Past-Gen. Consoles

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Crazy Taxi 3

written by Shaun McCracken

Game Information Publisher: SEGA Developer: Hitmaker Year Released: 2002 Players: 1 ESRB Rating: Teen
Visuals	7
Great, if we were talking about a Dreamcast game. But this does not take advantage of the Xbox hardware at all. Even the slowdown and pop-up hasn't been fixed.
Audio	7
Same Offspring and Bad Religion tracks of the past, as well as sound effects. The voiceovers are a bit worse, though. No custom soundtrack support.
Gameplay	8.5
At least the design is still great, even if it hasn't changed. Plus, this is easy for fans to get into, since the Xbox controller is similar to the Dreamcast's.
Replay Value	8
If you've never played any Crazy Taxi game before, you'll probably get the most out of the game. But if you've played any game in the past, you'll still probably be playing this game, just not as often.
Reviewer's Impression	7.75
Still fun, but very outdated. A lot of Xbox owners were expecting more.
Overall	7.75
It's not a terrible game, it's just one we've all seen before in a new package. Almost nothing has changed, which is just disappointing, but for those who have never played a Crazy Taxi title, or just want a "best of" compilation, this isn't a bad way to go, as long as you don't pay too much.

If you're expecting a brand new Crazy Taxi experience on the most powerful video game system in this generation, forget it. Rather than try to build the game from the ground up, even where visuals are concerned, SEGA and Hitmaker decided to play it safe and just port the Dreamcast versions of the first two Crazy Taxi games, and throw in one more course. The gameplay hasn't changed (other than the jump you can do in the West Coast course) at all, but for some, that might be good. The main idea of the game, still, is to pick up passangers around a city and drop them off to their destination. Honestly, this isn't a hard game to get into, especially if you've played games that have borrowed/ripped off this design such as The Simpsons: Road Rage or Grand Theft Auto 3. While there has never really been a problem with the Crazy Taxi formula, there's been no steps made to change it in it's third iteration. Really, the only thing new is the Glitter Oasis course, four new drivers and some new challenges in the Crazy-X mode. What is back are courses from Crazy Taxi 1 and 2 (and the course they picked from the second was the one I didn't like), as well as all the drivers from those previous games. The visuals have hardly changed since the Dreamcast era, which is disappointing, since this is the Xbox, and we've seen a lot better. Sure, there are some graphical effects such as some reflectiveness on the windows on buildings and a strange, blurry glow in the night environments, but this really doesn't make up for the fact that there's still slowdown, pop-up and so-so textures. The sound is even the same, with the Offspring and Bad Religion STILL being the featured musical artists of the game. The sound effects are still the same. The voices, however, seem to be a bit worse than they were on the Dreamcast, especially with Gena, which now sounds rather Russian at times. But does this really mean that Crazy Taxi 3 is a terrible game? No, because even though the gameplay hasn't changed, it's still great and rather addictive. Despite the dated look, SEGA still knows what works in terms of gameplay. For those who have never played a Crazy Taxi game, this may be the best version to pick up. But for those who have played the first two games in the series, you really shouldn't expect anything new. You'll get a new course, you'll be able to use the techniques from Crazy Taxi 2 in the first Crazy Taxi and you'll have a new set of challenges (some which are really tough) in the Crazy-X mode. Final Thought This is probably one of the shorter reviews I've written so far, but really that's because I'm reviewing a game that hasn't changed a whole lot, so there's really nothing new to get into. That's the story of Crazy Taxi 3, which is a game that really hasn't changed from it's predecesors, which was also a problem with Crazy Taxi 2. SEGA has decided that the look and the design is just fine, and nothing really needs to be changed for people to buy this game. Well, when you debut a game on the most powerful game console, people were expecting a hell of a lot more. So, does that mean you should get it? Yes, if it's on the cheap. Really, this game feels more like a classic arcade compliaion rather than a brand new installment of a video game. This game is really not worth more than $20 simply because it's everything that fans have seen before. But since the gameplay is still great and still addictive, it is worth adding to your library.