Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller

Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller is an arcade racing game from 2002, created for Xbox by studio Hitmaker under the Sega banner as a sequel to the popular arcade series Crazy Taxi. The player once again takes on the role of a crazy cabbie whose job is to pick up passengers within a time limit and deliver them across the city as fast as possible, earning bonus seconds for daring driving, drifting close past other cars, and jumps off ramps.

The series' signature techniques, such as a fast start with quick gear shifting or long drifts into corners, remained intact, and mastering them was key to achieving a high score, since without them the delivery times were practically impossible to beat. Compared to previous entries, High Roller brought two large cities at once - Small Apple, a parody of New York, and Glitter Oasis, inspired by Las Vegas - noticeably expanding the playable area as well as the number of hidden shortcuts and stunts to discover. Alongside the main mode, there was also a set of short skill challenges that forced players to practice individual driving tricks separately, from precise stops at marked spots to weaving between obstacles in heavy traffic.

The game retained the series' signature punk-rock soundtrack by bands like The Offspring and Bad Religion, which helped create the series' unmistakable, high-energy atmosphere, and added new game modes focused on free driving and completing extra challenges outside the main taxi mode. Critics particularly praised the added variety of cities and the preserved adrenaline-fueled feel of driving, although they noted that the core gameplay hadn't changed much from previous installments. Crazy Taxi 3 thus remained a reliable, if not revolutionary, sequel to one of the most distinctive arcade series of the turn of the millennium, and a favorite choice for quick, low-stakes gaming sessions between more demanding titles.