"Sega Genesis Racing At Its Best"

Mario Andretti isn't the best racing game ever made, but it's probably the overall best that was released on the Sega Genesis. Other games excelled in different aspects, but on the whole, this game was better.

You can choose between three different types of racing: sprint cars, stock cars, and Indy cars. With each, there are different options for the cars (engines, tires, brakes, and pit crews) that affect performance. You can race either a single race (where you can modify the number of laps run), a circuit consisting of five different tracks, or a "career" where you'll race through each of the circuits until you win it in order to advance to the next.

The problem with the career is that you have to start with the sprint cars which are by far the least interesting racing of the three. They're difficult to control and the AI has a notorious flaw that makes winning difficult (more on that in a bit). Running the individual circuits can be fun, but each has its own tricks to them and depending upon your difficulty level, it can be a challenge or not.

The game's biggest problem is the AI. As the difficulty level increases, the drivers tend to make more mistakes in front of you, knocking you out of the running more often than not. Additionally, while you can't get advantages by constantly bumping, the other drivers can. This is really the reverse of racing where the more difficult your opponent is to beat, the less likely he is to rely on chance and exhibit poor driving skills. However, once you've learned to stay alert, you can avoid some of these problems. Nevertheless, there's always that potential that a driver who's running ahead of you will wipe out for no reason whatsoever other than to ruin your race.

In all, Mario Andretti Racing offers fun racing. It could be better, but it's racing which means in the end all you do is go around a track. AI could be improved and there could be more options for the car. But what they have done is done pretty well and is entertaining. Not great, but probably as good as the Genesis offered.

Control: 8
Game-play: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Originality: 8
Replay Value: 9
OVERALL: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/21/05