It feels surprising that Crazy Taxi hasn’t had a console release in over 25 years. It’s an IP that’s felt so popular with even casual gamers that I could have sworn it had released new games over the years to keep an audience. My gut instinct isn’t entirely wrong, as Sega has released a fair few spin-off titles on mobile. But now, after such a long wait, the franchise is coming back to console with Crazy Taxi: World Tour, and it’s shaping up to be a joyful return.
I had the opportunity at Tokyo Game Show this year to try out the game early, completing a few missions in Germany and Japan, and I won’t lie, this game is delightfully weird. It’s got that classic Crazy Taxi loop you’d expect: drifting through crowds to rack up extra cash while delivering passengers, special missions to test your driving skills, eccentric NPCs with outlandish quest lines you can’t help but laugh at, and of course, The Offspring.
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After Tony Hawk Pro Skater’s recent remake proved that a dedicated audience is still ready to turn up for these nostalgic revisits, and the growing resurgence of all things nu-metal and pop punk, Crazy Taxi seems primed for a return. And after spending 25 minutes playing the game, I think the team have risen to the occasion.
Taking the Wheel After 25 Years
I think one of the biggest surprises with it being 25 years since the last Crazy Taxi mainline game is that World Tour feels so much like the original. Of course, there are some new additions here, like a nitro boost and the world map. But if you were to drop into this game 25 years later without having played any other game since then, you’d still feel right at home.
Of course, the big change for this game is its increase in scope. Instead of taking place on one map, Crazy Taxi: World Tour will take players across five different locations. The premise behind the game is that the playable character Alex’s taxi has been stolen, and now we’re traveling all around the world to recover it. It’s a silly premise, but one that suits the tone of the game.
After spending 25 minutes playing the game, I think the team have risen to the occasion.
In my quick playtest, I got to race through the streets of Germany and Japan. I can’t say the two maps felt too different, although the missions in Japan were a fair bit harder.
One mission I played was similar to a regular taxi drop-off mini-game, except this time, you’re driving salarymen to locations all fairly close to one another, all in different tightly packed side streets. As you can expect, it made for some tough drifting and turning around, which was a neat challenge.
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Germany, on the other hand, was far breezier, onboarding players for the wild ride to come. One of my favorite quests here involved launching a stuntman off a cliff to fulfill his dream of flying through the sky. It’s such a cartoonish premise that’s executed so well I couldn’t help but grin at how silly it is.
The game throws these all at you at such a rapid pace as well that there’s no time to breathe, and it never feels like it’s letting up on matching the same energy. Could this get overwhelming? Possibly! But as a lover of all things silly, I was beyond giddy.
How’s the Racing Though?
Now for what most arcade racing fans are most eager to learn about – the driving itself. Good news, it still strikes that balance between being accessible to casual players, while also having a pretty steep skill ceiling if you’re looking to flex. With the game’s two Multiplayer modes being a potential highlight for players looking for a competitive challenge, there’ll be plenty here to sink your teeth into.
Personally, I’m well aware that I’m far from a skilled racing game player, and am happy to stick in my single-player lane of delivering pizzas and dropping off passengers. In saying that, the game does a pretty good job of onboarding most players to its potential. One reason for this is that crashing into other cars and objects doesn’t come with any real penalty. You can drift through traffic and structures, almost run over a crowd of people, drive your car into a wall at high speeds, and rarely see any punishment while free driving.
When it comes to missions, you’ll have certain criteria to meet, like hitting as few as three cars, or only using your nitro boost a certain number of times. It makes for a safe environment to learn and hone your crazy driving skills to thread that balance of skillful, reckless driving and getting comfy on the road.
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Getting rewarded with extra money while driving passengers also helps to communicate that you’re not meant to treat the road like you might in other racing games. Near misses, object destruction, big air, and drifts all build a combo meter and earn you extra cash, putting an emphasis on showmanship on top of being a skilled driver.
The one thing I’m keen to see from more passionate racing sim players is how they feel about the maps themselves. I won’t deny that I was dealing with a fair bit of overstimulation with the amount of colors spamming the screen, and was simply happy driving from objective to objective while listening to The Offspring. The downside of that is I was hardly taking in the sights or considering where I could potentially Crazy Drift into a regular drift for some extra speed and points.
Overall, while I think there may be some adjusting needed for passionate fans of the classic Arcade game, newer fans should be able to pick things up fairly quickly.
Green Lights So Far
I went into the demo for Crazy Taxi: World Tour expecting a casual and absurd driving game, and I got just that. Even then, I was still blown away by the immense amount of charm this game has. I wish I had more time to dive into more special missions, as they were my absolute highlight. Whether it’s delivering pizzas in Germany, launching daredevils off of cliffs, or challenging other drivers to races, I was beyond locked-in on Sega’s wild ride here.
I say this as a casual fan, however. I don’t have a strong attachment to racing games, and only rarely played Crazy Taxi at arcades with friends. Still, I think if you love Crazy Taxi’s aesthetic and simply want more of that kind of game, you’re going to have a good time.
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Released
2027
Cross-Platform Play
Full