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I just got my copy of Andretti Racing and went in with high hopes. After playing the PSX version, which was a wonderful game, I was really excited over getting it on Saturn. It seems like a good value, 16 tracks, NASCAR and Indycar, input from Mario, Michael, and Jeff Andretti. What gould go wrong?

Lets start with graphics. Not much better than OK. The graphics had lots of breakups along the walls, were slightly grainy & chunky, and not very nice until you got up really close. The Stock cars look like big blobs sliding along the track until you get up close, then they look like sponsored blobs. The IndyCars are much better looking. Overall the models of the cars were pretty good for the IndyCars, not too many of them licensed designs though, many made up paint schemes, excluding the Andretti cars, but the stock cars still looked like blobs with tiny wheels, with the same paint scheme problem. Compared to the sharp PSX version, what happened? The Resolution is moved down a notch and graininess moved up. When you look at this game and then look at other Saturn Racing games, although it does run almost as smooth as Sega Rally, there's no excuse for this lack of graphic quality. The Pop up isn't too good, only slightly better than Daytona CCE, but nowhere near good as Sega Rally. On some more graphical tracks, like Toronto, the pop up verges on annoying. There's also a glaring lack of Racing Numbers on the cars. The accident animations never rose above OK, with fairly slow movement and not very realistic looking flips. It was much better looking in Need For Speed. In the head 2 head mode, the pop up is really bad (worse than most split screen modes) but the chunkiness of the graphics is actually less, Go figure?

Graphics -- 5.5

Next is gameplay. The IndyCars all handle pretty much the same. The game allows you to adjust the car's setup before qualifying and before a race to set your car up perfectly the way you want it. One problem, I played with the car setups and hardly noticed much of a difference. The only real change is in your car's max speed. The Stock cars handle like pigs on wheels, and are tough but not too tough to control, and include the same useless setup problem. Another problem is this game is way too easy. Any game that I can jump into and win a race my first time playing, my first race ever in this game, is too easy. I admit I'm good at racing games, but not that good. Maybe skill level selection would have been nice? Due to that the fun factor lowers a bit. This game can be fun in heated races, but things like certain AI cars that aim to knock you off the track, and other cars that just can't drive properly but magically go through the turns perfectly, piss you off a lot. The game slows down alot when you're very close to another car or if there's a bunch of cars on the screen, another thing to piss you off, it messes up your driving. In the head 2 head mode, it only allows you to race against one another without computer controlled cars. The game seems to run slower in this mode also, as in most head 2 head modes, but coupled with the loss in viewing distance, which makes the game almost impossible if you're on road courses, I can't see why it runs slower.

Gameplay -- 6.5

Presentation. As you may know, EA has a habit of putting a lot of nice multimedia content into games, and this one doesn't lack it. The first feature is the Racing School option on the main menu. It allows you to see some video clips of interviews with Mario, Michael and Jeff. The only problem is, many times, the clip cuts them off in the middle of a sentence, it also isn't full screen, and takes a while to load. If you look closely you'll also notice it seems that the clips are stretched vertically a little too much. Similar clips introduce the Career game with James Brown starting each race and then either Derek Daly or Bob Jenkins (depending on your choice of IndyCar or Stock Car) Introducing each race. They are good for telling you where you are and the track layout, and it's nice that EA got real race announcers for this game, but they are basically just fluff. The corresponding Announcer also announces randomly during the race, sometimes a lot and sometimes a little. I found that they come in a little too late to be very effective. Another important presentation point is although there are 16 tracks not all are on the NASCAR or IndyCar circuits. Also of the 16 Drivers in IndyCar, about 10 are real, and only 1 real driver (Geoff Bodine) in NASCAR. I also found it kind of disconcerting when The Exhibition menus, although I chose Indy Cars, Showed Stock Cars as the background (and vice-versa). And where's those nice background videos, on the menus, like in the PSX version, instead of those static shots. You will also notice that when qualifying you may use a different looking car then that which you race in, which kills all feeling of realism. It seems to have this random car selection thing going, pretty annoying, I'd rather choose my own car, which I believe you can do in the PSX version, I can't remember.

Presentation -- 5.0

Control. The Control is actually pretty good, at least on the ovals. I found it a bit too loose for the road courses and it made some of the tight turns even harder. The game does allow for button configuration, but overall the cars don't seem to handle as they should. The Stock cars do have a hulking feeling to them, but still do not really make the grade as the real thing. The IndyCars handle a bit better. Both would be enough to overlook if this game had some more saving graces.

Control -- 7.0

Next Sound. The Sound in this game is not bad. There are good renditions of the IndyCar and Stock car engines, although the Stock cars do sound a bit like a slowed down version of the IndyCar engine sound effect. There is a crewman who says "good job" when you finish and "we'll pick you up" when you crash, also there's Bob Jenkins and Derek Daly doing race announcing, but as stated before, sometimes they play too late, and also the volume is a bit low. The Music is your standard rock fare, only 2 or 3 recycled tracks. Nothing amazing, but it conveys the game well.

Sound -- 7.5

Overall this game seems like a unfinished job, rushed to the market to beat a deadline. It could have been great and brought innovation into racing games, but basically it has all been done before and better. The Stock Car racing portion seems very tacked on, as to try and get more life out of the game. An absolute travesty is that in order to save a career game you need 447 blocks of free memory, that's almost as much as the Saturn's entire internal memory, If you want to save your game in any way, you'll have to buy a memory card, which poses a problem to owners of Japanese Saturns, using only adapters, and hating the Game Shark, like me. It does track everything possible, but that's a bit insane to require that much backup memory. Loading is also a problem, the menu screens take more than a few seconds to go through, and race loading times are so long, I wonder if this game supports the RAM cart for faster loading!! Plus there's no restart function on the in game pause menu, so you have to quit the race, go through some long waits, re-qualify, just to get back to where you were.

Andretti Racing was created in the same vein as F1 Challenge, more of a Racing Simulation than an Arcade racer. Unfortunately that arcade gets in too much sometimes and screws up a good idea. Had more time and care been put in, this would have been one hell of a racing game, but alas, it's less than expected. It is possible, that after extended play you may grow to like this game, it's not too bad in heated battles, as long as you keep those AI jerks off your back, so they don't knock you off the track. If you want a great racing simulation, get F1 Challenge, or wait for Touring Car, this isn't enough of a simulation to qualify. If you are a racing game fan, or an arcade racer, you might want to try before you buy. Unfortunately this game really never rises above mediocre, and never gives me the thrill of the race that game such as Sega Rally, wipE'out" and F1 Challenge did. I love Saturn and Sega, and I hate Sony, but this is one time where I must say the PSX version was much better.

Graphics -- 5.5
Gameplay -- 6.5
Presentation -- 5.0
Control -- 7.0
Sound -- 7.5

Overall -- 6.5