ryandb2's Full Review: Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller for Xbox
I have always loved the crazy taxi games on the dreamcast. The first one was incredibly innovative and unique. The second one introduced a few new wrinkles into the fold and added a lot more variety. This version seems more of an upgraded Crazy Taxi 2 than a completely new game.
For those of you who don't know the story of crazy taxi I will summarize. Basically you assume the role of a maniac taxi driver. Your only goal is to drive around the city looking for passengers. Once you pick up a passenger you the drive as fast and as crazy as possible to get them to their destination before time expires. Along the way you earn more money from your fare by almost hitting cars, flying through the air, and arriving very quickly.
Crazy Taxi 2 introduced a few new techniques to this formula to liven things up that have remained for the third adventure. First your car can now perform a crazy hop. This hop is a lot of fun to perform as jumping over buses and cars at the last second can prove exhilarating. The second feature introduced in Crazy Taxi 2 that has remained is the ability to pick up groups of people. These groups give you more money and more time but in order to succeed you need to deliver them all to their destination in the time allotted... no partial credit.
Now on to Crazy Taxi 3:
In crazy taxi 3 you can look forward to 3 cities to rampage through (2 of these are old cities from the dreamcast version and one, glitter gulch, is brand new). You also get four new cabbies and a new set of about 25 mini games.
Graphics- The graphics are one of my major gripes with this game. They haven't been changed since the dreamcast versions. Basically everything in here is the same. Not much detail in the cars or in the people. The cities seem kind of bland when compared to the newer games on the market. Also the new city, Glitter Gulch, isn't that impressive. It looks better than the original two but it still isn't very impressive. Plus you get some slowdown while playing, which takes much of the fun away from the game.
Sound- Well the sound track is about the same, a couple songs from Offspring, Bad Religion, and Citizen Bird. They fit the tone very well but get really old fast, especially if you have had to listen to them over and over in the first two games.
As far as sound effects go everything that is in the game sounds good. Nothing is overly impressive and don't expect your surround sound to get a workout but the noises fit and they aren't distracting.
Gameplay- The same old formula but luckily, unlike the graphics and sound, this hasn't gotten old yet. Tearing around these busy city streets is still as fun as ever. This is probably the only saving grace of this game. The other saving grace is the mini games (I think there are around 25). These games offer a very fun diversion from racing around the cities, but the problem is depth. Once you have completed them you won't want to come back.
Replay Value- Very high only because it is a racing game. It's a very easy game to pick up and play for a couple minutes and it gains points for three big cities and 25 mini games as well as some hidden cabdrivers. Other than that though there isn't much here.
Final Evaluation-
Graphics- 8.1/10
Sound- 8/10
Gameplay- 9.2/10
Replay Value- 8.8/10
Final Score- 8.5/10
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