The setting for Crazy Taxi 2 is The Big Apple, New York City. If you recall, Crazy Taxi 1 took place in San Francisco. As you might imagine, New York has a great deal more traffic, more buildings, and is a vastly more confusing map. In order to help battle the traffic your Crazy Taxi has been upgraded with a hydraulic jump, which can launch your taxi over cars, onto expressways, and even over buildings. Also, since there are more people you are now able to pick up groups of people for mega bonus bucks! A serious downside to this sequel is the confusing map. While Crazy Taxi 1 had a very small "downtown" area that, while confusing, could be learned after a few attempts, I still find myself getting lost in the vastness of The Big Apple years after purchase!

Crazy Taxi 2 is not a game for the weak of finger. While the game's basic functions can be learned in seconds, there is about a dozen special moves that you will need to know to call yourself a Crazy Taxi master. This has two effects on the overall game; the first is that there are plenty of challenges to master and plenty of wild stunts to be able to do; the second is once you are good at this game, you will seriously walk away with a good ole' case of Nintendo (or Sega if you are on a Dreamcast) thumb. Crazy Taxi may be the only game series still able to give my battle worn fingers blisters as I blaze through a metropolis that would make Superman quiver. A strong positive is they kept the Crazy Box, creatively renaming it the Crazy Pyramid, as not only a mini-game, but to teach you the entire super moves of Crazy Taxi 2.

One of the key features in Crazy Taxi 1 was the incredible music soundtrack done by The Offspring and Bad Religion, two of my favorite bands. Crazy Taxi 2 kept The Offspring as a band, but replaced Bad Religion with Masters of Mayhem, a change I feel hurt the overall musical appeal of the game. Still, Crazy Taxi 2's use of real music gives it a leg up on all the other car related games I have played.

Sadly, Crazy Taxi 2 falls short in a few areas. The previously mentioned difficult map is coupled by the fact the game its self is more difficult than Crazy Taxi 1, which was a fairly hard game to begin with. This challenge may scare away some of the less skilled taxi drivers among us. The map arrows occasionally lie to you, which they did in Crazy Taxi 1 occasionally, too. I was hoping this problem would be improved, but the confusing map of New York only seems to make this issue worse.

Overall this game is phenomenal, though I must admit I liked the first one better. A neutral problem/feature of the game is its similarity to Crazy Taxi 1, so much so that at first glance and first play you may not be able to tell them apart. If you were a fan of Crazy Taxi 1, pick this game up and add it to your collection. If you haven't played Crazy Taxi yet, rent the first one and work your way up to the extreme challenge of The Big Apple. Either way, this game is hours of entertainment and a cardio workout for your "spoiled" fingers.