PC

Originally a stand-alone arcade game designed to be played at amusement centers, the home translation of Crazy Taxi is meant to be a short, but wild ride through a fictional city that somewhat resembles San Francisco. As the title implies, the object of the game is to pick up passengers, cab them to their requested destinations, and make the most money in the process.

Crazy Taxi's go-anywhere and go-through-anything policy made for a wild ride the first couple of days; but even that got old after going through the same old locations in the San Francisco-esque city you start in.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Mildly Animated Violence, Strong Language

Game Description: Crazy Taxi is a mad race against the clock and traffic. As any of four fearless cabbies, players are driven by a single goal: to rack up megabucks in fares and tips before their shifts end. Drivers pick up passengers and take them to their destinations by any means possible. It's a comic cab opera of collisions and decisions, where courtesy takes a back seat to coin. Crazy Taxi offers all the enthralling features that made it a must-play arcade and console game, including four different cabs and drivers, each with his or her own style and attitude, two expansive and interactive courses for extensive gameplay, nine minigames to challenge various driving skills, true driving dynamics, wild, mission-based gameplay infused with humor, and a rockin' soundtrack by Offspring and Bad Religion.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Animated Violence

With market trends show that more and more PC users own consoles and vice versa, the availability of both types of RPGs will only increase but, I'm afraid, this RPG argument still shows little signs of slowing. However, one need only look at more traditional games like Ultima Ascension alongside a game like Septerra Core to see that there is room for both in a gamer's library.

Anyone who has followed the torrid development history of Septerra Core knows that this is labor of love for its creators at Valkyrie Studios. What started as an epic role-playing game (RPG) aspiring to the grandeur of Final Fantasy VII, almost became vaporware when its initial publisher, Viacom New Media, went under.

Game Description: You are Maya, a junk scavenger, surviving on refuse dumped from above. Yours is a world of layers, in which continents orbit at different elevations around the planet. Those at the top, the Chosen, consume massive amounts of energy and dump their waste down to the layers below. Now, they have begun a descent to the Core, a living computer, in search of the Gift of the Creator, fabled to bestow great power. At first you stand in the way of the Chosen, fighting to slow their march to the Core and protect your homeland. But it is you who will ultimately discover Septerra's true nature, as you journey out of the familiar surroundings of your home country, and come face to face with the Legacy.

Game Description: In this follow-up to the bestselling Unreal, you and your team of Bots are fighting in a tournament to attain the crown of Unreal Grand Master. The teams you'll be playing against consist of the most ruthless scum the galaxy has to offer. You'll have to be cool under fire and keep your team working effectively if you hope to beat each of Unreal Tournament's 32 levels and come out the champion (or alive, for that matter). Unreal Tournament's got it all: a ton of amazing levels, exciting new weapons, brain-melting new modes of play (Capture the Flag, Assault Match, Domination Match, Last Man Standing, and—of course—Deathmatch!), unbelievably deadly Bots (computer controlled opponents or teammates), and a slew of other features that should have your happiness glands working overtime.

Yet, by far, the one thing that makes Unreal Tournament such a worthy contender for the online multiplayer crown is the sheer amount of options that it offers over Q3A. There are more degrees of difficulty in Bot configurations, more different styles of play beyond CTF and classic Deathmatching, more maps to choose from, and even more diverse weapons (each sports an alternate fire option, which adds an entirely new dimension to the game). Almost across the board, Unreal Tournament brings more to the table than Q3A.