Andretti RacingSYSTEM: Sega Saturn
DEVELOPER: EA Sports
PRODUCER: EA Sports
PRICE: N/A
RATED: Kids to Adults
When I got this game as a gift, I
was very eager to try it out. I knew from past experiences that
any game made by Electronic Arts is sure to have a high level of
realism. EA Sports (A division of Electronic Arts) has earned
quite a reputation for creating high-quality sport/racing
simulations.
Mario, Jeff, and Michael Andretti were all involved with the creation of this game. Their input, as well as EA Sports ability to listen, has helped to make this a very relistic driving experience. I'm glad that EA Sports decided to add "extra's" like this to make this game stand out from your everyday racing game.
Another "extra's" are the interviews of
Michael, Mario, and Jeff Andretti. These interviews are included
on the CD and range from driving techniques, to what it's like
competing with dad. Things like this didn't have to be included,
but non-the-less were. A very welcome addition to a game like
this.
Nowadays, you don't find many driving games with a huge selection of tracks. If you buy a Namco game, you usually have a selection of "one". Buy a Sega game, and you'll find "three or four". Well, this game actually has a total of "sixteen" tracks to race on. Amazing!! To even top that, EA even decided to give the option of Indy Car, or Stock car racing. Too totally different types of racing. I tell you, the longevity of this game just rules.
One of the finer points of the game is the ability
to race an entire circut. Complete with both qualifying, and full
race laps. Many of the newer racing games have been leaving this
out. To me this is a big mistake! All true to life racing
simulations should have a circut mode. Anyway, I'm glad someone
still puts it in.
Despite everything that's great about this game, it still has a few minor downsides. None of them too terrible, but they're still enough to keep it from being the best.
While driving,
I found the Stock Car racing to feel totally perfect. Cornering,
braking, ect. all felt great. This 
was not the case with the Indy Car
racing. I can't really explain why, but it just felt awkward
racing them. I especially didn't like the way the Indy Cars
cornered. They didn't feel as tight as some of the other games of
this type. Still, EA gave many options to dial the game in, so
this may be overcome if your good at fine-tuning your racing
machines.
All the tracks are highly detailed, but look crude. There's a certain choppyness to the game. It definately suffers from it's low-resolution in the graphics department. I'm sure they did it to keep the frame rate up, but as it is Daytona is a better looking game (And we all know how it was downgraded for it's looks). Still, it looks OK, but not as good as I'd like to see.
Sound was both good and bad. Good because "cars
sound like cars". Bad because the music stinks, and doesn't
seem to fit in well. You can turn it off if you like though, so
it's not too much a hinderence.
All in all, this is a pretty decent racing. I'd recommend it to anyone. Don't be mislead by my overall rating. It's a little low, because were picking individual aspects. If you look at the Gameplay, and Replay Value, you'll find it scores very high. Definetely one to try out!!!
RATINGS
GRAPHICS 71%
SOUND 75%
GAMEPLAY 88%
ORIGINALITY 70%
REPLAY VALUE 91%
OVERALL 79%
