Game Review: Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars

Game: Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
Console: Sony Playstation Portable
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 7th August 2007

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars takes the Dreamcast classics Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2 and bundles them into a handheld collection of sorts. It should be known that I'm a huge fan of all 3 original Crazy Taxi games and so I won't be discussing the games themselves at length so much as the changes that have been made to them for this version, and the differences between this and the Dreamcast versions.

In terms of gameplay, both games have kept their fast paced feel and picking up/dropping off passengers is as fun as ever. There appears to be a little slowdown in frame rate every now and then, but it's not constant enough to be an issue. The controls are much the same as in the Dreamcast version though the layout of the buttons on the PSP means there are obvious differences. Tapping circle and the R button to boost is a little harder to do than B and the right trigger on the original.

With all the challenges and modes intact from both games, Fare Wars is probably the most complete and playable version of Crazy Taxi, succeeding where the Playstation 2 and Gamecube versions failed. There's a new multiplayer mode for both games, but without two PSPs I wasn't able to check it out. It's a shame that Crazy Taxi 3 wasn't able to make its way onto this compilation as well, but perhaps there just wasn't enough space on the UMD.

One of the more noticeable changes to the games is the removal of licensed destination names. No longer are we told to "Take me to Pizza Hut!", now it's simply named 'The Pizza Place'. While this isn't a huge change, it can be more of an issue when you've got used to all of the destinations in the original games. It's still pretty easy to tell which stores the game is attempting to display, however as the visuals are only slightly edited to remove the brand names.

The most glaring omission in the game is the removal of The Offspring and Bad Religion's songs from the soundtrack. Instead we're given songs which would sound more at home behind a race on Gran Turismo 4 (and that's not a compliment). It is possible to give the games a custom soundtrack by loading music onto your PSP's MemoryStickDuo, but it's a lot of effort to go to just to hear the games as they were meant to be. The in game voice clips have also been completely re-recorded, though they're mostly similar to what was there before.

Visually the game hasn't changed too much from the original releases, although there's an annoying blur effect which is unlockable, and should be kept off at all times in the option menu. Overall the two games are a good representation of the originals, and provide much of the excitement that went with them. There's not much more you could ask of a PSP re-release of these classics.

Rating: 77/100
Grade: B