Full disclosure, I had no idea Crazy Taxi 2 even existed for a very, very long time. After playing it, there seems to be a very good reason for this. It boasts new features, but the more you play this title, the more you'll see why it was barely even a blip on the Dreamcast radar. One very big problem is that Crazy Taxi 2 came out very late in the DC's lifespan, and that obviously did not help it when it comes to noteriety. That's the biggest problem here, there is so little to note here because I already have a review for the first one. Beyond that, finding talking points for this title is a bit like describing a cat. Yeah, it's cool, but you basically already know.
It's Crazy Taxi, that's all it really is. It gives us a few new maps with some new drivers and slightly shinier graphics. That's all well and good, but that doesn't help the fact that they all play very similarly. Some of them have better speed, some have better control, there are different stats, but we all know that it's more about the character you like playing as. They're all very unique and different in that sort of old school anime sense. However, adding more and thinking that will affect much of anything was not their smartest move.
You are driving around and picking up customers. Then, you see that there are multiple passengers in one spot. You have the option to drive multiple passengers for bigger rewards. Yes, they changed up the gameplay. The rest of the game is basically picking up passengers and driving around as a driver with mental illness. There's no real problem with the mechanics and it controls fine, just like the original, but it does not differentiate itself enough at all.
The real point is that it is not worth buying Crazy Taxi all over again, which this basically is. It's got the clone syndrome when it comes to sequelitis. With a few more innovations, maybe attempting flying cars or bigger trucks or something more to make it more distant from its predecessor. If you can't find Crazy Taxi on a shelf but find Crazy Taxi 2, at least you'll be getting what you wanted. After such a versatile, free-roaming game, it was really hard to believe that they were basically just one trick ponies with the material. This calls into question whether it's worth seeking out Crazy Taxi 3 and the only console that was released for was the Xbox. If it's just got 3 or 4 new features pasted onto yet another sequel, it may not be worth the effort. Just remember to drive safe and drink plenty of water.
