Sega Conference Call: Crazy Taxi 3

Senior Product Manager Rich Briggs gives us the full scoop on Sega's latest Xbox release

by Louis Bedigian

Earlier this week, Sega held a conference call to discuss their upcoming Xbox driving game, Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller.  Set in the pretty, neon light-filled city of Las Vegas, Crazy Taxi 3 features not one, not two, but THREE enormous levels for you to sink your teeth into.

The first two levels are remakes of the West Coast and Small Apple levels from the first two games.  From the start of the game, you'll notice that the graphics have been upgraded to match the quality of the rest of the game.  I personally care more about the gameplay, and so does Sega, which is why they added new shortcuts, new customers and new other twists to the classic levels.  The most notable of all the "twists" is the Crazy Hop, a jump move that allows you to hop in the air with the press of a button.  Introduced in Crazy Taxi 2, the Crazy Hop can now be performed in the West Coast level from the first game!  This took a lot of extra work, as the original game's engine was not designed to be so flexible.  But Sega's hard work has rewarded us with a game that is sure to entertain us for as long as the original game did three years ago.  After playing Crazy Taxi 3, you'll definitely want to thank them for their efforts.

Then there's the all-new level, Glitter Oasis.  Not much is known about Glitter Oasis, but if I knew all of its secrets, would you really want me to spoil them for you?  I didn't think so.  Of course, you could get in a real taxi and head on over to your nearest Target store, pick up the game and discover the secrets right now.

Crazy Taxi 3 features four new drivers, as well as the eight cabbies from the first two games.  With all of the returning favorites, Sega thinks of Crazy Taxi 3 as a "collector's edition," but it's so much more than that.  Not all of the drivers will be accessible when you play the game for the first time -- you'll have to unlock them.  Plus, there are a ton of new Crazy Box mini-games.

During the conference call, Rich Briggs, Senior Product Manager for Sega of America, gave us an overview of the game, answered a few questions and revealed his secret love of scaring mimes (in Crazy Taxi 3, that is).

Most of the car games on Xbox allow you to download your music CDs onto the console, and then load them in the background while playing a game.  But for Crazy Taxi 3, Sega wanted to concentrate on the gameplay, and provide a punk rock soundtrack that fit this crazy experience.

"For Crazy Taxi, we really grabbed a soundtrack that was meant to provide a certain experience for the gamer," said Rich Briggs.   "We've got a really classic lineup -- a lot of people [artists] from the previous game, such as The Offspring.  But we've also got new guys.  In total, we've got 16 licensed songs, from artists like Methods of Mayhem and Bad Religion.  So we really have a soundtrack that's going to get people in the moment, that really captures the spirit of driving that crazy cab around the city."

However, Rich did say that the music CD feature is something that they would definitely consider adding in future versions of the game.

Due to the suggestive lyrics (and a small amount of comic violence), the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) has given Crazy Taxi 3 a Teen rating.  Rich told us that if you are offended by the game's mild lyrics, "you can edit what you are listening to while playing the game."  This should be great news for parents of young children who want to let their kids play Crazy Taxi 3, but do not want them to be exposed to the less-friendly parts of the soundtrack.  Furthermore, there is absolutely no blood in this game -- just good, crazy fun.

Sonic the Hedgehog must be powering the engines in Crazy Taxi 3, because there's more jumping and dashing in this game than ever before!  Crazy Taxi 2 introduced the awesome new Crazy Jump move, which allowed players to jump in the air while cruising the city.  Crazy Taxi 3 takes the Crazy Hop even further with the Crazy Hop Dash.  "If you're at a complete standstill, you can still jump and then actually dash in the air," Rich said.  This move was created to speed up the gameplay and give players better control, and from the sounds of things, it's going to do just that.

As the second console-exclusive Crazy Taxi, Sega wanted to do more than they've ever done before.  "#1, we did the remakes of the previous two games, just to make sure that the depth of the game was there.  We included all of the drivers from the previous games.  Also, we made the [Glitter] Oasis level a lot larger, so you're going to have to invest a lot more time in terms of finding shortcuts through the city."

Rich continues, "The locations are a lot more spread out.  Whether you're exploring the streets of Oasis, or driving around the Grand Canyon, there's going to be a lot more area to cover [in Crazy Taxi 3]."

Visually, Rich says that Sega took advantage of the Xbox's real-time lighting capabilities, creating a really impressive effect.  "The Small Apple level now takes place at night, so there is a lot more neon going on in that level.  And of course, Glitter Oasis really comes alive at night.  That level is just full of neon, glare of the hotel signs, etc.  There's a lot of those really nice effects going on."

That's not all.  Rich says that Crazy Taxi 3 will feature reflective car models, a first for the series.  At night, the other cars' headlights will blind you, adding a little glare to the screen.  As you perform certain special moves, a stream of fire will be left behind your tires (as if they burned the road).  And, best of all, none of this graphical beauty hinders the game's framerate.  In fact, Crazy Taxi 3 is going to be the fastest Crazy Taxi game ever made, running at 60 frames per second.

Unlike the two previous games, Crazy Taxi 3 does not feature any real-life locations, but there's a really good reason for that.  All of the old licenses featured in the West Coast and Small Apple levels are back.  But having new licenses in Glitter Oasis would have taken more time, or at the very least, cost more money.  For something as trivial as a location, Sega didn't feel that it was important to obtain any new licenses.  Instead, they wanted to obtain more music for the soundtrack.  "For this one, we decided to go more into the music," said Rich.  "The soundtrack is bigger than ever before."

Without a doubt, this is going to be the most impressive Crazy Taxi game ever made.  Most stores will have unloaded their shipments of the game by the time you read this article, so if you're dying to play the latest edition to the best driving game series on earth, don't hesitate to get Crazy Taxi 3.  Also, be sure to come back to GameZone Online, as we'll have a full review of the game in the coming weeks.