AR98 review at Next Generation

Wow, they really like Andretti Racing 98 at Next-Generation. http://www.next-generation.com/reviews.chtml The few people that gave reviews here flamed this game mercilessly so I've got to believe that reality lies somewhere in between. Is AR98 really that bad? I know it's not as good as the review from Next-Generation. However, what are some of the particulars, other than "arcadish." Any honest reviews from those brave souls that actually purchased this game would be greatly appreciated. Cordially, Buddha

On 27 Nov 1997 08:58:00 -0700, "Richard A. Ishida" >Wow, they really like Andretti Racing 98 at Next-Generation. >http://www.next-generation.com/reviews.chtml >The few people that gave reviews here flamed this game mercilessly so >I've got to believe that reality lies somewhere in between. And they wonder why people are losing all faith in review sites? At this time of year I don't suppose anything wants to look like a turkey, so perhaps just doing the game a favour. Still, if it looks and plays like a turkey and *** sites are telling you it's fantastic, you've got to conclude that in Denmark, something is rotten. Cheers! John

>And they wonder why people are losing all faith in review sites? At >this time of year I don't suppose anything wants to look like a >turkey, so perhaps just doing the game a favour. Still, if it looks >and plays like a turkey and *** sites are telling you it's >fantastic, you've got to conclude that in Denmark, something is >rotten. Or you can conclude that a sim fan shouldn't go to a general purpose *** site for reviews of sims. I take some pride in my reviews at Digital Sportspage because I'm a sim fan and I'll be very honest in my reviews about what's going and bad about the physics engine to the extent that I can. At this point, I have such low expectations of reviews from Next Gen, PSX Power, AVault, Gamecenter, etc that it doesn't bug me as much when they put out their predictably kind reviews which demonstrate a failure to understand sims. Randy

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> Wow, they really like Andretti Racing 98 at Next-Generation. > http://www.next-generation.com/reviews.chtml > The few people that gave reviews here flamed this game mercilessly so > I've got to believe that reality lies somewhere in between. Is AR98 > really that bad? I know it's not as good as the review from > Next-Generation. However, what are some of the particulars, other than > "arcadish." Any honest reviews from those brave souls that actually > purchased this game would be greatly appreciated. > Cordially, > Buddha

AR98 is probably going to be OK if you are really into ARCADE racing ... because there is no physics or logic in the way the car handles. I personally didn't enjoy it enough to keep it, but that doesn't mean others won't like it. To me, a good driving game (sim or arcade) is all in the car handling. NFS1 and TOCA are two that I enjoy immensely in the arcade side of things and I felt Andretti was inferior to these ... I will say the graphics are pretty (I have a 3dfx card).. but beyond that, it lacked much to keep me interested. Why not get it & try it for yourself ? Doug

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> Wow, they really like Andretti Racing 98 at Next-Generation. > http://www.next-generation.com/reviews.chtml > The few people that gave reviews here flamed this game mercilessly so > I've got to believe that reality lies somewhere in between. Is AR98 > really that bad? I know it's not as good as the review from > Next-Generation. However, what are some of the particulars, other than > "arcadish." Any honest reviews from those brave souls that actually > purchased this game would be greatly appreciated. > Cordially, > Buddha

Buddha, I knew the game was going right back when the stock car oval tracks turn RIGHT! It was on the harddrive about 45 minutes. The graphics were pretty nice but I would agree with some of the other posts. Its an arcade game, there is even a picture of a gamepad on the back of the CD jewelcase. All the best, Mike Davis -- Michael S. Davis Creative Media-Works Computer/Audio/Video Convergance "from Creative minds spring Creative solutions." http://www.creativemedia-works.com

There is only one track that can rightly be called an oval, and it is modelled after an ACTUAL track in Australia. You would know the Aussies would turn RIGHT, right? Yes, its an arcade racer. That's all it tries to be -- the racing is fun and immersive if you can accept the game for what it is. Just like I enjoyed dropping quarters into Daytona USA without it having any relationship to NASCAR 2. Randy

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> AR98 is probably going to be OK if you are really into ARCADE racing ... > because there is no physics or logic in the way the car handles. I > personally didn't enjoy it enough to keep it, but that doesn't mean > others won't like it. To me, a good driving game (sim or arcade) is all > in the car handling. NFS1 and TOCA are two that I enjoy immensely in > the arcade side of things and I felt Andretti was inferior to these ... > I will say the graphics are pretty (I have a 3dfx card).. but beyond > that, it lacked much to keep me interested. Why not get it & try it for > yourself ? > Doug

Thanks for the info, Doug. I didn't get AR98 because there are five to seven different games I'm considering buying. Christmas is right around the corner and I can't be so selfish as to by myself five different games. I've decided against CPR for now. I'll wait for the patch. I'm considering TD4 but since I already have NFSIISE (NFS, NFSSE and NFSII for that matter) I didn't see the point. TOCA isn't in a local store but is another game being considered. Indy Racing by ABC Sports is yet another game being considered. The main reason I didn't get AR98 is due to having purchased F1 by Eidos quite some time ago, even though the people here flamed it and warned us. I didn't listen and regretted it. I now look for honest reviews from people here in RAS before getting any driving game. Besides, when the 3Dfx patch for N2 is released (yay!) I won't be playing any other driving games for a while.:) Cordially, Buddha

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>>turkey, so perhaps just doing the game a favour. Still, if it looks >>and plays like a turkey and *** sites are telling you it's >>fantastic, you've got to conclude that in Denmark, something is >>rotten. >Or you can conclude that a sim fan shouldn't go to a general purpose >*** site for reviews of sims.

I prefer to conclude that *** sites should review products for what they are. In any case, my point was that Andretti Racing is a turkey whether or not you class it as a sim. Personally I love gsmes like Need for Speed (1), Outrun, Power Drift etc, but Andretti Racing is simply bad. Strange then that yet again it is portrayed as being better than it is? Maybe I'm just too picky? That's all very well in a sim review, and I saw that in you review of CPR to a larger extent than any other *** site. In an arcade racer I'm looking for physics that are broadly believable, or if not even rmoetely believable then it should be counterbalanced by increased fun factor (like Monster Truck Madness' huuuuuuge jumps - totally unrealistic, but who cares since they're so much fun. It's a game after all, and marketed as such). Or indeed any kind of games. Makes me wonder about hidden agendas, though whether or not that is true or even fair I don't know. It's like restaurant reviews in Japanese magazines. The Japanese are avid readers of reviews, and tend to put rather more faith in reviews than we do (I'm generalising here based upon my own (extensive) experience of Japan). A favourable review will bring a LOT of extra business, so you can imagine that these reviewers are well known and treated, em, rather well shall we say. Reviewing is something that's open to abuse, so if your findings vary wildly from the reviewers, there may be a rat to be smelled. Cheers! John

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> > AR98 is probably going to be OK if you are really into ARCADE racing ... > > because there is no physics or logic in the way the car handles. I > > personally didn't enjoy it enough to keep it, but that doesn't mean > > others won't like it. To me, a good driving game (sim or arcade) is all > > in the car handling. NFS1 and TOCA are two that I enjoy immensely in > > the arcade side of things and I felt Andretti was inferior to these ... > > I will say the graphics are pretty (I have a 3dfx card).. but beyond > > that, it lacked much to keep me interested. Why not get it & try it for > > yourself ? > > Doug > Thanks for the info, Doug. I didn't get AR98 because there are five to > seven different games I'm considering buying. Christmas is right around > the corner and I can't be so selfish as to by myself five different > games. I've decided against CPR for now. I'll wait for the patch. I'm > considering TD4 but since I already have NFSIISE (NFS, NFSSE and NFSII > for that matter) I didn't see the point. TOCA isn't in a local store but > is another game being considered. Indy Racing by ABC Sports is yet > another game being considered. The main reason I didn't get AR98 is due > to having purchased F1 by Eidos quite some time ago, even though the > people here flamed it and warned us. I didn't listen and regretted it. I > now look for honest reviews from people here in RAS before getting any > driving game. Besides, when the 3Dfx patch for N2 is released (yay!) I > won't be playing any other driving games for a while.:) > Cordially, > Buddha

Yes, there is a wide selection coming ... and you forgot to mention F1RS by Ubi ... TOCA is high on my buy list but since it's not out in the states and won't be out, I'll be looking for the Warez version in about 2 weeks... Also, if you are a Carmageddon fan, the Splat pack is coming out in a week or two ... BTW, others have said they are enjoying SODA ... Doug p.s. Why don't you sell off some of your "excess" stock? I regularly http://www.ebay.com Good luck...

I've got a final of Indy Racing and I have to admit that thus far I'm pretty pleased with it -- of course I'm also running it on a P300 with a Riva 128 board so of course everything is turned on, but it has a very solid feel to it and is very fun to race thus far. The damage seems a bit on the arcade side, but then it is in GP2 as well, so this isn't going to be a killer in my book. Randy