Crazy Taxi: World Tour is shaping up to be a fun revival of the outrageous series
If you’re a gamer of a certain age, there’s a very good chance you’ve played Crazy Taxi. First available in arcades in 1999 before making its way to the SEGA Dreamcast in 2000, its gameplay was (and still is) infectious, simply tasking you with picking up passengers and then dropping them off. But being an arcade game, the challenge lies in how many passengers you can transport to their destinations within a time limit.
There has, of course, been multiple sequels to Crazy Taxi released on various formats over the years, but it’s been nearly two decades since the last. It’s for that reason that I’m particularly excited for the upcoming Crazy Taxi: World Tour. This latest entry in the series aims to leverage the power of current-gen consoles, making for the most visually engaging Crazy Taxi game yet. And having gone hands-on with the game’s recent closed network test, I’m optimistic it’s going to be huge amounts of fun.
The recent Crazy Taxi: World Tour closed network test was focused on the game’s multiplayer offerings which, being honest, aren’t that much of an attraction to me – I’m more looking forward to the single-player side of things. But still, it allowed me to have some hands-on time with the game, getting familiar with its visuals, mechanics and general feel. And I’m pleased to say I wasn’t disappointed.
It’s clear after just minutes of play that Crazy Taxi: World Tour perfectly captures the essence of the original title. Its characters are larger than life, its world is busy and vibrant, and its driving action is utterly outrageous. If you’ve ever played a Crazy Taxi game you’ll be able to hit the ground running as it feels so familiar, and to me that’s no bad thing.
Two multiplayer modes will be available in Crazy Taxi: World Tour, each offering a unique experience. Pickup Race pits six players against each other, challenging them to pick up and drop off a sequence of passengers as quickly as possible. Along the way, players can try to gain the upper hand by boosting into their competitors to slow them down and make them have accidents. It’s great fun, but the only concern I do have is that the passengers you pick up and drop off don’t appear to randomised. Hopefully that changes for the full game to stop things getting repetitive.
The other multiplayer mode that’s been available to play is Cops ‘N’ Cabbies. This finds players split into two teams, with the Cabbies trying to complete a set number of pick-ups and drop-offs, and the Cops doing the best they can to stop them. If the Cabbies can’t meet their quota before the timer expires, the Cops win. It’s chaotic, but again, it proves to be quite a fun way to waste some time.
With multiple maps available, a variety of vehicles each with their own strengths and weaknesses, and a range of tune-up options, the multiplayer portion of Crazy Taxi: World Tour is certainly shaping up well. What’s more, the core mechanics here give me confidence that its single-player campaign will be a blast, too. Throw in a punk-rock soundtrack that includes hits by the likes of The Offspring and Bad Religion, and I can’t wait for this series to make its long-awaited return.
Crazy Taxi: World Tour launches next year on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2 and PC.
