Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride

Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride is a racing action video game for the Game Boy Advance, part of the Crazy Taxi series. It was developed by Graphic State and published by THQ. This game is an attempt to port the original Crazy Taxi to the Game Boy Advance, featuring two cities (one unlockable), nine Crazy Box minigames and all four cabbies from the original game.

Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride
Developer(s)Graphic State
Publisher(s)
SeriesCrazy Taxi
EngineRush[1]
Platform(s)Game Boy Advance
Release
  • NA: April 9, 2003
  • AU: June 13, 2003
  • EU: July 25, 2003[2]
Genre(s)Racing, action
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay
Gameplay of Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride. One of the few Game Boy Advance games to feature 3D graphics.

The main objective for the player is to make as much money as possible as a cab driver. The player selects one of two cities to play in where they maneuver around the city to find passengers for their cab. Players receive money based on; how fun the trip was for the passenger, hitting jumps within the map, driving close to traffic, drifting and how quickly the cab ride is accomplished.[3] Players can choose from four characters, Axel, B.D. Joe, Gena and Gus.[4] In addition to the main game, nine different mini-games are also available for play.[4] The game also features multiple save slots per cartridge, allowing for the player to save their progress through the game.[3]

Development and release

Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride was developed by Graphic State. The game was originally announced by THQ on March 2002.[5] Graphic State developed a 3D graphics engine for the game which was named "Rush". One of the biggest challenges for Graphic State was recreating the city environment and traffic on the streets. Due to licensing issues, the game couldn't use any of the music or brands from the original game.[1] The game was first released in the United States on April 8, 2003,[6] and then later released in Australia and France on June 13, 2003.[6]

Reception

As an attempt to port a 3D game to a small handheld system, Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride received "generally unfavorable reviews" according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.,[7] mostly due to visual problems.

In a more forgiving review of the game, IGN awarded it a score of 6.5 out of 10 and wrote, "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride is definitely a fun GBA game, but you have to work through the game's blocky graphics and very inconsistent, chuggy framerate." [3] The reviewers also felt the developers needed to use the strengths of the Game Boy Advance to bring the console design to the hand held, "instead of trying to recreate the exact experience in portable form."[3] Chris Hudak of X-Play wrote that the game is "just simply on the jittery, crunchy, slow, and empty side."[15]

References
  1. jkdmedia. "GZ Interview: Catch a ride in full 3D with Crazy Taxi for Game Boy Advance". GameZone. Retrieved 14 January 2018.
  2. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride Release Information for Game Boy Advance". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  3. IGN staff (2003-04-08). "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride". IGN. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  4. Marriott, Scott Alan. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride - Overview". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  5. "Sega and THQ Reveal More GBA Goodies". IGN. Retrieved 2019-07-30.
  6. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride (2003) Game Boy Advance release dates". MobyGames. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  7. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  8. Marriott, Scott Alan. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on 2014-11-16. Retrieved 2014-11-16.
  9. Edge staff (July 2003). "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride". Edge (125).
  10. Bramwell, Tom (2003-06-30). "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  11. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride". Game Informer (121): 94. May 2003.
  12. Turner, Benjamin (2003-04-29). "GameSpy: Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2005-12-16. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  13. Zacarias, Eduardo (2003-06-04). "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride - GBA - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on 2009-01-16. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
  14. "Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride". Nintendo Power. 169: 139. June 2003.
  15. Hudak, Chris (2003-05-29). "'Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride' (GBA) Review". X-Play. Archived from the original on 2003-06-09. Retrieved 2014-10-13.
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