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> Results: Crazy Taxi
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Zany driving action with attitudeThis classic arcade game is still making stops through the electronic gaming landscape. Itﾒs about to arrive on the PC after appearing on several console platforms. The concept is simple. Youﾒre a taxi driver and you score points by hauling your patrons to their destinations as fast as you can. Crazy Taxi could have been a mundane driving game, but its deft combination of humor and action, something you wouldnﾒt normally expect from an otherwise mundane driving game.  Each of your taxiﾒs riders has a personality and can be friendly or fickle depending on how well you drive. The driving is a sprawl of frantic rushes through a very convincing city thatﾒs got freeways, beaches, stadiums, and plenty of recognizable real-life commercial stores. There are several game modes to enjoy with different scoring parameters, and thereﾒs also a very challenging set of mini-games that also help you practice driving skills. In fact, the game can be a little too challenging. The controls are a bit tricky to manipulate when performing trick moves, and to truly master the game and the more advanced mini-games, you'll need to pull such moves often. But Crazy Taxi's core gameplay is approachable enough. If you find the short contests against a three-minute clock too oppressive, play the ten-minute version for more leisurely game. Crazy Taxi is entertaining, though expert gamers might tire of it quickly. If you can handle the game's slight edgy attitude, then itﾒs actually a decent family game. My family loves it and all our guests, even those that donﾒt normally play video games, find it engaging. Ages: 5+ ESRB Rating: Teen Producer: SEGA Developer: AM3 
Thereﾒs some language in the game, and plenty of attitudes, though older children can probably handle it; you'll find worse material all the sexual innuendo on television. Thereﾒs no shooting, but ample cartoon violence in the form of collisions between vehicles or obstacles. Crazy Taxi smartly takes the same approach as Microsoftﾒs Midtown Madness and doesnﾒt allow striking of pedestrians. Also, the soundtrack is mostly rock on the punky side, if that bothers you. Educational value? Some. While Crazy Taxi is clearly meant for rapid action gameplay, you could play the game in one of its more open-ended modes and teach your children a little about driving. There are stop lights and an array of one and two-way streets, plus parking lots and freeways. The vehicle controls for basic driving are simple and support acceleration, braking, turning, and shifting into reverse. Midtown Madness would probably be a better choice for this purpose, but Crazy Taxi's heavily populated streets make it a good candidate too.
Kid Factor by Bernie Dy
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