Crazy Taxi (Dreamcast)

Many have said that the success of Sega's Dreamcast is tied to the quality of the company's arcade games and, ultimately, the console's ability to render those arcade games as closely as possible. Crazy Taxi is one of those arcade ports, and the Dreamcast version of the game holds up very favorably when compared with its arcade counterpart.

The game is very simple. As one of four taxi drivers, you must drive around and pick up fares. Each of your fares will present you with a destination - be it a Tower Records, Kentucky Fried Chicken, FILA store, or Levi's shop - and you'll have to get there as fast as you possibly can. Get there in a real hurry, and you'll get a time bonus. Take too long, and your fares will simply jump out of your cab, robbing you of any points they would have given you for getting them to the destination, as well as any points you might have picked up while they were in the car. Aside racking up your score by merely driving people from area A to location B, you also earn bonuses for performing combos. These combos are simple things, like weaving between cars without scratching up your car, jumping a long distance, or sliding around corners. When playing the game with the arcade rules, you must constantly pick up fares to keep your time from running out. There are also options that simply let you play for three, five, or ten minutes, giving you a slightly more relaxed game.