Crazy Taxi XBLA/PSN thread

[fluffymoochicken]

I don't know if you are fishing for reactions or what, but we get that you don't like the original music, you don't need to keep posting about it :p

In any case, have you bought it or just played the demo? I'm still leaning towards not buying it, but I might be convinced.

Well, everyone else was posting negative comments about the music, so it's up to me to look on the brighter side of things! ^__^  

I've only played the demo, because I don't plan on getting it just yet. I'm saving all the money I can right now for this trip to Disney World I'm taking next week. So yeah. ^^;;;

[MadeManG74]

I also noticed that Dreamcast games have their own special screen in XBLA which is very cool. If only Sega put as much effort into the actual ports...

I do not think you can claim that SEGA have not put effort into the ports just because one does not have widescreen and the other does not have the original soundtrack. With Sonic Adventure DX they've at least fixed it at 60 fps and otherwise, it seems a good port to me.

With Crazy Taxi, if the music is not there, I can understand. Outrun is being taken of XBLA in about 8 months, whilst the PSN version is already gone, thanks to the Ferrari license. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 did 98,000 for October, Crazy Taxi will not do half of that in it's debut month so they can pay for the Offspring license, but will the game yield any profits for them? And when the license runs out, they'll either have to renew it (Which after two years, is unlikely) or just let the game vanish from the online services.

I can understand some people's frustrations, they should have gone with classic SEGA tunes instead, but getting the original music would probably have not made this game very profitable for them.

Don't get me wrong, while the music would have been great to have back, I'm not expecting SEGA to shell out for the rights for an 800 point arcade game. It's more the fact that people are commenting on bad controls and sound effects etc as well and saying they aren't enjoying it all that much.

I'll have to try it out to judge properly, but I'm a bit concerned about it.

[Centrale]

No problems with the controls here.  And for me, the replacement music is fine.  Good for what it is; it doesn't sound cheap or phoned-in, it's just different bands in a similar style.  I do think they should have filled in for the missing passenger voices when giving you the destinations.  But it plays well and it's nice to see in HD widescreen.

As an aside, I always feel a little sad for how the announcer says "Game Over," as if he's going to be lonely now that you've finished playing.

[AshleyAshes]

So, has anyone noticed how UGLY this port is?  It's got a serious problem with jaggies that Sonic Adventure didn't.  I couldn't quite figure it out because it did look SORTA anti aliased but still and jaggies.  Since my 360 is on a VGA cable on a 21" CRT monitor I can toy with all te resolutions and found something out.

When you switch the 360 to 640x480, suddenly Crazy Taxi looks EXACTLY like what an anti aliased 480p game should look like.  ...Everything else is upscaled from 480p.  This game isn't high def, it's rendered at low resolution and then scaled up.  I can't figure out WHY either.  There should be no difficulty in making a port OR an emulation render at a native high resolution.  It's not like I expected new models or textures but I expected some anti aliased.

Go take the PC port of CT, run it at high res and with anti aliased turned on, you'll see something that looks FAAAR better than the PSN/360 port here.  And honestly?  This is sad and lazy.  Like, really, really, REALLY lazy.

[Sega Uranus]

Yeah, I think this port generally feels very lazy, which is very disappointing for such a great game. Music aside, I do not think the sound in general is acceptable. It is much much lower quality than the main game and the volume of it is too hard to hear, all making a really great experience nowhere near as good as it used to be.

Not sure what to expect from future digital releases. Outside of AM2's work, SEGA's releases on XBLA, PSN, WiiWare and Steam are decent to sub par at best, and some of the most horrific re-releases of games I have ever seen at worst.

If there is one thing SEGA just absolutely cannot get right this generation it is re-releases of older games. I would argue that they might be the worst big company this generation when it comes to this... Pathetic, especially considering how fantastic some of these games are and how wonderful previous ports they made turned out.

[MadeManG74]

Before I even start playing, why the FUCK are the loading and title screens so low-res?

Okay I've stared. Good God this music is shithouse.

Gameplay seems to be okay at least, I got right back into the swing of things with the 360 controller, I can do the speed boosts and drifts etc at least.

I just noticed the Sound effects are fucking terrible too. Like, what the hell is it with them? They sound really strange, the car clanks around and sounds weird and the meter running and adding money just sounds really noisy and bad.

One part of me wants to buy this because it's still got DAT GAMEPLAY which I love, but I also feel like I shouldn't buy this on principal since it seems like Sega got the work experience kid to make this port.

[max_cady]

Alright, I just got an AWESOME rating and I don't get any GP for that. Weak.

Yeah, I'm also 100% sure that this isn't the DC build, because when I try the cheat to activate the bike, instead of pressing both triggers 3 times and the start button another three times, I get it.

But in this one, I just press the triggers 3 times and presto, it works.

I also glanced at the artists involved in this game's soundtrack. Who are these people? I'm guessing Sega must really like these indie bands.

[MadeManG74]

^It not so much that they like them as much as the fact that they are cheap.

[Barry the Nomad]

As Mademan said, gameplay is there, the game is totally playable and a lot of fun, however fun can be hindered by sound changes (for the worse) and occasional moments of "why is that in low res?!"

Still, once I turn on my Crazy Tazi custom soundtrack playlist I find myself enjoying the game way more.

[Sega Uranus]

I popped in the Dreamcast version last night... Huge difference right away. I even enjoyed Crazy Taxi 2 a lot more than I usually have been able to when I have a really hard time even liking the XBLA version of Crazy Taxi... Very weak port.

Besides the obviously higher quality sound, the original soundtracks just work so much better. Even if you are not a fan of the songs (like myself), you cannot help but get pumped up anyways. It works perfectly with the game.

The games also have the best announcer ever, fact!

[SOUP]

Played the PSP version last night. Not as bad as I remembered it.

[max_cady]

I also noticed that BD Joe was voiced by a completely different actor.

Anyway, I'm enjoy the port a lot more now, granted that the soundtrack featuring Pivit, Total Chaos and a couple of other small time indie bands doesn't quite click, but it's not a complete waste.

I got another Awesome rankings on my new playthrough. I've warmed up to it.

[AshleyAshes]

Played the PSP version last night. Not as bad as I remembered it.

My only real issue with the PSP port is the analog nub on the PSP.  But that nub is also why I always get my ass kicked at Outrun 2006 on PSP as well.