Reviewed by Michael Johnson
Games Editor

Most casual game players don't realize that large game publishers, like Nintendo and Sony, are actually comprised of smaller development studios that produce the majority of their titles. It might seem out of character for Nintendo to release the M-rated hack-em-up Eternal Darkness until you see that Silicon Knights actually developed the game. Sega is famous for this, as the publishing giant pumps out titles from a variety of in-house developers. I've learned through firsthand experience that I really enjoy the titles put together by Smilebit (Jet Set Radio Future, Gun Valkyrie), while the efforts of United Game Artists (Rez) and Visual Concepts (NFL 2K2) have failed to significantly capture my interest.

Which brings us around to Hitmaker, developers of the zany Crazy Taxi series. The Sega developer is back in action with Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller for the Microsoft Xbox, another title exclusive to the big X. (I'd make a joke about Sega and under-supported consoles, but... ya know. Whatever.) The first two games brought fast-paced arcade action to arcades and the Dreamcast, and created a whole new category of driving games that have since spurned many pale imitators (Simpsons Road Rage anyone?). So what does number three bring to the series? Not much that is new, but whether that's a good or bad thing depends on your love of all things Ker-aaaazy. I'm rather sane when it comes to driving games, so this doesn't bode well for me. But let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Crazy Taxi was never a visually complex game, but you'd expect some improvements in High Roller considering it was developed from the ground up on the Xbox. You'd be wrong (sucker!), as Crazy Taxi 3 looks only slightly better here than it did on the Dreamcast. This is especially puzzling in light of Smilebits' accomplishments with their first two Xbox titles, Jet Set Radio Future and Gun Valkyrie, which sport excellent visuals that are light-years beyond Crazy Taxi 3. The cars in CT3 feature reflective surfaces and shiny chrome, and the Glitter Oasis city is lit by what seems like hundreds of lights. There's lots to look at, but it really doesn't look all that great. The cars and characters have received only moderate face lifts from their Dreamcast counterparts, so Crazy Taxi 3 really does look like a high-resolution Dreamcast game.

The title is hampered by blurry, low-resolution textures, aliasing around the edges and some distracting texture shimmer, in addition to rampant pop-in. Of course this is an arcade game, so speed and fluidity are inherently more important than visual splendor. Unfortunately, the frame rate is quite uneven and the game slows down with alarming regularity, which will affect your playing. So we have jaggies, shimmer, pop-in and slowdown? I will usually tolerate mediocre visuals or a choppy frame rate, but both at once? Are you sure this is an Xbox title? While it doesn't exactly look bad, next-generation console owners are going to expect better visuals in their games, and Crazy Taxi 3 will likely disappoint most players in this department.

The music and voices are the typical ker-aaaazy variety for which the series is known. The background music is mostly forgettable fluff that is barely noticeable most of the time, and the voiceovers of narrator Wolfman Jack (isn't he dead?) are particularly grating. But hey, it's ker-aaaazy, so who cares? The game includes a few punk tunes from the likes of the Offspring and Bad Religion, which has always baffled me. While I love Bad Religion, their socially-conscious brand of punk rock feels completely out of place in a care-free game like this. I'm still wondering when Sega will make use of the custom soundtrack option that is built in to the Xbox. (Please?) The audio is encoded in five-channel Dolby Digital, but like many Xbox games the advanced audio capabilities of the format are completely wasted in High Roller. The directional voices tend to get drowned out by the music, and the sound effects are weak and muffled. The audio quality is nearly identical to the two-channel stereo option, which is quite disappointing to an audiophile like myself.

While I've never actually liked the character choices in Crazy Taxi, I must admit that they're definitely not the same ol' big-titted heroines and musclebound assholes found in most other games. The same holds true in part 3, which features the notable (and ker-aaaazy) inclusion of a Shirley Hemphill look-a-like named Venus. (I'll give you kids five bucks if you can tell me who Shirley Hemphill is.) That's right, instead of a slinky little vixen, Sega has graced us with a fiesty, overweight, jive-talkin' cabbie who don't take no guff from no one. Good for them, I say. There's also Bixbite, who reminds me of Zack from the Dead or Alive games (Hey, didn't Zack go to Vegas at the end of DOA3? Perfect!), Zax, who reminds me of James Hetfield from Metallica, and Angel, who doesn't remind me of anyone in particular just yet. A solid, if not spectacular, set of characters that does a good job of avoiding stereotypes.

"But who cares what it looks like or who the characters remind you of, Crazy Taxi is all about the gameplay, right?" Okay, sure. True to its subtitle, Crazy Taxi 3 features the all-new city Glitter Oasis to romp around in, which you may have guessed is a ker-aaaazy version of Las Vegas. Part 3 plays much like the last game, with the familiar analog triggers controlling acceleration and braking, and the Y button used for ker-aaaazy hopping. This part of the play mechanics works very well, but I've never liked the two-button layout for switching between forward and reverse gears, and it still feels cumbersome here. I suppose this is Hitmaker's way of adding "depth", but we should have auto-reverse in an fast-paced game like this.

It's smooth sailing once you get a passenger (or two, or three, or...) in your cab, and the process of delivering them safely (or not) to their destination is still fun. If you've played either of the previous games you'll feel right at home in Crazy Taxi 3, but there's very little to do that is fresh. The core gameplay remains virtually unchanged from the last title, which is quite disappointing. You've still got all the ker-aaaazy moves at your disposal (Crazy Hop, Crazy Drift, Crazy Dash, Crazy Drift Stop, etc.) that were introduced in the previous games, so you'll need those driving skills to advance in part 3. But aside from learning the layout of a new city, you'll be doing the exact same things.

While Glitter Oasis is the new city available in Crazy Taxi 3, Hitmaker has thoughtfully redesigned the West Coast and Small Apple cities from the first two games for your ker-aaaazy driving pleasure. In fact, High Roller contains pretty much the entire first two frickin' games, which is a very generous and much-appreciated feature. Even the characters from the first two games have made the trip to the Xbox, though they don't look significantly better than they did back home on the Dreamcast. There is a whole new batch of mini-games, which is probably the most appealing aspect of the game to me. There are some great new games (Crazy Football is particularly gratifying), but most of them are just retreads of games from the first two Taxi installments. These games are quite challenging, but will really hone your skills for use in the main game. While they can be enjoyable when playing solo, the real appeal is in passing the controller around amongst a living room full of drunken friends.

Fans of Crazy Taxi will probably purchase this without a second thought, as will ker-aaaazy old-schoolers who've migrated to the Dreamcast 2... er, I mean Xbox. With virtually no new content and decidedly dated visuals, the title should probably be titled Crazy Taxi 2.5, as it's more of a "collector's edition" than a new game. It's fun for a while, but I can't recommend this game as anything more than a rental, as you'll probably be able to extract every last drop of fun over the course of its rental period. The once ker-aaaazy formula is also a bit stale now, so Sega needs to take serious steps to reinvent the series if we're to see a fourth Taxi game.