Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars

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Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars
Crazy Taxi - Fare Wars Coverart.png
Developer(s)Sniper Studios
Black Hole Entertainment
Publisher(s)Sega
Producer(s)Jeff Hasson (Executive)[1]
Stephen Frost (Associate)[2]
SeriesCrazy Taxi
Platform(s)PlayStation Portable
Release
  • NA: August 7, 2007
  • AU: September 27, 2007
  • EU: September 28, 2007
  • JP: August 14, 2008
Genre(s)Racing, action
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars[3] is a 2007 racing video game developed by Sniper Studios and Black Hole Entertainment, and part of the Crazy Taxi series. A compilation of Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2, Black Hole Entertainment ported the original games from the Dreamcast to the PlayStation Portable, while Sniper Studios added a new multiplayer mode. A new single-player campaign was foregone due to budget and time constraints. In the multiplayer, players compete against one another for customers and fare money. While Crazy Taxi received numerous ports, Fare Wars gained notoriety as the sole port of Crazy Taxi 2 outside of the Dreamcast version.[4] It was released in North America, Australia, and Europe in mid-2007, followed by a Japanese release in 2008.[5]

The game received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the gameplay of the original games, albeit calling it dated, as well as the new multiplayer mode. However, they criticized compromises made to bring the two Dreamcast games to the system of the less powerful PlayStation Portable, such as lower frame rate and higher loading times, the removal of the original game's licensed soundtrack, and control issues. The game's developers noted difficulty in porting the games to such limiting hardware.

Gameplay[]

See also: Gameplay of Crazy Taxi and Gameplay of Crazy Taxi 2
The player drives a passenger in their cab to the destination, indicated by the green arrow.

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars combines the games Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 2, leaving their respective original gameplay intact. In the single-player mode, the player, controlling one of several yellow cab drivers, each with their own unique cab, must drive around the city, picking up passengers and racing recklessly to get them to where they need to go in the fastest time. When each passenger is dropped off, the player earns a fare and extra time on the limited countdown clock, while extra money can be earned by performing stunts.[6]

The ports also carry over the games' minigame modes, Crazy Box and Crazy Pyramid.[4] In the former, players can access nine minigames, including bowling and bursting balloons with their taxi. The latter, while similar, includes minigames that utilize the "Crazy Hop" feature included in the sequel, which allows the taxi to leap through the use of hydraulics.[7][8]

Fare Wars adds three new multiplayer modes. In Time Trials mode, players can use ad-hoc multiplayer to compete to see who earns the most money within a certain time limit. In C-R-A-Z-Y mode, one player attempts to beat the other player's score for an individual fare, while in the final mode, Head to Head, two players compete to win on the same map. If one player hits the opponent's car, they can steal the passenger from their opponent.[4][6]

Development[]

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars was developed through the collaboration of the respective development teams at Sega of America in San Francisco, Sniper Studios in Redwood City, California, and Black Hole Entertainment in Budapest, Hungary. While Sniper Studios handled the multiplayer aspect of the game, the porting was performed by Black Hole. Sniper initially chose to work on Crazy Taxi because it believed the series had "near-perfect gameplay", and wanted to make a true port. As such, they spoke to contacts at Sega, who were looking to bring games from their catalogue to PlayStation Portable, and got permission to port the series,[9] believing that it would "make a lot of sense". It also considered multiplayer something that would give the game "a new feel". Adding a single-player campaign was considered, but would have cost too much money, and have been too time-consuming to implement.[1]

The game's developers used the Dreamcast version of the game, running on its original system, for reference purposes. While they initially considered buying an original Crazy Taxi arcade machine from EBay instead, high shipping fees ultimately scuttled the plan.[9]

The creation of the multiplayer mode was considered a difficult challenge, as it required the original games' artificial intelligence (AI) to be modified to support two independently controlled cabs in the same space. This was further hindered by the fact that the AI was only designed to support single-player gameplay, and the developers decided to work around that rather than change it significantly. The developers were ultimately forced to lower the amount of AI traffic in multiplayer as compared to single-player, due to a lack of memory on the PlayStation Portable.[1] While the multiplayer mode was also initially planned to be accessible from the main menu, this resulted in long load times because the single-player mode had to be loaded first from the Universal Media Disc (UMD). Therefore, the multiplayer mode was moved to the in-game menu of the single-player mode instead.[1]

Load times for the game turned out to be overly long, and frame rate too low, because the development team was not able to test how quickly it loaded off UMD discs until late in development due to the tight development schedule. The developers noted that streaming data off a Memory Stick results in a performance increase. Since the custom music player automatically streams data off the Memory Stick, the seek times for the rest of the game improve when using it.[1] Hardware restrictions also meant that, unlike the other versions of the games, which ran at 60 FPS, Fare Wars only runs at a maximum of 30 FPS.[4]

The wireless communication for the games was made more robust than normal, as testers had sent feedback about connection interruptions the developers could not reproduce. The development of the game went 13% over the original budget estimate, attributed to attempting to estimate the development cost based on source code that had not been seen yet. Ultimately, while the Crazy Taxi source code was implemented on schedule, the team ran into problems attempting to implement the source code of Crazy Taxi 2. Another difficulty in development was that bugs were not distinctly single-player or multiplayer, due to one's dependence on the other to work.[1]

Many of the real-world stores in the game, including Pizza Hut, Tower Records, and KFC, had their names and logos removed, and the original soundtrack, containing songs by the bands Bad Religion, Methods of Mayhem and The Offspring, was also removed from the game due to licensing issues.[10][11] The game allows custom soundtracks; MP3 files stored on the memory stick can be played in-game, a decision by the developers to allow "hardcore" fans to play the original tracks if they obtained them themselves.[9]

Release[]

Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars was released on August 7, 2007, in North America, September 27, 2007, in Australia, the following day in Europe; and August 14, 2008, in Japan.[5]

Reception[]

The game received an aggregate score of 64/100 from Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[12]

Among positive aspects noted by the reviewers were the value of having both games in a single package and how well the original arcade gameplay translated into a portable version. GameZone called the arcade rules mode "perfect for a portable system", since it allowed a player to quickly play before work or school.[18] Critics also praised the multiplayer, with Kurt Kalata of Hardcore Gaming 101 calling it "interesting", as well as "an addition that should have been made in the original Crazy Taxi game", particularly noting that one player can steal the customer of another.[4] Greg Miller of IGN remarked positively on the game's value, saying that there were many games with "larger price tags and smaller feature lists", and that it "[brought] something new to the table" that warranted a repurchase.[19]

However, the games were largely seen as inferior ports that suffered from technical limitations compared to the originals. Common points of contention were the loading times, which Ellie Gibson of Eurogamer called "a problem", games being unable to run at full speed on the hardware, as well as the removal of both the real-world stores and restaurants, and the original soundtrack of Crazy Taxi, which Kalata called "weird".[4][6] Greg Sewart of 1Up.com stated that "everything looks like it's moving in relative slow motion", and that the new music was not nearly as catchy.[13] Gibson stated that "everything feels incredibly slow", also criticizing the handling of the vehicles.[6]

Alex Navarro of GameSpot stated that the game "isn't very much fun anymore", also calling the controls "dodgy", further expounding that, with regards to the controls, "drifting is a pain, and the turning radius on your cab seems decidedly lacking".[15] Matt Bertz of Game Informer concurred, saying that the driving controls were "horrible", and also noting the low draw distance. He concluded by saying that only "die-hard fans" of the original should purchase the game.[14]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Hasson, Jeff (October 3, 2007). "Postmortem: Sniper Studios' Crazy Taxi Fare Wars". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on July 29, 2021. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  2. ^ Gamespot Staff (2007-01-11). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars First Look Q&A". GameSpot. Retrieved 2021-08-07.
  3. ^ クレイジータクシー ダブルパンチ, Crazy Taxi: Double Punch
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Kalata, Kurt (January 10, 2008). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on March 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars (2007) PSP release dates". MobyGames. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Gibson, Ellie (September 29, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  7. ^ Mirabella III, Fran (2001-11-21). "Crazy Taxi". IGN. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  8. ^ "Crazy Taxi 2". IGN. 2001-05-15. Retrieved 2021-08-08.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b c IGN Staff (August 7, 2007). "Crazy Taxi Talk". IGN. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  10. ^ Gill, Charles P. (January 8, 2008). "Crazy Taxi". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on July 8, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  11. ^ Spencer (June 21, 2010). "No Pizza Hut, Tower Records Or KFC In Crazy Taxi". Siliconera. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars for PSP Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Sewart, Greg (December 4, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars". 1Up.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Bertz, Matt (November 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars". Game Informer. No. 175. Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b Navarro, Alex (August 22, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars Review". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 10, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  16. ^ The Game Dame (August 30, 2007). "GameSpy: Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars". GameSpy. Archived from the original on January 24, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  17. ^ Bratcher, Eric (August 29, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars review". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Aceinet (August 29, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars – PSP – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  19. ^ Jump up to: a b Miller, Greg (August 9, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars Review". IGN. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  20. ^ Nicholson, Neville (September 29, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars Review". PALGN. Archived from the original on June 6, 2010. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  21. ^ Freeman, Will (October 10, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars Review". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  22. ^ Jones, Scott (August 7, 2007). "Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars". Maxim. Archived from the original on June 27, 2007. Retrieved November 16, 2014.

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