When it comes to car racing games, Codemasters is on top of the pile as far as developers go. In case you don't happen to read the logos that pop up at the beginning of the games you love, they are the folks behind Colin McCrae Rally and DiRT racing, two of my favorite racing games in history. Now they've done a game based on Formula 1 racing, and while I don't normally play F1 games....knowing Codemasters had done one was enough to get me to try their newest effort.
Right off the bat, the interface in this game is very similar to the last DiRT game I played. You start out in your trailer, where you arrange races, go to the pits, upgrade your car or check out stats and other stuff related to the racing. It was pretty easy to navigate around, and it's a lot better than a bunch of boring menus.
As far as the racing itself goes...the cars are super fast, super responsive...but unfortunately, they're also super delicate. This is a problem for me.
When I play racing games, I like to play arcade style. I like to ram into other cars, use my e-brake, cut corners by jumping into the dirt and occasionally even use a special item or two. That's not something people do in F1. You're supposed to be precise, you're not supposed to crash, and you get penalized for jumping the corners. That's not a sandbox I like...so I may not be pre-destined to like this game.
The other thing I don't like about F1? Races aren't 3 laps. They're at least 10. Some are 50. Some are more. To me, that's just too much repetition. Dozens of repetitive laps is the same reason I've never played a NASCAR game either. I like to mix up my races with crazy corners, and then just when I'm starting to learn the track...I like to jump to a new one and be surprised again.
This game has fairly decent graphics. The cars are fun...but the world itself is unforgiving. If you crash into another racer, not only can your car be damaged to the point where you have to go into the pits...you might get a time penalty. If you happen to cut a corner, you'll get a warning (and maybe even another time penalty). Sometimes you get gravel on your tires and then it fucks you up for the next several turns. As much as I love Codemasters, I just don't enjoy that style of racing.
Overall Score? 5/10. If you're an F1 fan...I think this score will jump quite a bit. As I think I've summarized pretty well above, I'm not a fan...so this game was probably not going to be my cup of tea no matter how good it was. Of course, I didn't know that until I played it. :-)
Achievements? I got a few, but don't anticipate playing this in order to get more. Maybe if there weren't half a dozen awesome racing games I'd rather play than this. :-)
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