Post a Comment On: The Dreamcast Junkyard

One of my few games for the Sega Dreamcast is the arcade port racing game, Crazy Taxi. It was special for being one of those few games that at least two people in my household played. Recently, I looked into the sequel games produced. There are apparently portable versions, but I haven’t played a good hand-held racing game, besides Mario Kart. However, the second game in the series, Crazy Taxi 2, was also released on the Dreamcast.

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“Hey, self!” I thought. “This is a great opportunity to review a game for the blog, and expand your pitiful Dreamcast collection!”

With those words in mind, I purchased the game. And, as a bonus, I have not read or watched any reviews on it (well, one video mentioned it in passing, but it was an offhand reference anyway.) Since I haven’t played the first game in a while, maybe I won’t apply as much “Nostalgia-Comparison” logic to it. Maybe.

Review
Starting off, I am reminded of the original. I can’t help it! I’ve got the [licensed?] music playing at me, the customers yelling for or at me, and an ever decreasing time limit to play under. This game, essentially, has three game modes: Around Apple, Small Apple, and Crazy Pyramid. The latter is a series of mini-games, like jump over things or pop balloons. Silly stuff.

Anyway, the main meat of the game occurs in the “Around Apple” and “Small Apple” modes. You can choose either to go by “normal rules” (presumably the rules used on the original arcade game. I haven’t played that version, so I’m just guessing here) or choose between intervals of 3, 5, or 10 minutes. Then it’s just a matter of choosing from one of the four drivers and burning some rubber!

What do I think of it?

Overall, it feels the same as the original. A fun, solid racing game. If I were comparing it to the original, I might say that it’s too much like the original. But I’m not. However, I found myself getting bored. Maybe it’s that the style of game doesn’t connect with me. Maybe it’s because I could never get more than a Class D license in most runs. Either way, it’s still a solid sequel, and if you’re a fan of the series or driving games in general, you should consider picking it up.

As it turns out, most reviews I saw of it were generally positive. Yay!