Is The Crazy Taxi Game Really A Classic?

By Author: Janice Burke
Total Articles: 1
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The most enjoyable video game I ever played was released in 1999. Crazy Taxi was a fun driving game developed by Hitmaker which is now a part of Sega. In 2000 a version was released onto the Dreamcast. A few years later the game was released on the Gamecube and PS2.

The object of the game was to pick up passengers and deliver them to their destination. It was possible to earn cash bonuses along the way by performing various driving stunts and by narrowly missing other cars. The game was fairly unique in the fact that it used product placement rather heavily. Passengers in the game would request to be taken to places like KFC, Pizza Hut, Tower Records and the FILA store.

One useful feature of the game was a large arrow pointing towards the customers destination. This helpful feature meant that no matter what you chosen to do in the game your were always aware of which direction you should be going in. Delivering the passenger quickly gave you a nice cash bonus but taking too long would cause you to lose the entire fare.

Early versions of the game had as many as sixty unique levels. This helped to make Crazy ...
... Taxi very addictive and unique. The popularity of the game grew and eventually gave rise to several sequels by Sega. There were also some Crazy Taxi clones based around the idea of delivering passengers to their destination.

Whenever clones of a game appear there is usually always legal action. Crazy Taxi was no exception and Sega filed a lawsuit against Fox Interactive in 2003. The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money. I have always wondered just how much it cost Fox.

Modern driving games owe a lot to the Crazy Taxi series. There is something very enjoyable about picking up passengers and delivering them to their destination and I still like to play Crazy Taxi games today, albeit not in the arcade.

If are interested in playing Crazy Taxi you can play the Crazy Taxi Game online for free.