Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars is the latest arcade style driving game to hit the PSP. It is a shiny new port of the Sega classics Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2, complete with some graphical tweaks, multiplayer mahem and an enhanced soundtrack.

Seven years ago the original arcade version of Crazy Taxi made a colourful and chaotic splash on the gaming world, before moving onto the Dreamcast and PS2. Crazy Taxi was a frenzied, fun-fueled ride around the streets of San Francisco where you constantly had to battle the clock, and the rush hour traffic, to get paid. A year or so later Crazy Taxi 2, set in New York City, arrived on the scene. Now, Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars is due for release and will include both locations as well as all the stunts, jumps, wheelies and stoppies that made the originals so much fun.

No prizes for guessing the goal of the game. You choose from a list of pre-set cabbies, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and take your passengers where they want to go. Not only do you earn the basic fare by getting them to their destinations fast, you also get extra cash for performing stunts, driving against the flow of traffic and drifting through corners. Mini-games also add to the fun, including bowling, hitting targets and special timed challenges.

Added to the mix for Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars is the new multiplayer function, that will add an exciting new twist to the old formula. As the title suggests, it is now an all out war as you ram, bash and battle against your friends to steal their fares and collect the big bonuses.

It’s yet to be seen if the game, in 2007, has the same fresh quality that it did on its original release. The sandbox style cities were still a novelty back in 2001, as were the jumps, the drifting, and the alternative rock soundtrack. Of course, none of these are new ideas anymore. However, fun and playability can still carry a title a long way and Crazy Taxi has always had these in bright yellow bucket loads.