At first glance, this just seems like more Crazy Taxi. The physics and UI are basically the same, there are two new maps, the mission mode is here, there's new cabbies to drive as, and the soundtrack is more Offspring. They even added a new feature in that the car now has a jump button, which not only makes avoiding traffic easier in that you can just jump over anyone in front of you, but also it adds a solid new risk v reward type thing to think about in that you can't turn or change direction while jumping so making sure your landings are safe is important. You can even buffer crazy dashes to pop off right when landing from a jump which means the skill ceiling is even higher here. What's not to love, right?
well the new map kinda isn't that great. The first Crazy Taxi had a masterfully crafted map in that it was basically one big wide circle with each of the drop off locations scattered around said circle. Here, the main map is basically a triangle with all the drop off locations clustered in small sub areas at each point with nothing between them. The second map is just one big city section. The map design and constant 90 degree turns of the city blocks make the guide arrow absolutely drunk and it gets incredibly easy to get lost. Couple that with a new feature of being able to pick up multiple customers, and the game basically becomes a matter of ignoring the arrow and instead just memorizing the entire map layouts and how to get to where on your own. The best example is the final missions in the mission mode between this game and the first. In Crazy Taxi 1, the penultimate challenge was to do a whole lap around the main map within a time limit, which while knowing the map definitely helps make things easier, it's still more of a technique challenge than sheer knowledge. In this game, there are TWO gruelingly long final 6-minute challenges where you need to drop off 30 people at various points in each map. While the time limit definitely seems long at first, the sheer number of people and random drop off locations basically mean that unless you know EXACTLY where to drop off each character and how to get to that spot quickly, finishing those missions is an absolute pipe dream. It's just map memorization, with none of the on-the-fly decision making that makes crazy taxi so fun imo.
In essence, this is crazy taxi but with a rather downgraded map. At the end of the day even meh crazy taxi is still crazy taxi so it's still fun, just not as much as 1 was. It doesn't surprise me that this game isn't as well known as its older sibling.
i like the OST for this game a bit more than 1 tho
well the new map kinda isn't that great. The first Crazy Taxi had a masterfully crafted map in that it was basically one big wide circle with each of the drop off locations scattered around said circle. Here, the main map is basically a triangle with all the drop off locations clustered in small sub areas at each point with nothing between them. The second map is just one big city section. The map design and constant 90 degree turns of the city blocks make the guide arrow absolutely drunk and it gets incredibly easy to get lost. Couple that with a new feature of being able to pick up multiple customers, and the game basically becomes a matter of ignoring the arrow and instead just memorizing the entire map layouts and how to get to where on your own. The best example is the final missions in the mission mode between this game and the first. In Crazy Taxi 1, the penultimate challenge was to do a whole lap around the main map within a time limit, which while knowing the map definitely helps make things easier, it's still more of a technique challenge than sheer knowledge. In this game, there are TWO gruelingly long final 6-minute challenges where you need to drop off 30 people at various points in each map. While the time limit definitely seems long at first, the sheer number of people and random drop off locations basically mean that unless you know EXACTLY where to drop off each character and how to get to that spot quickly, finishing those missions is an absolute pipe dream. It's just map memorization, with none of the on-the-fly decision making that makes crazy taxi so fun imo.
In essence, this is crazy taxi but with a rather downgraded map. At the end of the day even meh crazy taxi is still crazy taxi so it's still fun, just not as much as 1 was. It doesn't surprise me that this game isn't as well known as its older sibling.