Andretti Racing Game by EA Sports

Our Rating: ( 85/100 )

Your Rating for Andretti Racing: (29 votes, average: 4.1 out of 5)  Loading …

Overview

It’s two, two, yes, two old games in one! Not only do you get a NASCAR game, but you also get an Indycar game FREE! EA Sports has been one of the best, if not the best, sports games producers and publishers in computer gaming history. Their latest try at a racing game, Andretti Racing, is consistent with that trend. It is solid in both the NASCAR and Indycar portions of the game and provides hours of fun. The game does have a few shortcomings, but if you enjoy the speed and excitement of professional racing, then Andretti Racing will give you what you’re looking for.

Old Gameplay

The control and interface in Andretti Racing take some getting used to; particularly when jumping from one type of car to another. The Indycars are lightning-fast and respond very quickly. They make sharp turns and corner like a dream; which is a good thing, because some of the tracks you race on are extremely windy and turn-intensive.

On the other side of the coin, the NASCARs seem sluggish and unresponsive by comparison. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, in fact, it’s exactly how things should be. NASCARs are much larger and heavier than Indycars and that should be reflected in their handling. However, if you’ve been driving an Indycar for two or three hours, then switch gears (no pun intended) to a NASCAR, you’re going to have to readjust to the performance of the NASCAR.

The interface of the game is fairly simple, but it’s very important that you have a controller with enough buttons. Things in this game are fast and you need to have all the important commands, such as gas, brakes, shift up, shift down, look left, and look right, at your fingertips. The cockpits of the cars themselves aren’t very realistic. The indicators don’t look as they would in a real car; they look sort of computerized. I didn’t like that at all. I would have preferred they try to make the indicators as realistic as possible.

The one other small problem I have is that there seem to be many more Indy tracks than NASCAR tracks. Most of the tracks in the game are very twisty and turn intensive which doesn’t lend itself very well to NASCAR-style driving. There are some NASCAR tracks, which are basically just large circles. I would have liked to see more tracks and more variety for the NASCAR portion of the game.

As should be expected, Team Andretti almost always winds up in first. The game does offer excellent competition, as well as Multiplayer.

Graphics

The graphics in Andretti Racing aren’t anything spectacular. The game does support 3Dfx, but I’ve seen the chip set utilized much more effectively. The graphics aren’t bad, but there is most definitely room for improvement. The cars seem somewhat blocky and crude, and events like skidding aren’t as crisp as they could be. More detail could have been put in the surroundings also. The graphics are good, but not great; and you won’t find yourself playing the game just to see them. Fortunately, the game relies more on the breakneck speed of its gameplay and not on its graphics.

Audio

The audio in this game isn’t anything great either. The Indycars sound rather whiny, the NASCARs don’t rumble at all, and the crashes sound somewhat dull. The music is at best benign; you don’t really notice it once you’ve begun the game. However, once again, the game relies on strong gameplay as its hook; not its music.

System Requirements

And now for the part more and more of us are beginning to dread: what’s it say on the bottom of the box? Fortunately, this one’s not too bad.

Windows 95, 133 Pentium or faster, 120 MB drive space, 16 MB RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 5 (provided). 3Dfx and NIVDIA Riva 128 chip sets supported, for those of us with 3D cards.

Documentation

The documentation here is exactly what it should be: informative, but not overbearing. The game comes with a booklet that gives you a good idea of what to expect and some basic support scenarios. Nothing fancy, but it does its job.

Bottom Line

Simply put, this old game is fun to play. It keeps you interested and challenged and provides hours of gameplay. If you’re looking for a good racing game or are just a really big Mario and Michael Andretti fan, then this one is definitely worth a shot. So have fun and don’t forget to buckle up.