As a long-time fan of Crazy Taxi who sank countless hours and quarters into the classic Sega franchise over the years, I had high hopes that Taxi Chaos would revitalize the arcade cab experience I knew and loved from decades past. Unfortunately, developer Team6 Game Studios pays tribute to Crazy Taxi without ever leaving the shadow of its spiritual predecessor.
A Surface-Level Love Letter That Lacks Depth
Taxi Chaos successfully recreates the aesthetic trappings of Crazy Taxi – the yellow checkered taxis, cartoonishly eccentric fares, and over-the-top irreverent attitude all make you feel like it‘s Y2K again.
Look closer though, and it becomes apparent that most gameplay elements are merely passable imitation rather than meaningful innovation:
- Physics and Driving Feel – While serviceable, the taxi‘s handling feels loose and laggy compared to Crazy Taxi‘s famously tight and responsive arcade controls.
- AI Traffic – Pedestrians and other vehicles follow basic scriptsed patterns, lacking the organic madness that brought Crazy Taxi cities to life.
- Level Design – While the city layout offers plenty of shortcuts and alternate routes, the environments themselves feel barren and lifeless next to Crazy Taxi‘s rich visual design.
It‘s as if Taxi Chaos depended so heavily on summoning fans‘ fond memories that it forgot key elements that made those memories so impactful in the first place.
Enjoyable Fares Can‘t Outrun Repetition
Zooming around the city and listening to passengers quip about your driving brings occasional laughs, but the non-stop club beats quickly grate – this is no Offspring punk rock soundtrack. The samey environs and mission structure also set in quickly – while an unlockable "pro mode" removes navigation arrows to up the challenge, it does little to break the repetitive loop. Even with distinct passenger types like the unlockable celebrity fares, dialogue begins recycling verbatim far too quickly.
An Unambitious Rehash Rather Than Reinvention
Reviewers and fans called Taxi Chaos a "spiritual successor" to Crazy Taxi, but it replicates the 22-year old formula nearly verbatim without addressing longstanding problems:
- No Progression System – Unlike genre evolutions like the Simpson‘s Road Rage which introduced levelling mechanics, Taxi Chaos lacks any meaningful sense of progression.
- Confusing UX – Baffling design choices like an obtuse passenger color coding system or unclear scoring undermine the arcade experience.
- Performance Issues – The Switch version I tested suffered noticeable slowdown and visual downgrades compared to PC.
Unfortunately, Taxi Chaos fails to meaningfully build upon the Crazy Taxi foundation across any vector – features, visuals, sound, progression. For context, Crazy Taxi 3 expanded the formula with new layers of strategy by introducing RPG upgrading mechanics for both taxis and drivers. It‘s unclear why 15 years later, Taxi Chaos chose not to push the genre forward in any capacity.
Nostalgia Without Innovation Leaves Little Lasting Value
Make no mistake – fans of Crazy Taxi will enjoy taking Taxi Chaos for a brief retro spin. Yet even as an unabashed Crazy Taxi fanboy myself, Taxi Chaos feels less like a long-awaited reunion tour and more like a cover band trying to cash in on nostalgia.
Taxi Chaos packages the Crazy Taxi surface elements as empty callbacks rather than recapturing the addictive magic that made the original so groundbreaking.
Unless you‘re starving for some quick low-stakes mini-game action, Taxi Chaos likely won‘t satisfy your arcade racing itch for more than a few hours – even with major adjustments, the now-dated design leaves little room for sustained engagement by modern standards. We can only hope Sega sees the enduring interest and potential demonstrated by Taxi Chaos as inspiration to finally give fans the true Crazy Taxi sequel we deserve.
