Review
Cab-based craziness is back in town, but this time around the game's left its fair-weather roots and packed off to the mean streets of New York. The long-awaited, highly anticipated sequel to Crazy Taxi is finally in sight, and looking great. Developer Hitmaker is back in the driver's seat, and if it can manage to capture just half of the addictive action of the first, a whole lot of DC gamers will be quite happy come this spring. As becomes a sequel, Crazy Taxi 2 will receive the usual updates: better graphics (especially in the backgrounds and environments) more options and, of course, more craziness.
Not surprisingly, the development team has chosen not to fool too much with what's under the hood. Picking up fares and getting them to their destination in the most haphazard, whiplash-inducing manner possible is still the goal of the game, but some in-game tweaking should help make the action twice as addictive as before. For starters, cabbies will be able to pull off a little jump -- catching air was a big part of the first, but now players will be able to avoid traffic, clear gaps and even take to the rooftops.
As before, a wide range of weird and wacky clients will prowl the streets in search of a ride. This time around, though, parties will need rides too -- and they won't necessarily all be going to the same place. As in real life, getting each and every one to their respective destinations is the only way to collect the full fare -- it's quite a risk, but the rewards can be great.
Making the jump from West Coast to East means introducing a new cast of characters, too. Whether the game's designers will be including any of the curiously stereotypical characterizations from the first game remains to be seen, but we're quite certain that each of these drivers will be suitably crazy -- which is the only way to drive in New York. Replacing Axl and the gang are Cinnamon, Hot-D, Iceman and Slash. Cinnamon's a sassy urbanite whose ride is a big, orange cruiser. Hot-D is the suicidal type (even for a cabbie) -- his cab's a classic, but there's a real hot rod engine under the hood. Iceman is the classiest of the crew; his cab is decked out for luxury, and his body's decked out with tribal tattoos. Slash is your standard, straight-up standby; his car is standard and he's purportedly both cool and crazy -- which seems to be a standard in the Crazy Taxi universe.
Few other details have been released, other than that The Offspring will once again contribute to the soundtrack, and that the Methods of Mayhem will also be chipping in. Any gamer who's lost a good chunk of change and time to the original knows that as long as the addictive arcade action from first has been maintained, it's sure to be a smash.
Thanks to US Famitsu.comfor the info. -- DailyRadar Review
