MagpieRacer
Premium
- 17,983
- Wymondham, Norfolk
- Seagull_Racer
F1 games are hard to get right, well, im guessing so anyway, because there never seems to be a perfect one.
EA sports were not far off the mark, good graphics, good presentation, good sounds etc. Snags were that the tracks all looked like they had the same surface, the cars felt like they had the same performance, you could go abnormally fast round the circuits and even on the hardest difficulty you could win every race in a minardi.
The good EA F1 game came on PC, F1 challenge 99-02, great graphics once again and this time, proper performance, track textures and even better sound..
But it would be unfair to compare a console F1 game to a PC F1 game because PC games tend to be better than console games but not in every case.
F1 2003 replicates the 2003 season (
) incoperating new rules, points system etc.
When you start up you are presented with the studio liverpool logo followed by the language screen, you then have to option to create a profile or load a profile..after this you have the intro screen, a fast blend of music and F1 related sounds as well as a rendered F1 car moving off the grid.
At the menu you have options, Single player, Multiplayer, Options, Load, Unlocks and Spectator. Within options yuo have the usual, controller, display/graphics, sounds etc, if you want simulation, go to controller and set it to control type D, basically because if your using the analogue sticks it is far to twitchy and feels horrible, wheras with the D pad and buttons you have a much more simulated and controlled feel while driving.
Onto single player, you have the choices of, Arcade race, arcade season, quick race, race weekend, world championship and time attack.
Arcade modes basically is normal mode but you start at the back of the grid and accumulate points throughout the race for seemingly no reason...oh and you have an annoying american shouting stuff at you like "you crashed your car!!!" " you won the race!!"...
Hit the race weekend or championship however and things get better...after you slected your team and then your driver (accompanied by bad lookalikes of each) you are thrown into the weekend, loads of sessions to go through if you want to simulate accurately or you can just do whatever...you have, friday test session, a 1 and a half hour session to test stuff...friday practice, 1 hour practice session...friday qualifying 1, qualifying to determine the order for the 2nd session...saturday practice 1 and 2...saturday warm up and then the 2nd and most important qualifying session, obvioulsy in qualifying it is single lap and you have the option to watch everyone elses drive there lap as well but if not you can do yours then skip them...finally you have the race, now, it is dissappointing how little build up for the race there is, you press race and after a pause your on the grid with te red lights coming on, its a bit, bummer really..once the race starts though you forget that and fly off to the first turn!.
AI, such an important thing, its either good or its not, and unfortunatly its not in this case, for the most part the follow a set line, only car power seperates them, and if given half the chance, they will probably crash into you for no reason, particularly into a turn, there are times however when the AI does feel competitive and good, you can have heated battles but again its more of the car power and performance rather than the driver.... 7/10
Graphics, smooth and very slick, the cars have the correct 2003 shapes and clean crisp liveries, the track textures are not all the same, they look different and look good according to each track..the podium looks good as well, very sweet presentation as is the pit stops.....9/10
Sounds, the whine of the cars is there and each car sounds different but you cant help but feel it doesnt sound quite right, good but not quite there, theres also the slight hint of the traction control noise which sounds pretty cool and the pit comm is also a big letdown, so is the TV commentary....7/10
Special effects/features, nothing really, not much you can do with an F1 game in the way of features and effects, slightly interactive pit stop (fuel), could have done with more unlockables, instead its the usual trophies as per each race....3/10
Overall, a good solid fast and fun F1 game, nice graphics tha stay constant, good but not quite there sounds, and below average AI, may not sound great but once you start playing the imersive world of F1 and your instinct as an F1 fan takes over and it is a thouroughly enjoyable game
8/10
EA sports were not far off the mark, good graphics, good presentation, good sounds etc. Snags were that the tracks all looked like they had the same surface, the cars felt like they had the same performance, you could go abnormally fast round the circuits and even on the hardest difficulty you could win every race in a minardi.
The good EA F1 game came on PC, F1 challenge 99-02, great graphics once again and this time, proper performance, track textures and even better sound..
But it would be unfair to compare a console F1 game to a PC F1 game because PC games tend to be better than console games but not in every case.
F1 2003 replicates the 2003 season (
) incoperating new rules, points system etc.When you start up you are presented with the studio liverpool logo followed by the language screen, you then have to option to create a profile or load a profile..after this you have the intro screen, a fast blend of music and F1 related sounds as well as a rendered F1 car moving off the grid.
At the menu you have options, Single player, Multiplayer, Options, Load, Unlocks and Spectator. Within options yuo have the usual, controller, display/graphics, sounds etc, if you want simulation, go to controller and set it to control type D, basically because if your using the analogue sticks it is far to twitchy and feels horrible, wheras with the D pad and buttons you have a much more simulated and controlled feel while driving.
Onto single player, you have the choices of, Arcade race, arcade season, quick race, race weekend, world championship and time attack.
Arcade modes basically is normal mode but you start at the back of the grid and accumulate points throughout the race for seemingly no reason...oh and you have an annoying american shouting stuff at you like "you crashed your car!!!" " you won the race!!"...
Hit the race weekend or championship however and things get better...after you slected your team and then your driver (accompanied by bad lookalikes of each) you are thrown into the weekend, loads of sessions to go through if you want to simulate accurately or you can just do whatever...you have, friday test session, a 1 and a half hour session to test stuff...friday practice, 1 hour practice session...friday qualifying 1, qualifying to determine the order for the 2nd session...saturday practice 1 and 2...saturday warm up and then the 2nd and most important qualifying session, obvioulsy in qualifying it is single lap and you have the option to watch everyone elses drive there lap as well but if not you can do yours then skip them...finally you have the race, now, it is dissappointing how little build up for the race there is, you press race and after a pause your on the grid with te red lights coming on, its a bit, bummer really..once the race starts though you forget that and fly off to the first turn!.
AI, such an important thing, its either good or its not, and unfortunatly its not in this case, for the most part the follow a set line, only car power seperates them, and if given half the chance, they will probably crash into you for no reason, particularly into a turn, there are times however when the AI does feel competitive and good, you can have heated battles but again its more of the car power and performance rather than the driver.... 7/10
Graphics, smooth and very slick, the cars have the correct 2003 shapes and clean crisp liveries, the track textures are not all the same, they look different and look good according to each track..the podium looks good as well, very sweet presentation as is the pit stops.....9/10
Sounds, the whine of the cars is there and each car sounds different but you cant help but feel it doesnt sound quite right, good but not quite there, theres also the slight hint of the traction control noise which sounds pretty cool and the pit comm is also a big letdown, so is the TV commentary....7/10
Special effects/features, nothing really, not much you can do with an F1 game in the way of features and effects, slightly interactive pit stop (fuel), could have done with more unlockables, instead its the usual trophies as per each race....3/10
Overall, a good solid fast and fun F1 game, nice graphics tha stay constant, good but not quite there sounds, and below average AI, may not sound great but once you start playing the imersive world of F1 and your instinct as an F1 fan takes over and it is a thouroughly enjoyable game
8/10
