A great game for all those Crazy Taxi lovers out there.
Crazy Taxi was really a groundbreaking title when it first hit the arcade scene, and soon thereafter, the Dreamcast. Simple yet addictive gameplay in the "old school-style never ending, point earning" way, captured the hearts and quarters of many. Hitmaker and Sega followed up with a successful Dreamcast sequel, this time based on New York City, and tossed in some new techniques and fare types. Now in what could be compared to a "DVD Special Edition", comes Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller. Is the third time the charm, or are we just tired of endlessly shuttling passengers to and fro? Read on!
Crazy Taxi 3 contains not only the brand new Vegas-themed Glitter Oasis city, but one each from the first two Crazy Taxi games as well. Both West Coast and Small Apple (from CT1 and 2 respectively), along with all 8 cab drivers can be found in CT3. In typical Crazy Taxi fashion, 4 new overly stereotypical cabbies have joined the mix, including Mrs. Venus, who, from her bio, "is always good for a laugh. This big, bad mama greets every customer with a smile. Mother of seven, she takes after her father, a pro stunt driver. Just because she's someone's mama, doesn't mean she can't handle a cab. So sit back and prepare to get a laugh a she speeds you towards your destination." Like before, all the new cabbies feature more or less the same handling characteristics, so choosing one is just a matter of aesthetic preference. There also appears to be additional voiceovers for the returning and new cab drivers, and a lot of it is quite amusing, although again, highly stereotypical.
Gameplay is literally identical to Crazy Taxi 2 for the Dreamcast, and no new techniques exist. Having the Crazy Hop, which was introduced in CT2 available for use in the original's West Coast course is an interesting experience, and I definitely have come across sections of the city which were not accessible or not present in Crazy Taxi 1. Performing the more "advanced" techniques, yield some new graphical effects, which in turn do help determine when such techniques are pulled off successfully. A trail of yellow flames is left behind when performing the crazy dash, and neon green when pulling off a limit cut, slide, or jump.
The new city, Glitter Oasis, is really a lot of fun to play. It is more similar to the original San Francisco-based city in layout, and not as claustrophobic as Crazy Taxi 2's New York city. Glitter Oasis takes place at night, and just like Las Vegas, is awash with neon lights, reflections, headlights, and multicolor buildings and structures. The destinations range from knock-offs of famous Vegas strip locations, to lonely locations in the middle of the desert. The ugly slowdown found in the demo of Crazy Taxi 3 is nearly non-existent, except in a select few locations.
The West Coast city is largely unchanged from the original CT, with the exception of a few small sections, as mentioned earlier. The Small Apple (Around Apple, the larger CT2 location, is not in CT3), on the contrary, really does seem very different thanks to Hitmaker's day-to-night makeover of the location. As a result, the city is a whole lot more fun to play in for some reason. The new mini-game mode, Crazy X, is a lot more fun and less stressful than those in earlier games. Several wacky new games and visual/layout tweaks to existing mini-games, kept me glued to the mode for a long time, especially since completing each set of levels earns a new feature.
The new variety of passengers, which include showgirls, skateboarders, body builders, baseball players, and a marching band are a fun bunch, and all say some interesting things while racing with you to their location(s). West Coast from CT1 now also features multiple passengers at once, which like the Crazy Hop technique, changes the way it is played.
Graphically, the game looks as sharp as it did on the Dreamcast, but with a few very small enhancements and additions. Polygon counts appear identical, as does most of the texturing. The lighting is bumped up a notch, and the headlight effects on Small Apple and Glitter Oasis are excellently done. There is still a ton of popup and clipping in the distance, and just a limited amount of slowdown on Glitter Oasis. Minus the clipping and slowdown, the visuals of the Dreamcast originals still hold up well, and while I see no excuse for the slowdown or clipping on the Xbox, Crazy Taxi 3 still is definitely a pretty looking game. Oh, and while not really part of the game's graphics, the box art for CT3 is just beyond hideous!
Audio is, again, just like the Dreamcast version, but with additional 5.1 effects. Cabbies and passengers say slightly different things than before and are more chatty as well. For the Glitter Oasis level, Sega brought in neither Bad Religion nor The Offspring, but some band called 'Citizen Bird'. While their style is totally different than the others, and sounds out of place sometimes, their 'modern Elvis-like' songs do fit in with the Las Vegas theme.
If you're a fan of the Crazy Taxi series, and want what really is the 3rd game in the series in addition to a compilation, then you can't go wrong with Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller. At first it felt as if I were playing the same old thing as before... Then I once again realized how much fun Crazy Taxi can be. For those who were never big fans of the game, worth a rental at the very least.
