The SSM! Arcade #1: Crazy Taxi

All this talks about taxi drivers with Katanas and LTFRB cancelling both UBER and GRAB's permit to operate had us daydreaming about driving our very own PUV.

And no-no-no, not on the actual streets of the Philippines but rather on the hey-hey-hey, fictional streets of SEGA.

Enter the wild and wacky world of

Where everyone's destination of choice are limited to the ORIGINAL LEVI'S STORE, KFC, PIZZA HUT and TOWER RECORDS.

As the title would suggest, the game is your not so typical taxi simulator.
Pick someone up, follow the directional arrow, drive a little bit then drop them off their desired destination.
Sound pretty simple right?
But believe me, it could get quite addictive pretty quickly.
Crazy Taxi is the FIRST and ONLY game of its kind.
And true to its promise, the game could indeed get pretty CRAZY.

But lucky for you, we're CRAAAAZY!
So here are the various modes you could try.

Arcade Mode features a more simplified version of San Francisco.
Filled with crazy jumps and equally crazy customers.

Hey, it's the girl from the cover art.

But still, our favoritest customers would still be the air chopping Oi Punks

& this Back Flipping Granny.

JesusHChrist, chill grandma!
It's only PIZZA HUT!

While Original Mode features a much complex and less enjoyable map to drive in. Hence we'd recommend Arcade over Original Mode most especially for first time players.

Crazy Box is a mode where you could hone your skills thru a series of more often than not
timed challenges involving drifting, jumping and bumping these colorful balloons.

All of which are apparently necessary skills for driving a cab! (Wut?)

The last four are pretty self-explanatory.

Our driver of choice is of course,  GUS.

Not only does he look like our good pal Noel but his license photo

kinda resembles Jean Reno from LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL.

All in all, we could compare this game to any of the earlier versions of Tony Hawk Pro Skater.

The objectives won't vary that much from mode to mode. Other than the aforementioned map. The controls are easy to master, the overall gameplay is addictive as hell and did we mention about its killer soundtrack? The original Dreamcast version contained all the necessary OFFSPRING and BAD RELIGION tracks that everyone's been ranting and raving about.

Sadly enough, our PC version contained NONE of that.
However there was one track that we really liked and considerably "our jam music" for this very game.

BUT REALLY!
The game's music is such a minute & insignificant problem. For you could simply turn off the game's music and substitute your own. Like playing your favorite Pearl Jam song (on loop:highly recommended)

and everything would still be as enjoyable as ever. If not, it could only make the gameplay and overall experience even better. So,
GO ABBRUZZESE!

The title is still as relevant as ever even as we enter the mobile age.

But then again, it's a mobile game so don't expect
that much from it!

So that's about it! Crazy Taxi, THE game for those that have road rage, taxi driver fetishes and
those that enjoy life in general.