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Fun Times
The good news, from what I've seen of High Roller, is that it does little different from the earlier games, providing more of the same. I think it may even have some of the locations from previous games, such is the amount of sameness there is. It's like a FIFA sequel, which is alright if you really like Crazy Taxi, I suppose.
At its heart, you pick a cabbie and drive their rocket-fueled car around the city, picking up people and dropping them off wherever they want to go. The faster you go, the more money you get, and jumping and crashing through stuff along the way will net you some bonus pocket money too. The customers love it.
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| Source // MobyGames |
A giant arrow points you in the right direction, but with no mini-map, you're going to need to know the rough layout of the city to get around in decent time. Customers will point out which way they think you should go, and if you get stuck behind traffic or in the canal or behind a wall or something, your cab is equipped with such ridiculous hydraulics that you can literally jump your car out of trouble.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Customers are hanging out on the streets waiting to be picked up, with the HUD indicating whether their trip will likely be a long or short one. New to me, though perhaps not new to Crazy Taxi 3, is the inclusion of multiple people wanting to be dropped off at different places.
Hockey players grabbing a taxi is already an unusual sight, but watching them hop off one by one at venues you really don't need to wear full hockey gear at cements High Roller as the arcade fun it is. It makes no sense, but still you enjoy it.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Definitely new to the game is the inclusion of night-time maps. Gone is the saturated Sega sun that bakes all of their games in colour (think Sonic and Super Monkey Ball), replaced with the night lights of the Vegas-inspired Glitter Oasis. If the blue skies of previous games were too much for you, this is your only option.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Unless that is, you just want to play some silly mini-games to test your driving skills. I wasn't expecting anything like this, but it's here if you get bored of taxi-ing.
Final Word
And that's the trouble with Crazy Taxi. At some point, through no fault of the bright colours, the arcade glow, or the upbeat soundtrack, you get bored of the game. You see it for what it is: an arcade game to grab your attention for a game or two.
It's incredible to see how little difference there is between the titles, superficially at least. The driving looks as arcadey as I remember it. You'll crash into everything, flames burst out of the back of your cab when you burnout, the tyres squeal and the chassis squeaks. Physics took one look at Crazy Taxi and then gave up to let it do its own thing.
But I wouldn't mind playing it again, knowing it wouldn't keep my attention for any length of time. Knowing I'd be annoyed by the driving physics and the lack of a map. I wouldn't mind playing it because, thanks to the soundtrack screaming an attitude of frantic fun and the unrealistic colours of everything in view, the Crazy Taxi games entice you to just have a good time.
To hell with plots, forget about skill levels, just pick a character and race your way through this not at all repetitive, tedious, pick-up and deliver job. Hey, you dropped that customer off in record time! Can you do that again? There's another fare just there... Yah yah yah yah yah!
Fun Facts
A full night and day cycle and online multiplayer was on the table for a future Crazy Taxi title, but plans didn't come to fruition, and the closest the series got would be what you see in Crazy Taxi 3.
Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller, developed by Hitmaker, first released in 2002.
Version watched: Xbox, 2002 (RickyC, Kaymedisn)