Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars coming to pick PSP up
Everyone's favourite cab sim returns exclusively on Sony's handheld
Crazy Taxi was something of a revelation when it first appeared in arcades at the end of the '90s. Generally speaking, the idea is to pick up passengers dotted around a vibrantly coloured environment and subsequently get them to their destination as quickly as possible. If this means cutting through parks, jumping across roofs or smashing your way through a busy shopping centre, so be it.
In the Crazy Taxi world, time really is money – the quicker the journey, the higher the fare.
Coming to PSP this summer, Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars is the latest arrival in the series and it obviously has little intention of rocking the franchise fundamentals – you still have to speed fares to their destination by relying on shortcuts regardless of the obstacles faced – but that doesn't mean it can't spice things up a little.
As such, new twists include multiplayer ad-hoc modes that enable two to play cooperatively or competitively – a first for the series. Rival cabbies are able to steal passengers from each other by bumping cars, for example.
Those without friends shouldn't despair, however. Several singleplayer modes are also available, including the mission-based Arcade option (where players earn time bonuses), and a Time Trial affair encouraging drivers to collect the highest fares possible in the allocated time.
Fans of the original games will also no doubt welcome the addition of the two mini-game training modes. Crazy Box offers a collection of 16 original mini-games and Crazy Pyramid, where mini-games are arranged in a pyramid that drivers must complete to unlock more mini-games from Crazy Taxi 2.
That's because Small Apple, the New York-inspired, skyscraper and subway fest that constituted the game map for Crazy Taxi 2 makes a return. As do the first two Crazy Taxi locations – the San Francisco-esque maps of the original arcade version and the alternate offer found on the Dreamcast conversion – for that matter.
Sega is understandably excited about this. "We've often thought that the sublime playability of our Crazy Taxi franchise was perfectly suited to the PSP format. Now with new gameplay features and including superb multiplayer modes we're really confident that gamers will agree," enthused Matt Woodley, creative director Sega Europe. "The heady mix of competitive gameplay and vibrant graphics makes this a winner, in my humble opinion!"
We sincerely hope so – we have very fond memories of our Crazy Taxi days – but won't know for sure until we get behind the wheel again. When we do, we'll let you know, of course, so click 'Track It!'
