Crazy Taxi for PS2 Review

"Brilliant"

Sega is one of my favorite companies. They made the Sonic series and so many other of my favorite games. This one, Crazy Taxi, is one of my favorites. It's better (and worse) on other systems, my favorite version being the Dreamcast one, but the one on the PS2 is still really great and worth your time if you own a PS2.

In this game, you choose between 4 taxi drivers, and your goal is to drive as many people to their destinations as you can. Every time you do, you get a time bonus. Sounds boring? Well, let's say you go really fast, get extra money for impressing the passenger and getting there quicker, are timed to get them there (usually in 40 seconds), and you crash a ton. Each character is different: Gus is cool, B.D.Joe is crazy, Axel is lively, yet I've never played Gena. I'm guessing she's like Rochelle from L4D2, and that's why I avoid playing her.

The music in this game is great. It's upbeat, and fits the theme of this game well. For those that care, graphics and sound on the PS2 are great. The voice acting is good, the sound is clear and the graphics are cartoony, awesome, and suit the game. The things the characters say are also sometimes funny, and the passengers yell and throw dirt, kick dirt or whatever at the drivers if they run out of time. Which happens a lot... you'll get a passenger you have to drive a long distance, arrive 1 second late, and get barely any money because it said you were slow. This, like the guy who sold me the game mentioned, drives you insane.

Gameplay.

The map is big, and full of traffic and obstacles to make it a more fun experience. Not to say there isn't parts where there's plenty of room, because there is, and the game balances open space and busy, traffic-packed streets very well. My only issue is that a map as big as this leaves room for some interesting stuff, such as loop de loops and other stuff. But here, there's only really ramps and hills you can fly off. Good, but there could be a ton more.

A little feature I like about the game is that each passenger has a money sign over their head, and depending on how much they're gonna pay you and how far they're going, it can be as good as a green sign to as poor-paying as a red one. It let's you know who to pick up, depending on how much time you have left. Also, this is necessary, but the further you go the more time you have to get the passenger there. Thank God they added that.

If Crazy Taxi taught me anything, it's that if a taxi flips over a truck then passengers love it, and taxis are invincible. This game is fun and easy to find at a low price. Pick it up if you want a fun, non-generic classic PS2 game. But if you can choose between this and the Dreamcast version, get the Dreamcast version.

Top 5 Games Others Hate I Like

Every now and then, there comes a game that someone doesn't like, and also sometimes a game someone does like. So, here are the top 5 games that you hate but I like. Rules are that there will only be games I've played on this list and it's not in order.

5) Dmc: Devil May Cry

Alright, this one was liked by some but most hated it. Critics gave it a good score, yet players hated it... and it's not CoD. Button masher? No, it's called a beat-em-up. Weak characters? I guess. Bad story? Possibly. Not as good as others? Agreed. But little things don't make it a bad game. Imagine if I said all Atari games were bad because they had no sound and no story. So what? Enjoy it for what it is.

4) Duke Nukem Forever

This was in development for 15 years. And what we got was definatley not worth all that wait. I'll admit. But if you look past it being disappointing... it's actually kinda fun. Sure, it wasn't that funny, but it tried. It wasn't anything special, but it was still fun. Weapons were nice, and boss fights were fun. If you weren't a fan of Duke Nukem and played this first, like me, you'd enjoy it.

3) Syndicate

The start of this game put me off. It wasn't anything great and was just like most fps games. But, because my friend said it was so good, I pushed on. And then it introduced mechanics that made it GREAT. You can hack things, make enemies turn against each other then kill themselves, and more. If you gave up before you got to hack stuff, the one, you get bored easily, and two, you need to give games better chances and impressing you. Syndicate was awesome because of this, and it reminds me of Deus Ex Human Revolution.

2) Serious Sam: Next Encounter

Alright. I can see why you wouldn't like this. It's a DOOM ripoff that has a misleading cover and the game is incredibly wacky... too wacky for some. But it's an entertaining ripoff. If you didn't expect much, the game is challenging and enjoyable, with good co-op. And, that's good enough for me. So, if you want something like DOOM for your GameCube, buy this.

1) Spongebob Squarepants The Movie (game)

Battle for Bikini bottom was definatley the best Spongebob game. It was like Super Mario 64 actually. And then this game out and gamers hated it. But why? It wasn't as good, sure, but it was still fun. It took away some things but still managed to have interesting mechanics and I enjoyed it. So don't hate it for being different.

THE ENDZ!

Destroy All Humans! for PS2 Review

This game is an example of people calling a game bad when in fact, it isn't and is actually far from it in my eyes. Destroy All Humans! is funny, enjoyable, and memorable. A lot of people seem to know about it, too. So here's a review of the game.

The story is not great, but it's a good one. You play as Crypto, your aim being to destroy all the humans on Earth or the alien race will not be able to stay immortal through cloning themselves. Also, a clone of you crashes his UFO and is captured by the human military. Funny thing is though, you only destroy America...

Characters are also memorable. There's - obviously - Crypto, who wants to vaporise everything and be destructive. The Furon leader, however, prefers Crypto to destroy all humans in a less insane way. It leads to some funny cutscenes every now and then. Humans are portrayed as hating Crypto, and to be honest, it's just like in real life (us being super-cautious about aliens).

Weapons... there are some really awesome weapons in this game, and that's for sure, but the first weapon you get I don't like. It's weak and why use it when you can pick up humans and throw them at each other, then going to their corpses and tearing out the brain with your mind to get DNA?

Let's talk about your brain in the game. It's actually really fun to use and in my opinion is one the best features in games. You can read human and animal thoughts for missions or (human thoughts only) to stay as a hologram of a human (named holobob), that you transform into by going up to a human and pressing O. You can pick up humans and throw them, which is also good fun. You can hypnotise them, which you'll do alot in missions and when you're stealthing when you can't use holobob. Finally, you can mutilate dead humans or animals, to get their brains out. Collect the brains for DNA, which you use to advance levels. Fun feature.

In Destroy All Humans!, there are some really, really fun missions and I was surprised by that. There's one where you have to vaporise scientists that have turned cows into exploding zombie radioactive cows, and then later in the same one I think you get to holobob the mayor. There really are surprises waiting for you in this game. Only issue? It's a shooooooooort game. It lasts 10 hours. I haven't beaten it yet, though.

For those that care, graphics and sound is great. If you've ever played Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, the graphics in cutscenes are that quality. The sound is good, with good voice acting, and the Furon leader sounds like Invader Zim. You can't not love that.

Fun: 8. It's original and got some surprises to keep you entertained.
Graphics and Sound: 8.5. Impressive for the PS2, like that in Goldeneye: Rogue Agent.
Writing: 9. Funny and well voice-acted.
Story: 7. It's nothing great, but still a good story.
Control: 8. Simple control.
Level Design: 8.

OVERALL SCORE: 8/10, aka 4/5 stars.