Pong and Beyond

916th played so far

Genre: Driving
Platform: Xbox/PC
Year of Release: 2002
Developer: Hitmaker
Publisher: Sega

I’m not sure how Crazy Taxi 3 was already on my radar, but I remember the idle game using the franchise a few years ago grabbing my attention for a little while. Beyond that, the idea game reminded me a bit of Quarantine II: Road Warrior, racing through a city and delivering passengers while staying ahead of the law… although that had more of a story than this does. It’s a game I want to jump straight into though, so let’s go for it.

Our Thoughts

It really feels like Crazy Taxi 3 is defined by its soundtrack. The rock from the Offspring and Bad Religion starts playing from the moment you open the game and it overpowers all sounds – the traffic, the people calling for you taxi and even the announcer’s comments on your actions. It mostly only stops when you lose – when you run out of time to get the person to their destination – although there are a few jarring changes when it changes the track. The way it’s loud and relentless influences the way you play the game, drifting and skidding around the track as you try to get customers to their destinations as quick as possible – and unlike Carmageddon, the pedestrian at least jump out of the way as you drift around.

You’re going fast, which you have to if only because the time limits are just that short and after two deliveries you’re behind enough that it’s the only option you have. The game encourages that further by having no damage to your car, letting you jump and hit other cars as you want and including plenty of stunts to let you do even more of that. It requires a lot of skill to get higher, but the start is so good that it works to play this in shorter bursts. Yeah, I feel the time limit (compensated by having a “play for 3/5/10 minutes straight mode that bypasses it), but it’s also not a game with a story or anything else that would require you to play for longer. Unlike other racing games where there is another goal (reach the finish line) here the time is the only thing that gets tracked.

Final Thoughts

There’s something quite immediate about Crazy Taxi 3 – I even did this write up in between bursts of playing rather than doing it afterwards because it just felt right. It’s a mood, it’s something to immerse yourself in and it’s amazing to play.