Sega is in one of those phases where it decides it wants to be Sega again: the Sega of blue skies, awesome arcade cabinets, and the glorious, unfulfilled promise of the Dreamcast.
Last week, the publisher released the first original Super Monkey Ball game in a decade. At The Game Awards this past December, the company announced an initiative to revive several of its classic game franchises, including new games in the Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe, Streets of Rage, and Crazy Taxi series.
That was a nice move for fans, although many wondered how (or even if) Sega planned to make these games relevant to modern audiences. As for Crazy Taxi, we now have a partial answer.
Sega will join the development team creating the new Crazy Taxi, and in a series of vacancies, the game has been consistently referred to as a “large-scale online title”, “open world” and a “massively multiplayer racing game”. The original is a tight, fast-paced arcade racing game where you have to transport passengers through a city map as quickly as possible.
In an advertisement asking for a head game designerSega says the project is “targeted to be a global hit, particularly in the North American market.” Sega prefers that its new lead game designer have experience in both “car game production” and “multiplayer action combat production.” The game is being made in Unreal Engine.
Sega also posted one recruitment video (in Japanese) with producer Kenji Kanno — the director of the original game — and other developers. In the video (according to VGC), the developers are talking about adapting the classic Crazy Taxi gameplay for a multiplayer world set on a ‘theme park-like’ city map. Short work-in-progress clips from the Game Awards announcement video show multiple taxis leaving sparks as they drive through a San Francisco-style city.
The news can raise alarm bells about overreach – for example, a game series last released on a home console in 2002 really support a ‘world hit’ in the 2020s, no matter how much nostalgia there is for that? On the other hand, Crazy Taxi’s frenetic gameplay and cheerfully flashy style seem well suited to a vibrant, competitive online world, and could even support a battle royale style. The idea of a more over-the-top, arcade-coded rival to the likes of Forza Horizon – or, to put it another way, a Fortnite on wheels — doesn’t seem so crazy after all.
The new Crazy Taxi – like the reboots of Jet Set Radio, Shinobi, Golden Axe and Streets of Rage – does not yet have a release date.