Daytona USA

"Dayyy-tooo-naaaaa!!!"

I got this game near the end of the Saturn's life at a cheap price, about $8. For the price I payed, I was royally entertained for a while, but the lack of replayability got the game shelved rather quickly when compared to some of my other Saturn games. I recently discovered this game again, so I popped it in. What did I think of the game years later? On to the review.......

Graphics: The graphics in the game, for a racing title in 1995, looks good. The car models look great, and the tracks look good. One of the more impressive features in this game that looks great is the pit stop feature, when you stop to get your car fixed if it's in bad shape. Only the tremendous pop-up puts a stop to this category.
Overall Score: 8.5

Sound: The cars sound great, and the announcer makes some funny comments when you screw up on the track. But the real draw is the soundtrack. It's so horrible, it goes up in my list as the best soundtrack ever. So bad, it's flawless.
Overall Score: 10

Control: Very nice. Braking and turning is a bit slippery, but otherwise, everything controls sharp. The button layout is great, and the sense of accelerating fills up your need for speed.
Overall Score: 9

Gameplay: Simple here, folks. Just race with 39 other racers on a decently long track for 8 laps with modified sports cars. The pop-up and the lack of some decent replay (I'll get to that later) hurt the score, but the pure fun of the addictive racing, doubled with an awesomely bad soundtrack, makes for some great gameplay.
Overall Score: 8

Replay Value: Unfortunately, this is the section where this title slips. With only two modes of gameplay (Arcade Mode and Saturn Mode, the only difference being the Arcade Mode has a timer and the Saturn mode doesn't), four different cars, and three tracks. That's it. Sorry, but that's it.
Overall Score: 5

Bottom Line: The lack of replayability hurts this title, but a fun racer with the best soundtrack ever is worth it.

The Rundown:

Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 10
Controls: 9
Gameplay: 8
Replay Value: 5

Overall Score: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/07/05