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I've always thought it a missed opportunity that Hitmaker (one of SEGA's development teams) has never expanded the simple yet dynamic gameplay idea of the Crazy Taxi series.
Crazy Taxi is classic arcade fun at it's best - accessible to anyone, great for a mindless blast or more handcore high-score campaigns, but I've always been baffled why Hitmaker just stopped with the taxi theme. Why haven't they expanded the game-style and concept into new areas and created a gaming series? It only seems natural to me.
Hitmaker could keep the foundation of the "time-limit / time-accumulation / high-score / cash-combo / follow-the-arrow / crazy gameplay", yet just change the "job occupation" of the game's characters.
For instance, keeping to the driver-based theme, we could have:
CRAZY ICE-CREAM MAN
-Location: the leafy suburban streets of an American town in summer.
-The crazy drivers in their white ice-cream vans could be: Mister Curly-Top, Mister 99er, Mister Softie and Mister Bo-Bo.
-Gameplay: just like Crazy Taxi except the "destinations" would be impatient kids scattered around the streets demanding cornets and ice-lollies. You just have get to them as quickly as possible and dish out what they want within the time-limit. Everything else would be the same as Crazy Taxi, i.e. the "speedy, normal, slow, bad" rating system; the crazy drivin' avoiding other vehicles, etc, etc. Just follow the big arrow to the available customers and keep it going until the timer runs down.
Moving on to other job occupations, how about:
CRAZY DOCTOR
-Location: a large American innercity hospital.
-The characters: instead of controlling a vehicle, this time it'd be a "Crazy Docter on rollerblades" - think of the long white coat and the swishing stereoscope.
-Gameplay: sort of Crazy Taxi meets Jet Set Radio. As the Crazy Doctor you must save lives all around the hospital. Get to needy patients within the time-limit by grinding up stairwells and performing tricks etc. Perhaps a Shenmue-style "Quick Time Event (QTE)" button combination could be introduced once you arrive at a patient in order to save their life (or not, depending on how quickly you press the buttons of the QTE) . Again, all the Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches would remain the same, just this time it's doctors on rollerblades in a crowded hospital instead of cabs on busy city streets.
And finally, a Christmas special:
CRAZY SANTA
-Location: a town at night wherein Santa has forgotten to deliver some Xmas parcels.
-The character: Santa of course, on his sleigh pulled by the one-and-only Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.
-Gameplay: control Santa's super-fast sleigh above the snowy rooftops of the town. This time the "destinations" are houses which Santa has forgotten to deliver the Christmas goodies to. Again, all the typical Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches apply, just follow the arrow and get the parcels down the chimneys of the designated houses within the time-limit, etc.
-The Offspring and Bad Religion would of course provide punk renditions of favourite Xmas classics like Jingle Bells and Silent Night.
I could go on and on - "Crazy Courier", "Crazy Chauffeur", "Crazy Ambulence Driver", "Crazy Lifeboat" - but I'll stop. These arcade-style games would be excellent in my opinion, and I also think they'd sell well too. I just think SEGA have missed a killer opportunity, that's all.
So if anyone at Hitmaker is reading this (right!), please expand the Crazy Taxi theme and create a "Crazy Game Series" featuring all kinds of different job occupations.... Go on, just for me.
Crazy Taxi is classic arcade fun at it's best - accessible to anyone, great for a mindless blast or more handcore high-score campaigns, but I've always been baffled why Hitmaker just stopped with the taxi theme. Why haven't they expanded the game-style and concept into new areas and created a gaming series? It only seems natural to me.
Hitmaker could keep the foundation of the "time-limit / time-accumulation / high-score / cash-combo / follow-the-arrow / crazy gameplay", yet just change the "job occupation" of the game's characters.
For instance, keeping to the driver-based theme, we could have:
CRAZY ICE-CREAM MAN
-Location: the leafy suburban streets of an American town in summer.
-The crazy drivers in their white ice-cream vans could be: Mister Curly-Top, Mister 99er, Mister Softie and Mister Bo-Bo.
-Gameplay: just like Crazy Taxi except the "destinations" would be impatient kids scattered around the streets demanding cornets and ice-lollies. You just have get to them as quickly as possible and dish out what they want within the time-limit. Everything else would be the same as Crazy Taxi, i.e. the "speedy, normal, slow, bad" rating system; the crazy drivin' avoiding other vehicles, etc, etc. Just follow the big arrow to the available customers and keep it going until the timer runs down.
Moving on to other job occupations, how about:
CRAZY DOCTOR
-Location: a large American innercity hospital.
-The characters: instead of controlling a vehicle, this time it'd be a "Crazy Docter on rollerblades" - think of the long white coat and the swishing stereoscope.
-Gameplay: sort of Crazy Taxi meets Jet Set Radio. As the Crazy Doctor you must save lives all around the hospital. Get to needy patients within the time-limit by grinding up stairwells and performing tricks etc. Perhaps a Shenmue-style "Quick Time Event (QTE)" button combination could be introduced once you arrive at a patient in order to save their life (or not, depending on how quickly you press the buttons of the QTE) . Again, all the Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches would remain the same, just this time it's doctors on rollerblades in a crowded hospital instead of cabs on busy city streets.
And finally, a Christmas special:
CRAZY SANTA
-Location: a town at night wherein Santa has forgotten to deliver some Xmas parcels.
-The character: Santa of course, on his sleigh pulled by the one-and-only Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.
-Gameplay: control Santa's super-fast sleigh above the snowy rooftops of the town. This time the "destinations" are houses which Santa has forgotten to deliver the Christmas goodies to. Again, all the typical Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches apply, just follow the arrow and get the parcels down the chimneys of the designated houses within the time-limit, etc.
-The Offspring and Bad Religion would of course provide punk renditions of favourite Xmas classics like Jingle Bells and Silent Night.
I could go on and on - "Crazy Courier", "Crazy Chauffeur", "Crazy Ambulence Driver", "Crazy Lifeboat" - but I'll stop. These arcade-style games would be excellent in my opinion, and I also think they'd sell well too. I just think SEGA have missed a killer opportunity, that's all.
So if anyone at Hitmaker is reading this (right!), please expand the Crazy Taxi theme and create a "Crazy Game Series" featuring all kinds of different job occupations.... Go on, just for me.
Did I post that in here? - Maybe I did :)
Nomad $oul wrote:
> Ta. My first ever win in the SEGA forum....
--Well done Nomad!
Actually, I think its ur second win... remember the Crazy Taxi Wish List???
> Ta. My first ever win in the SEGA forum....
--Well done Nomad!
Actually, I think its ur second win... remember the Crazy Taxi Wish List???
Ta. My first ever win in the SEGA forum....
Congrats! Bring the GAD back to the Sega forum
*crys*
;)
*crys*
;)
Unexpected, but much appreciated. Thanks kind SR people. :)
Funnily enough, I actually dreamt I was playing Crazy Santa last night. However the music in my dream was that 'Millennium song' by Cliff Richard. Needless to say, I woke up in a cold sweat!
Cheers for the reply DM.
Cheers for the reply DM.
LOL! Excellent. And I can just imagine The Offspring blaring through my speakers with "Silent Night". Heh heh.
I've always thought it a missed opportunity that Hitmaker (one of SEGA's development teams) has never expanded the simple yet dynamic gameplay idea of the Crazy Taxi series.
Crazy Taxi is classic arcade fun at it's best - accessible to anyone, great for a mindless blast or more handcore high-score campaigns, but I've always been baffled why Hitmaker just stopped with the taxi theme. Why haven't they expanded the game-style and concept into new areas and created a gaming series? It only seems natural to me.
Hitmaker could keep the foundation of the "time-limit / time-accumulation / high-score / cash-combo / follow-the-arrow / crazy gameplay", yet just change the "job occupation" of the game's characters.
For instance, keeping to the driver-based theme, we could have:
CRAZY ICE-CREAM MAN
-Location: the leafy suburban streets of an American town in summer.
-The crazy drivers in their white ice-cream vans could be: Mister Curly-Top, Mister 99er, Mister Softie and Mister Bo-Bo.
-Gameplay: just like Crazy Taxi except the "destinations" would be impatient kids scattered around the streets demanding cornets and ice-lollies. You just have get to them as quickly as possible and dish out what they want within the time-limit. Everything else would be the same as Crazy Taxi, i.e. the "speedy, normal, slow, bad" rating system; the crazy drivin' avoiding other vehicles, etc, etc. Just follow the big arrow to the available customers and keep it going until the timer runs down.
Moving on to other job occupations, how about:
CRAZY DOCTOR
-Location: a large American innercity hospital.
-The characters: instead of controlling a vehicle, this time it'd be a "Crazy Docter on rollerblades" - think of the long white coat and the swishing stereoscope.
-Gameplay: sort of Crazy Taxi meets Jet Set Radio. As the Crazy Doctor you must save lives all around the hospital. Get to needy patients within the time-limit by grinding up stairwells and performing tricks etc. Perhaps a Shenmue-style "Quick Time Event (QTE)" button combination could be introduced once you arrive at a patient in order to save their life (or not, depending on how quickly you press the buttons of the QTE) . Again, all the Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches would remain the same, just this time it's doctors on rollerblades in a crowded hospital instead of cabs on busy city streets.
And finally, a Christmas special:
CRAZY SANTA
-Location: a town at night wherein Santa has forgotten to deliver some Xmas parcels.
-The character: Santa of course, on his sleigh pulled by the one-and-only Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.
-Gameplay: control Santa's super-fast sleigh above the snowy rooftops of the town. This time the "destinations" are houses which Santa has forgotten to deliver the Christmas goodies to. Again, all the typical Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches apply, just follow the arrow and get the parcels down the chimneys of the designated houses within the time-limit, etc.
-The Offspring and Bad Religion would of course provide punk renditions of favourite Xmas classics like Jingle Bells and Silent Night.
I could go on and on - "Crazy Courier", "Crazy Chauffeur", "Crazy Ambulence Driver", "Crazy Lifeboat" - but I'll stop. These arcade-style games would be excellent in my opinion, and I also think they'd sell well too. I just think SEGA have missed a killer opportunity, that's all.
So if anyone at Hitmaker is reading this (right!), please expand the Crazy Taxi theme and create a "Crazy Game Series" featuring all kinds of different job occupations.... Go on, just for me.
Crazy Taxi is classic arcade fun at it's best - accessible to anyone, great for a mindless blast or more handcore high-score campaigns, but I've always been baffled why Hitmaker just stopped with the taxi theme. Why haven't they expanded the game-style and concept into new areas and created a gaming series? It only seems natural to me.
Hitmaker could keep the foundation of the "time-limit / time-accumulation / high-score / cash-combo / follow-the-arrow / crazy gameplay", yet just change the "job occupation" of the game's characters.
For instance, keeping to the driver-based theme, we could have:
CRAZY ICE-CREAM MAN
-Location: the leafy suburban streets of an American town in summer.
-The crazy drivers in their white ice-cream vans could be: Mister Curly-Top, Mister 99er, Mister Softie and Mister Bo-Bo.
-Gameplay: just like Crazy Taxi except the "destinations" would be impatient kids scattered around the streets demanding cornets and ice-lollies. You just have get to them as quickly as possible and dish out what they want within the time-limit. Everything else would be the same as Crazy Taxi, i.e. the "speedy, normal, slow, bad" rating system; the crazy drivin' avoiding other vehicles, etc, etc. Just follow the big arrow to the available customers and keep it going until the timer runs down.
Moving on to other job occupations, how about:
CRAZY DOCTOR
-Location: a large American innercity hospital.
-The characters: instead of controlling a vehicle, this time it'd be a "Crazy Docter on rollerblades" - think of the long white coat and the swishing stereoscope.
-Gameplay: sort of Crazy Taxi meets Jet Set Radio. As the Crazy Doctor you must save lives all around the hospital. Get to needy patients within the time-limit by grinding up stairwells and performing tricks etc. Perhaps a Shenmue-style "Quick Time Event (QTE)" button combination could be introduced once you arrive at a patient in order to save their life (or not, depending on how quickly you press the buttons of the QTE) . Again, all the Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches would remain the same, just this time it's doctors on rollerblades in a crowded hospital instead of cabs on busy city streets.
And finally, a Christmas special:
CRAZY SANTA
-Location: a town at night wherein Santa has forgotten to deliver some Xmas parcels.
-The character: Santa of course, on his sleigh pulled by the one-and-only Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.
-Gameplay: control Santa's super-fast sleigh above the snowy rooftops of the town. This time the "destinations" are houses which Santa has forgotten to deliver the Christmas goodies to. Again, all the typical Crazy Taxi rules and gameplay touches apply, just follow the arrow and get the parcels down the chimneys of the designated houses within the time-limit, etc.
-The Offspring and Bad Religion would of course provide punk renditions of favourite Xmas classics like Jingle Bells and Silent Night.
I could go on and on - "Crazy Courier", "Crazy Chauffeur", "Crazy Ambulence Driver", "Crazy Lifeboat" - but I'll stop. These arcade-style games would be excellent in my opinion, and I also think they'd sell well too. I just think SEGA have missed a killer opportunity, that's all.
So if anyone at Hitmaker is reading this (right!), please expand the Crazy Taxi theme and create a "Crazy Game Series" featuring all kinds of different job occupations.... Go on, just for me.