Sega is bringing back the classic arcade game, Crazy Taxi, with a modern twist. The upcoming title, Crazy Taxi: World Tour, promises to offer a more open-ended experience, allowing players to explore a vibrant, bustling city and engage in a variety of bite-sized missions. The game's core experience remains the same: players still pick up and drop off passengers, aiming to complete their trips in the most chaotic and high-scoring manner possible. What makes this iteration particularly exciting is the addition of an open-world driving environment, complete with pedestrians and traffic, adding a new layer of challenge and immersion. The game's creator, Kenji Kanno, is thrilled with the positive reactions to the demo, where players careened down steep roads, swerved across squares, and even dove into the sea in the iconic yellow taxi. The game's soundtrack, pulled straight from 1999, is another highlight, with Sega working to bring back the original artists and maintain the time-capsule feel. However, the game's true innovation lies in its bite-sized missions and diversions, such as time attacks and one-on-one races, as well as the more 'crazy' special missions that ensure the game lives up to its name. One such mission involves delivering a stack of 20 pizzas to specific locations while ensuring you don't lose many along the way, with the pizza stack behaving like something out of a Looney Tunes cartoon. Another unique feature is the fishing mission, where you use the taxi's momentum to cast a line into the ocean, requiring a back dash to reel in your catch. These 'off the clock' activities allow players to tap out of spontaneous activities at any time and smoothly continue driving around the world without interruption. While some activities, like the time-attack speed challenge, were short, they still add a fun and unexpected twist to the game. In my opinion, Crazy Taxi: World Tour is a refreshing take on the classic arcade game, offering a more open-ended experience with a variety of bite-sized missions and a vibrant, bustling city to explore. The addition of an open-world driving environment and the iconic yellow taxi make it a must-play for fans of the original game, and the game's soundtrack and 'crazy' special missions add to its appeal. Personally, I can't wait to see what Sega has in store for us in 2027.
