Crazy Taxi is a classic franchise from SEGA that originally started as an arcade game. Its core gameplay was simple: pick up passengers, drive them to their destinations, and complete as many rides as possible within a limited amount of time. Its short, fast-paced gameplay made it particularly well suited to arcades, where players could jump in, play for a few minutes, and move on.
Now that SEGA has been revisiting and reviving some of its classic IPs, Crazy Taxi is one of the franchises the company has chosen to bring back. The new game, Crazy Taxi: World Tour, is scheduled to release in 2027.
However, SEGA is making some significant changes to the formula this time around. The original Crazy Taxi was designed primarily as an arcade experience and did not feature multiplayer. World Tour is expanding on that foundation by introducing new multiplayer modes, giving players a way to compete against others rather than simply chasing their own high scores.
SEGA recently held a three-day multiplayer closed network test, which I participated in on PC. The test was fairly limited in terms of content and options, but it provided an early look at two of the game’s new multiplayer modes: Pickup Race and Cops ‘N’ Cabbies. Both modes can be played through Ranked Match or Custom Match, with Custom Match allowing players to create their own lobbies and adjust the available rules.
Pickup Race is the more straightforward of the two modes and is essentially a multiplayer take on the classic Crazy Taxi formula. Players compete against one another to pick up and deliver passengers as quickly as possible. There are multiple players in each match, all working with the same basic objective, and the routes are predetermined.
The goal is to complete all of your passenger pickups and drop-offs before the other players. Whoever finishes first wins the race. The mode also introduces some elements that are different from the traditional Crazy Taxi experience, including the ability to use a boost. This gives the familiar passenger-delivery gameplay a more competitive edge, although I did not find the mode particularly exciting during the test.
The second mode, Cops ‘N’ Cabbies, takes a very different approach. Players are divided into two teams: Cabbies and Cops. The Cabbies have to pick up and deliver passengers while working together to earn enough points for their team. The Cops, meanwhile, have the job of chasing down the Cabbies and ramming into their taxis to stop them from completing their objectives.
I played as a Cop during the test. On paper, the idea sounded like it could be a lot of fun, but I did not find the mode particularly engaging in practice. Much of my time was spent chasing taxis around the map and repeatedly ramming into them. The collisions themselves were fairly chaotic, with vehicles being smashed around as you tried to take down opposing players, but the overall gameplay loop did not really click with me.
Cops ‘N’ Cabbies also incorporates a points-based progression system, giving players rewards for their performance during matches. While there is certainly some potential in the concept, I ultimately found it less enjoyable than I had expected.
The limited scope of the closed network test also made it difficult to form a definitive opinion about the multiplayer side of Crazy Taxi: World Tour. There simply was not enough content available to get a complete picture of what SEGA is planning for the final game. Both Pickup Race and Cops ‘N’ Cabbies provide interesting new interpretations of the Crazy Taxi formula, but neither mode completely won me over during the test.
That said, I am still interested in seeing what the full game has to offer. Crazy Taxi has always had a fun and immediately accessible gameplay loop, and the core driving and passenger-delivery mechanics still have plenty of appeal. What I am most interested in seeing is how the single-player content turns out, because that is where I expect the traditional Crazy Taxi formula to have the most room to shine.
The game also looked quite good during the test. The visuals were a clear positive, although performance on PC was somewhat inconsistent. It was generally playable and did not suffer from any major issues during my time with it, but the performance was not as stable as I would have liked. Since this was only a closed network test, there is still plenty of time for SEGA to make improvements before launch.
Ultimately, my overall impression of Crazy Taxi: World Tour was positive, but I would not say that I came away particularly impressed by what I played. The multiplayer modes did not completely win me over, and the limited content of the test made it difficult to judge the game as a whole. I am therefore much more interested in seeing what the final version does with its single-player content, as well as how much more multiplayer content SEGA plans to include.
For now, Crazy Taxi: World Tour remains a game I am interested in, but whether it can successfully revive the classic franchise will ultimately depend on what SEGA does with the full package.
