Crazy Taxi free Mac Game

The player can use special "crazy stunt" moves such as drifts, jumps, and near-misses, and consecutive combos of these, to earn extra money from the passenger during the trip. If the destination is reached in time, the player is paid based on distance driven with a possible time bonus based on how quickly the destination was reached. If the passenger's countdown strikes zero, he/she will exit the taxi without paying and the player will be required to look for another fare. The game continues in this mode as long as time remains on the main clock. Once the clock reaches zero, the game is over, and the player is ranked and rated based on the total earned.

Unlike other arcade games, the player cannot continue from where the previous game ended. The game cannot be played indefinitely; while there are hundreds of potential passengers to pick up and deliver, there are only a limited number of fares in the game. The various passengers scattered throughout the city will randomly appear and disappear throughout the game, but once one is picked up that passenger is unavailable for the rest of that game. The core gameplay in the series has been praised as being "deceptively complex"; as stated by the IGN staff for their review of the Dreamcast version of Crazy Taxi:

As you progress through the game's ratings scale by picking up and delivering passengers as quickly as possible, you will slowly but surely realize that there is much more to the game than getting from point a to b.

— IGN Staff, Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast) Review

Starting with Crazy Taxi 2, the gameplay included the ability to pick up a party of passengers, each having a different destination. The number of passengers in the car multiplies the tip bonuses earned from stunt driving, while the total fare can only be earned once the last passenger is dropped off in time. Additionally, Crazy Taxi 2 introduced a new stunt move called the "Crazy Hop" that allowed the player to make the taxi jump to clear some obstacles or reach higher drivable surfaces.

The console games have also featured a set of mini-games that require the player to meet a certain objective using one or more of the various "crazy stunts" within the game. Some of these test the player's handling of a taxi, while others are more exaggerated, such as taxi bowling or pool. Some mini-games require the completion of others before they can be accessed.

Prior to each game session, the player can pick one of several drivers and their associated cars; each car/driver has slightly different performance relating to factors such as speed and turning, that impact the game.

Reception

The original Dreamcast version of Crazy Taxi was one of the best-selling games for the console. The game was the second largest selling Dreamcast game in the United States in 2000, selling nearly 750,000 units, and is the third best-selling Dreamcast game in the United States with over a million units sold. The game was praised for capturing the arcade flavor, and possibly exceeding it by making the controls and execution of the crazy stunts easier to perform. The game did suffer from "pop-up" due to limited draw distances, and loss of frame rate when a large number of cars were on the screen. Critics noted the lack of depth given that it was a port of an arcade game, some difficulties with the destination arrow, and the poor "Wolfman Jack" impersonation of the in-game announcer.

Crazy Taxi 2 was well received by reviewers with the new features helping to expand play from the original game, though some thought that more drastic changes could have been made in the sequel. Despite the addition of new maps, the lack of new gameplay elements caused Crazy Taxi 3 to be panned by reviewers. IGN noted in its review for Crazy Taxi 3 that "It's clear that the creative vibrancy that first imagined the Taxi series has waned considerably."

The ports of the original game to the PS2 and GameCube platforms are not considered as strong as the Dreamcast game. Both were noted to suffer from more "pop-up" than the Dreamcast version, as well as poorer controls, despite having the same gameplay features. Graphic problems plagued the Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride port to the Game Boy Advance; as IGN stated, "it's painfully obvious that the hardware just was never meant to push so much." Both PC ports for Crazy Taxi and Crazy Taxi 3 also suffered from graphics problems.

The PSP ports of Crazy Taxi: Fare Wars have had a somewhat better reception than other ports. Reviews have complimented the game on the multiplayer additions and the ability to add a custom soundtrack – which led IGN to comment that "Including this should be a no-brainer, but many PSP titles don't" – but have noted some graphical glitches, the long loading times, and the lack of the original soundtracks for the games. The reviews of the controls of the game have mixed, with some praising the scheme on the PSP, while others have stated that the controls feel stiff and inconsistent. GameSpot's review noted that the gameplay in Crazy Taxi does not hold up well compared to more recent racing games across various platforms.