Crazy Taxi Catch a Ride

When the original Crazy Taxi was released on the Dreamcast, it took the fun of the arcade game and brought it home. While it was a great title it lacked the depth that most console games have. Since the Dreamcast version was released, we have seen versions on practically every single console. Each successive version has done nothing to improve upon the original. But there hasn't been an attempt to bring the title to the portable market?Ķ until now.

The Game Boy Advance is not anywhere near as powerful as the Dreamcast, PS2, GameCube, or Xbox. Because of this, the conversation of Crazy Taxi could have been a daunting task. While developer Graphic State succeeds in converting the look and feel of the game to the GBA, they failed to realize that the hardware was not quite as powerful as the technology they threw at it. While it is amazing to see the world of Crazy Taxi come alive in full 3D on the GBA, the graphics are a bit blocky and the frame rate is very slow at times. This takes away a lot of the fun the other versions of Crazy Taxi offered. It is a shame that the developer couldn't have modify the game engine to allow for more fluid gameplay.

In Crazy Taxi, you control one of four taxi drivers around a city, pick up people who are looking for a ride, and bring them to their destination. The faster you get them there, the more money you earn. You can also earn some extra tips by taking high risk jumps, nearly hitting traffic, and driving like a real-life New York City cabby. An arrow on screen appears and shows you what direction you need to travel in to get your customer to their desired location. However, when the clock runs to 0, it is game over.

The look of the game remains very close to the original. But unfortunately, none of the licensed areas are included in the GBA version. The levels are also slightly smaller. Despite this, the controls are very close to the original and you don't have to hear the same annoying music track.

While Crazy Taxi will disappoint those who are looking for an extremely polished driving title, fans of the series will find the portable edition to be a pleasant edition to the series. It would have been nice to have a 2D version or a much more scaled down 3D version to resolve the frame rate problems. However, there is enough fun in hear to remind players of why this game was so popular when it was originally released. If you are looking for a new GBA title to stir up your memories of the Dreamcast or provide you with a game that is easy to pick up and play, Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride is worth a look.