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Let Your Heart Fill with Road Rage - Crazy Taxi is $0.99 Until 12/11

Posted by Jessica Fisher on December 5th, 2014
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

SEGA is offering Crazy Taxi for 80% off the normal price until December 11. The sale is enough to make you drive like a madman through the streets.

Just like the old classic from the Dreamcast, Crazy Taxi for iOS, has you racing to pick up fares, shouting at slow buses, and jumping off the highest hills to show off your cabbie skills. The game offers 3, 5, or 10 minute runs in Arcade Mode and Original Mode, and features an awesome soundtrack by Bad Religion and The Offspring.

You should pick up Crazy Taxi for $0.99 on the App Store before SEGA realizes just how crazy their sale is.

Hulkamania Invades Bay City in a New Crazy Taxi City Rush Update

Posted by Ellis Spice on October 3rd, 2014
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: AN OVERSTIMULATING RIDE :: Read Review »

Strap in for some news, brother! SEGA Networks has announced that the multiple-time World Wrestling Champion Hulk Hogan is taking over Crazy Taxi City Rush for the month of October.

The month-long Hulkmania Takeover event will feature a Bay City full of Hulkamaniacs, giving players a chance to hire Hulk Hogan as a driver and earn bonus cash for every smash, crash, and pick-up. As players use him they will fill their Hulkameter, unlocking unique Hulk Hogan-themed customizations for their taxis that, along with some bragging rights, add a ride bonus.

Alongside this event, the update also brings full controller support, the ability to share stills of taxis, and the ability to share video via Kamcord.

Crazy Taxi City Rush is available to hulk out download from the App Store now for free.

Crazy Taxi: City Rush Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Nadia Oxford on August 4th, 2014
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: AN OVERSTIMULATING RIDE
Crazy Taxi: City Rush is well-adapted for mobile, but the deluge of ads may make players feel like they're circling Times Square.
Read The Full Review »

It Came From Canada: Crazy Taxi City Rush

Posted by Carter Dotson on April 25th, 2014

Sega's Crazy Taxi City Rush is an interesting game: it takes Crazy Taxi and manages to turn it into a more casual-friendly lane-based auto-runner, akin to Subway Surfers, or even Sonic Dash, developed by the same team. The game is currently out in Canada, and we grabbed our keys and set out to make some crazy money in this edition of It Came From Canada!

While the game is more of an auto-runner now, it still has that Crazy Taxi spirit, and it's not just straightforward. Players swipe between different lanes, collecting Crazy Throughs for close calls with traffic, drifting around corners and into turns, and even side-swiping cars at high speed. The gear-shifting and braking is gone, as is picking up passengers, which all happens automatically. It rally does manage to feel like a more casual Crazy Taxi while still feeling like, well, Crazy Taxi. There's even a punk soundtrack, but no Offspring or Bad Religion.

The thing that is a bit concerning with the game is the rigidity. The original game played things very fast and loose, and that was part of the fun. The lane-based gameplay makes weaving in and out of traffic in two lanes a lot harder, and makes more slow-down crashes happen at a much higher rate. Certainly the spirit of chaotic driving is still there, but it isn't perfectly represented. I certainly understand the simplification, though.

As far as the free-to-play aspects go, there is an energy system and the standard two-tier currency: coins for buying common upgrades, rarer gems for things like energy refills. The energy system feels a bit short, allowing for six level plays before having to spend gems. As well, energy seems silly when one could pass the time by going and playing the original Crazy Taxi. But I imagine this is meant to appeal to more of a casual crowd that might find Crazy Taxi hard to pick up. Sonic Dash launched at a premium price point, and I don't think that it's a guarantee that Crazy Taxi City Rush will be free-to-play when it goes worldwide, because it certainly feels like it could stand as a 'paymium' game. Of course, time will tell just what gets tweaked and what the final decision for the game's release is.

It'll be interesting to see what the reaction from the gaming public will be, at least. Dungeon Keeper certainly made people angry, and as a Dreamcast game, Crazy Taxi has a cult fanbase too. A free-to-play game might not go over well, even though the game itself is more a casualification than anything else.

This Week at 148Apps: April 7-11, 2014

Posted by Chris Kirby on April 13th, 2014

Expert App Reviewers


So little time and so very many apps. What's a poor iOS devotee to do? Fortunately, 148Apps is here to give you the rundown on the latest and greatest releases. And we even have a tremendous back catalog of reviews; just check out the Reviews Archive for every single review we've ever written.

Power Grounds

Power Grounds is probably best described as a minimalistic take on a Roguelike, to the point that it’s more like a puzzle game than anything else. I’d stick to calling it just a puzzle game, but alas, Power Grounds was borne out of something called the Seven Day Roguelike (7DRL) Challenge. The constraints on the creation of Power Grounds are very apparent (hence why I insist it’s more like a puzzle), but they result in a game that has such a laser-like focus on what it is supposed to be that it succeeds in being a very simple but very satisfying experience. Power Grounds takes some of the basic tenants of Roguelikes (randomization, permanent death, turn-based movement) and applies it onto a largely monochromatic grid. Players take control of a stick-wielding hero that is tasked with progressing through six rooms of enemies and obstacles – without dying – to beat the game. To do this successfully, players have to develop a strategy of movement as well as a strategy for unlocking the game’s power-ups. --Campbell Bird


Wind-Up Knight 2

Wind-Up Knight 2, Robot Invader’s sequel to the game that put them on the map, is an auto-running platformer where players must jump, attack, roll, and use their shield to take out enemies and avoid hazards. This is not an endless runner, this is a platforming game where movement is automatic, and it’s freemium (with IAP to unlock the full game) versus an endless runner with consumable IAP so players should go in expecting something quite different from everything else that’s out there. The items that can be bought with the game’s coins (which can be bought with IAP as well) do provide help, but they’re not squarely necessary at all. --Carter Dotson


Breakfinity

Offering that “just one more go” mentality, BREAKFINITY is a brick busting game in the vein of Arkanoid but with a difference. That difference being that it’s effectively endless. It’s a nice twist on the usual format. After all, how often does one ever complete an Arkanoid-style game, anyhow? Usually, it’s a classic example of enjoying the journey rather than seeking out the destination. Each level of BREAKFINITY is relatively quick to complete, mostly because the objective isn’t to clear all the bricks. Instead, it’s to create a gap and hit the top wall of the screen in order to progress to the next stage. Once that happens, the level changes around but the format stays the same. --Jennifer Allen


TapPainter

Once upon a time, those who wanted to see whether a new color suited a particular room in the house were restricted to using paint samplers on their wall and being confined to having to redecorate at some point very soon to hide such things. That day has passed – kind of – with apps like TapPainter emerging to make the process much simpler. Admittedly, nothing is going to quite beat the tactile process of painting things on the actual wall, but TapPainter does a decent job of demonstrating what can be achieved. All the user needs to do is either import or take a photo directly of the room before getting to work. This is where, in the case of my rather lackluster iPad 2 camera, things get fuzzy. I found it a much smoother process to take a photo with my iPhone 5 before importing it that way, but mileage is going to vary here depending on what iPad users have. --Jennifer Allen


Space Pack from Mophie

We’ve looked at other devices that allow for the expansion of available storage on iOS devices, but none have done so in such a elegant and portable way as the Mophie Space Pack. On the surface, the Space Pack looks like any other Mophie battery case. But on the inside are additional smarts and storage to keep up to 32GB of media. This is facilitated by a special app from Mophie called Space. --Jeff Scott


Other 148Apps Network Sites

If you are looking for the best reviews of Android apps, just head right over to AndroidRundown. Here are just some of the reviews served up this week:

AndroidRundown

Golfy Bird

Okay, I admit it. I really didn’t want to have a go at Golfy Bird. I mean, it is from Noodlecake, yes, which is almost always a positive. Still, it sounds suspiciously like The App That Was Pulled that we deign not mention by name. Frankly, the clones that popped up were somewhat depressing, and I even winced at real birds for a spell. I was wrong. Golfy Bird is its own person, and it’s somebody that might be very easy to like, and even fall in love with. --Tre Lawrence


Mikey Hooks

Mark my words… There might be a zillion RPGs, and countless board games, and twice as many hidden objects games… no matter the time frame, or the medium of gaming, there will always be a place for arcade action gaming. Always. Mikey Hooks, which comes to us via platform heavyweight Noodlecake Studios and BeaverTap Games, is just one of those games, and I admit that I had pretty much decided to like it at first glance. --Tre Lawrence


SideSwype

Nice to meet you, SideSwype. The playing area is a 5×5 grid, with space for 25 squares of different colors. if filled all the way. The sparse white background is a great counterpoint that highlights the coloring of the squares, and the smooth animations are just what we’d expect from a game that uses gestures as the main form of movement and problem-solving. --Tre Lawrence

And finally, this week Pocket Gamer cautiously checked out Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 Mobile, took a stab at a Clash of Clans clan war, spent some ker-azy money in Crazy Taxi: City Rush, put together an epic guide to FTL, and checked out some games at Birmingham-based expo, Rezzed. It's all right here.

This Week at 148Apps: March 10-14, 2014

Posted by Chris Kirby on March 15th, 2014

Apps Are Us


How do you know what apps are worth your time and money? Just look to the review team at 148Apps. We sort through the chaos and find the apps you're looking for. The ones we love become Editor’s Choice, standing out above the many good apps and games with something just a little bit more to offer. Take a look at what we've been up to this week, and find even more in our Reviews Archive.

Block Legend

Block Legend is a colorful, whimsical matching game that has a quest structure and fantasy trappings to make it feel like an RPG/puzzle game hybrid. Adding some more persistence and gameplay layers has generally worked successfully to make simple games feel more substantial, and the same is true here. Block Legend isn’t some kind of epic, sprawling adventure, but it isn’t trying to be. Instead, the game is a solid puzzle game that adds to its basic mechanics just enough to make it feel more meaningful without feeling overwhelming. --Campbell Bird


Frontline Commando 2

Frontline Commando 2 represents some of what’s good and bad about free-to-play. It’s an actual game; one with a mobile-friendly design and actual gameplay. However, it will want money to play at a high level, and it is unashamed of it. Thankfully this cover-based shooter from Glu is an actual game, not just an automated simulation of a game as many free-to-play games are wont to do nowadays. While it’s simplified from other cover shooters, players still have to aim and fire, and move to new cover by tapping the arrows on screen when grenades and rockets come in. This simplification works for mobile though, and the controls work pretty well – even the aiming. There is some automation in the squadmates, but this actually works for the player’s advantage: in the heat of battle, I want them taking care of their own stuff without me saying anything. The whole package does a great job of making hectic action fun and manageable, and is consumable in short bursts. --Carter Dotson


MailDeck

MailDeck is an extremely convenient email client for the iPad. Both stylish to look at and practical to use, it’s the kind of app that will quickly establish its place as a core tool for any regular email user. Much of this is thanks to its relative simplicity. While it offers a bunch of more complicated things, MailDeck also really doesn’t take long to set up. Entering a few basic password and username details invariably gets things going with the option to color-code the account for future reference and convenience. For common setups such as Gmail addresses, MailDeck detects what to do and does the more complicated stuff such as entering server details. Then it’s just a matter of waiting for the emails to come through which is mostly dependent on how hefty one’s inbox is. --Jennifer Allen


Devious Dungeon

There is one particularly influential game that has gone entirely underrepresented on iOS: Spelunky. While Devious Dungeon isn’t exactly that, it does come from that family of procedurally-generated action platformers, this one in particular may seem like a mobile version of Rogue Legacy. But while its inspirations may be clear, Devious Dungeon misses out on why those games were so good – being only mindless entertainment to tune out to. --Carter Dotson


Smash Hit

Endless runner games are a dime-a-dozen these days, running the gamut from highly addictive to boringly derivative. Smash Hit definitely leans toward the former of these rather than the latter with its fresh take on the popular genre. The basic premise of Smash Hit is to progress through an “otherworldly dimension” of structures, obstacles, and barriers while throwing metal balls at anything made out of glass – and players will find lots of glass to smash! Hitting crystals rewards players with more balls, which will be sorely needed to continue to progress farther and farther through the glass-filled world. Hitting 10 or more crystals in a row awards players with multiballs, which allows them to throw two, three, or more balls at a time for the price of one. Players have to keep track of how many balls are left and try to accumulate as many as possible along the way, because the game ends when the last ball is thrown. --Charlie Miller


Uncanny Comics

While the advent of digital comics has made the medium more accessible and affordable than ever before, it can still be a daunting task to know where to begin. Uncanny Comics is a Newsstand app that hopes to be the new go-to monthly guide for comic book fans and new readers alike. From the most critically-acclaimed new series, to exclusive interviews with the artists and writers, to the absolute classics, it’s all here and presented in a clear, concise, and entertaining way. Rather helpfully, the makers have included direct links on each page to the Comixology or Marvel stores, taking readers straight to the right place to purchase their comics. Right now navigation is restricted to the website only, though hopefully in the future it will redirect readers to the pre-installed apps. --Lee Hamlet


Pillowcapers

Fans of storytelling and animation should take notice of the app Pillowcapers: A Sleepy Adventure – an interactive storybook that is superlative in every way. This is the story of Sam, who recently had a birthday and received the sole present of a striped pillowcase. Little did he know that this pillowcase would be the key to his new life as a superhero where, when using the case as a cape, he will try to save the world; or at least his neighborhood. I actually find this app hard to write about because it simply needs to be seen. No words committed to the screen will do this justice as the colorful, stylized app includes simply wondrous animation that fully explores Sam’s transformation to superhero and fighting giant robots to save his community. This app is part amusing procedural as it walks one through the costumes and other preparations needed for hero-dom. The pillow triggers a secrete trap door where Sam, transforming into his new uniform, is led to an area where he receives his crime-fighting orders from a unique book, thus beginning his epic adventure. --Amy Solomon


Other 148Apps Network Sites

If you are looking for the best reviews of Android apps, just head right over to AndroidRundown. Here are just some of the reviews served up this week:


AndroidRundown

Out There

There isn’t a roguelike quite like Out There. A space simulation game where players find themselves adrift in space, scrounging for materials from planet to planet, solar system to solar system, trying to find their way home. Essentially, the game is turn-based. Players start out in a solar system, and can explore planets of two kinds: ones they can land on with materials they can mine for, or gas giants which can be probed for fuel. Each move uses up fuel, oxygen, or damages the hull, and players need to find the materials to refill and repair as necessary. Materials can be mined for that can build new parts and repair current ones. --Carter Dotson


Tilt to Live 2: Redonkulous

Tilt to Live 2: Redonkulous is the long-overdue launch on Android of One Man Left’s tilt-based arena survival series. Yes, one might say, “aren’t tilt controls the hottest control scheme of 2009?” Sure, but Tilt to Live has some of the best around: they’re precise while thriving on the chaos of actually tilting a device around. With plenty of options for customizing the tilt sensitivity and how one holds the device, this will make a believer out of the tilt control apostates. --Carter Dotson


Deadman's Cross

The best thing about Deadman’s Cross is that it takes a complete left turn from the standard card game RPG by adding in varied gaming styles that have never before been seen together. The basic idea in Deadman’s Cross is that the world has ended and the few survivors left after the zombie apocalypse use teams of zombies, known as deadmen, to defend themselves. These deadmen need to be hunted down to be added to the army and taken care of to grow in strength. This boils down to a very familiar deck like interface in which each zombie the player owns is a card. The standard options for boosting a cards strength by absorbing other cards are there and at certain levels cards can be fused together to create stronger versions. --Allan Curtis

And finally, this week our pals across the pond at Pocket Gamer pretended to be doctors in Surgeon Simulator, nuked the world in First Strike, and saved baby Mario in Yoshi's New Island. All that, plus banned iOS games, free-to-play Crazy Taxi, and more right here.

Crazy Taxi: City Rush Announced - Hitting iOS later this year

Posted by Jeff Scott on March 14th, 2014
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Crazy Taxi: City Rush, is the upcoming casual arcade title from Sega, inspired by the great classic, Crazy Taxi. In the original game (also available on iOS here), you drive around a city inspired by San Francisco looking for fairs and delivering them to their destinations. City Rush takes similar gameplay and makes it feel a bit more like an endless runner - but keeps the Crazy Taxi wacky flair.

In its decidedly early state, the game shows a lot of promise. Set up to be a free-to-play game (you can tell by the in-game currencies and an energy system), it will all come down to how restrictive the energy system is. A restrictive energy system will kill a good game as it saps your will to come back after a while.

But, gameplay monetization aside, the game is fast paced, fun, well made, and I'm always happy to have more Crazy Taxi. We've got exclusive video below of a couple runs with the game. We are expecting the game to launch later this year, though it's in soft launch now.

Parcel Panic 2 Review

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Lee Hamlet on November 28th, 2013
Our rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar :: PANIC OVER
Parcel Panic 2 lacks the excitement necessary for it to live up to its name in this playable but uneventful driving game.
Read The Full Review »

Crazy Taxi Review

Posted by Carter Dotson on October 11th, 2012
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Developer: Sega
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPad 2

Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Game Controls Rating: starstarstarstarblankstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar
Replay Value Rating: starstarstarstarhalfstar

[rating:overall]

It’s a funny coincidence that just the other day we were talking about 3D games from the late 90’s and early 2000’s making their revival on iOS, because Crazy Taxi just got released for iOS. Controlling a taxi driver in one of two cities inspired by San Francisco, it’s all about picking up fares and taking them to their destination as quickly as possible, ignoring traffic laws because those are stupid. There’s different types of fares to pick up, with the color above their head representing how far it will take to get to the destination, but also how much money can be earned. There’s an overall timer and a timer for each fare, and if the fare timer runs out, then no money is earned, and if the overall timer runs out, it’s game over.

Crazy Taxi is a perfect fit for mobile: the game sessions only last a few minutes, so they’re great for pick-up-and-play sessions, and the amped-up pace keeps things interesting. The gas/brake and forward/reverse gear controls have been combined, which makes it easier to pull off a lot of the more advanced maneuvers, which is almost a good thing. The touch controls actually work really well, they feel like using the d-pad on the Dreamcast version, and the tilt controls work for those who actually like to drive their cars by "steering" them. I feel like I did as well as I did in the original game, and that’s all I really want from a port like this.

Thankfully, the soundtrack is even the same as it was before, consisting of 3 songs each by The Offspring and Bad Religion. It would have been easy for Sega to cheap out and leave the drum riff from “Change The World” that’s used as the main menu music out, but they kept it in. Is it all a bit repetitive? Sure, but they form such an integral part of the game’s character that to not have them would just make the game feel like it has something truly missing. In fact, the only thing missing is the licensed drop-off points, so instead of taking customers to KFC, they’re going to Fried Chicken Shack. That’s literally it: everything else from the Dreamcast version is faithfully represented, including the Crazy Box challenges.

I’m absolutely in love with Crazy Taxi on iOS: it’s a fantastic port of a bona fide classic. Maybe I’m being clouded by nostalgia, and forgiving the little things that annoy me nowadays, like the wonky-at-times physics and driving, but I don’t care. It’s Crazy Taxi wherever I want to go, and faithfully represented. The game is still quite original, and worth checking out for anyone who loves this title or missed it on the first go-around.

New App: Here We Go! Crazy Taxi Now Out For iOS!

Posted by Jeff Scott on October 11th, 2012
+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

The game that reminds me the most of the Sega Dreamcast, Crazy Taxi, has finally been ported to iOS. It is imperative that if you usually play games without sound that you turn on sound for this one.

Parcel Panic - Post Car Racer 3D

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad
By Robert Corra on January 6th, 2010
Our rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: CRAZY MAIL TRUCK
The racing sub-genre defined by Crazy Taxi finally gets some love, and it's a solid effort. Parcel Panic is a few stops short of greatness at this point, but still lots of fun.
Read The Full Review »