Back when the Sega Dreamcast was still knocking gamers socks off with games like Jet Grind Radio and Shenmue, a wildly entertaining game called Crazy Taxi had gamers racing through a massive city picking up and dropping off passengers as fast as they could.   The game was fun enough that other consoles like the PS2 and the Xbox picked it up well.  Joining these consoles, the Game Boy Advance puts you behind the wheel of a Crazy Taxi while just trying to make some Crazy Money--what’s a Crazy Driver to do, right?

Surprisingly enough, Crazy Taxi: Catch A Ride tries to capture more than the essence of the console version . . . it tries to capture everything about the other console version.  For one thing, the game is a fully 3D experience in the same way the other versions are.  You control any of the four available cabs (each with its own driver) and take them through a massive environment (a second city becomes available once it’s unlocked) that spans several streets, districts and even distant green pastures. 

You are given the chance to choose a series of rules, mostly the time limit (from three minutes to ten minutes).  The basic objective, of course, is to pick up as many passengers and successfully deliver them to their destinations before their time limit is up.  The passengers in question have their own difficulty level (seen as colored dollar signs) that determine the distance of their destination as well as the time limit given to take them there.  Passengers love the thrill of the ride and even toss Crazy Money your way as you speed through traffic, avoiding nasty collisions.

The game even tosses nine mini-games known as Crazy Box.  Each mini-game has its own challenging event that is just too fun to pass up.  Crazy Balloons, for example, will have you attempting to pop some giant balloons before the timer runs out while Crazy Rush has you attempting to deliver four passengers to their destination with a very strict time limit.  These mini-games are all challenging enough to keep any gamer busy.

As far as the controls are concerned, THQ managed to brilliantly bring the same controls to this handheld version.  While all your vehicle is able to do is accelerate, break and reverse, stunts like Crazy Drift and even Crazy Jump.  The game also does collisions right, although some times you might go right through a car or sometimes a passenger doesn’t reward you for certain near misses.  

The visuals are where Catch A Ride shows most of its defects and much of it has to do with the game’s attempt to bring the identical console experience to the little portable gaming machine.  While this is admirable and quite ambitious, the graphics and framerate pay the ultimate price.  For starters, the game attempts to bring a fully 3D environment that is impressively massive and complete with hills, intersecting streets and buildings.  Secondly, the game is filled with pedestrians, opposing traffic and objects your wonderfully detailed taxis can interact with.  All these neat little details just take too much out of the system that they come off as blocky and sometimes you can’t make heads or tails out of certain objects.  All these details also slow the game down considerably, although there are times when the game does run smooth enough to not make this a completely annoying experience. 

However, where the game lacks in visual punch, this game makes up with sound.  Those familiar with the series will be surprised to hear the voices of all the original cab drivers from the Dreamcast and PS2 version.  They make their little comments throughout the game as does the passengers that cheer you on during near misses as well as comment on how fast or slow you were in taking them to their destination.  While the licensed tunes are out of the game (and who in their right mind will expect to hear an entire Offspring tune on the GBA), the rocking instrumental tune found here fits the action excellently.  Overall, this game makes full use of the Game Boy Advance’s sound capabilities.

Crazy Taxi: Catch A Ride impressively attempts to bring the identical console experience to the Game Boy Advance and, for the most part, does an admirable job.  Still, it’s clear by the unsteady framerate and choppy graphics that the GBA does have its limits and this game definitely pushes it to the max.  Despite this, though, the game is still fun enough to keep fans of the series nicely entertained.  It will also make you appreciate how utterly engaging the console versions really are. 

Gameplay: 7.0
Surprisingly, the game is so faithful to the console version that gamers that played the other versions of the game will quickly jump into the game with no trouble at all.  The basic controls are intact and easy to perform, especially the Crazy Drift, and even more so thanks to the few buttons available to you.  Still, the bad news is that the framerate problems are somewhat bothersome enough to be just a bit frustrating.  The funny collision glitches don’t help either.

Still, there is much to love about a game that brings enough modes to keep gamers very busy.  The nine Crazy Box mini-games, for instance, are thankfully challenging enough that you’ll be tempted to complete failed events more than once. 

Graphics: 5.0
Catch A Ride is definitely not the most good-looking game on the GBA (the word eyesore comes to mind, actually), but its also one of the most visually impressive games so far.   You’ll encounter winding streets and steep hills, various shops and restaurants and bridges that lead to other parts of the massive environments.  This 3D world does take a lot out of the GBA, though, and often results in weak textures that will have you wondering if that colorful blotch in the corner of the street is a potential passenger or a garbage can.   The framerate also suffers because of this, making the action stutter in places.

Sound: 8.5
While the graphics aren’t spectacular enough to make an impact, the game’s sound is an example of what the handheld console is capable of doing sound-wise.  From the very start of the game where the rough voiced announcer tells you how “crazy” everything is, you’ll be surrounded by sounds.  Each of the four taxi drivers has his or her own comments as does the passengers that love near collisions and are frightened by actual crashes (e.g. “You hit it!”).  The music in the game does a great job of capturing the excitement of the game’s action.

Difficulty: Medium
The game is, surprisingly enough, as challenging as the console versions.  For one thing, each passenger’s time limit varies enough that certain passengers require you to know exactly where you’re going because you won’t have any time to waste.  Waste enough time and you lose a fare and get a “You stink!” complaint from your passenger.  The problem here is that most passengers are hard to identify thanks to the poor graphics.  It’s often easy to confuse passengers waiting on the street corners with garbage cans or benches. 

Concept: 7.0
Making Crazy Money while speeding through town in your Crazy Taxi is actually just as fun as it sounds.  While the majority of the game is simply picking up and dropping passengers to their destinations, there are some challenging mini-games here that will have you popping as many balloons as possible or reach a flag before the timer runs out.

Overall: 6.8
While there are plenty of flaws found in this Game Boy Advance game, Crazy Taxi: Catch A Ride still provides enough crazy fun for gamers that like a challenging arcade-styled game.  There are enough game modes to play as well, thus making this a worthwhile game to play if you’re a fan of the series.  If you’re not, buyer beware, the blocky graphics and clunky framerate might be enough to turn you away from this one.