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Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Currently Playing #13: Crazy Taxi, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

Crazy Taxi (PS2)



I'm not sure what got me to take this game out for a spin. Maybe it's because I'm in the mood for a game that I can play in short bursts. Or perhaps it's that Crazy Taxi is one of my favorite SEGA games. Maybe both. I could have played the Dreamcast version but the PS2 is hooked up and this version is identical to that one. Besides, I don't make it a serious issue to play games on the original system (besides, Crazy Taxi was originally an arcade game to begin with) so I have no problem with playing a ports.

Anyway, it felt like old times zipping around town driving to a churches, Fila and Pizza Huts (they still make the best pizza). It took me a few minutes to remember the controls. When I go away from Crazy Taxi for a while, I always forget that there are two different buttons for drive and reverse. As much as I love drifting around sharp turns in the Ridge Racer series, Crazy Taxi is THE game for wreckless driving. It's so satisfying to get those narrow misses when dodging traffic to get your customer to their destination on time. And All I Want is such a good tune to speed to.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy (3DS)



This game. This game right here is my new addiction. I cannot go a day without playing it. I feel incomplete without Theatrhythm Final Fantasy. I think I may have found my favorite music-based game of all-time.

I've gotten so much better on the Basic Course version of songs. Those yellow marks are still the bane of my existence, but I've improved a lot on sliding them to get criticals. I'm getting a ton of A ans S ranks but I still have a ways to go on certain songs. The Man with the Machine Gun is one that I still struggle with. I only recently manged to move my grade up from a C to a B. And it kills me that I'm still having a hard time on Celes theme.

When I got paid last week, I spent $20 on Add-on Content songs. I had no idea over 50 songs were up for grabs on that list. Among the songs I bought were Matoya's Cave (FF), Sunken Shrine (FF), This is the Last Battle (FFIII), Battle 2 (FFIV), In Search of Light (FFV), Force Your Way (FFVIII), and Final Battle (FFX) to name a few. I wish I could have spent more to get the remaining songs but those will just have to wait until the next pay day.

I attempted to clear some Dark Notes in Chaos Shrine mode. The first song it thew my way was Mambo de Chocobo from FFV. In my opinion that's one of, if not the best Chocobo theme and I thought it would be easy enough to clear. I couldn't have been more wrong. Mambo de Chocobo is an expert-level track. It throws so many triggers at you and each of them come your way so fast that it's easy to panic and fail. It took me a few tries before I passed this track and even then I got a D rank. The second track, Ending Movie from FFXII wasn't any easier and I was quickly met with the failure screen. Chaos Shrine seems like it was designed for expert level players and since I'm still trying to get S ranks on all the Basic Course versions of the track, I probably won't come back to this mode until I accomplish this feat. I also need to properly adjust to the pace of Expert Course tracks.

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