 Review By: Jared Black |
Developer: | Studio Liverpool |
| Publisher: | SCEA | |
| Genre: | Racing | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 (11 online) | |
| Online Play: | Yes | |
| Accessories: | PlayStation Network (online play), HDTV 720p, Logitech Driving Force Pro/EX/G25 Racing Wheel | |
| Buy Now: |   |
Although the career mode is definitely the focus of the single-player experience, Formula One Championship Edition has gotten a lot of press for its solid online mode. The game supports up to 11 players in a race at a time, with the rest of the field represented by CPU opponents. Although it’s pretty much just straightforward racing with no variety in gameplay modes, there are enough rules to toggle on and off to keep the game somewhat fresh. Plus, as other companies have already demonstrated in their racing games, it’s just fun to get a large group of skilled racers together to do battle on a course, and I plan on playing online long after this review is finished. Unfortunately there are no split-screen multiplayer modes, and while I can understand Sony wanting to keep the visual quality at a peak, I’d much rather have a slightly worse looking multiplayer mode that I could play with my friends in the same room.
Graphically, Formula One is one of the most-polished games to hit the PS3 yet. The cars are incredibly detailed and lifelike, and parts will fly off in convincing fashion when there’s damage. For example, in one race where I had the camera pulled back, my car mysteriously started losing speed despite no apparent damage. After a few perplexed seconds I switched to a viewpoint inside the car, and that’s when I discovered that I actually had someone else’s tire wedged in the front of my car. Speaking of the camera, you can smoothly switch between several different viewpoints both in and out of the car, and every single one of them is easily playable.
At the same time, it’s also eerily clean for a racing game, especially after seeing the truly visceral experience of a game like MotorStorm. While this is the nature of the sport (this isn’t off-road racing after all), a lot could’ve been done with effects like spewing smoke, oil splatters, tearing up grass off the course, and the like that would’ve added some much-needed chaos to the game. The effect of the tires getting dirty and then gradually cleaning themselves is also a little weak.
That's not to say that there are no graphic treats, as I was very impressed with the way rain hits the camera, and the game does have some smoke and sunlight effects. On the whole though, some of those long stretches where you aren’t around anyone else can be a little boring due to the graphic sterility, and some extra variety and special effects would’ve made a big difference. Also, like some other games in this HD era, while the menu text is big enough in HD (but still on the small side), it’s almost impossible to read on smaller TVs in standard definition as one of my fellow staff members discovered. This is also true of the button icons that need to be pressed while pitting, which may cause some issues for our SD gaming friends.
Music isn’t much of a factor in a game like this, and wouldn’t have been appropriate in the middle of a race anyway. The menu music is appropriately European-ish though. For purists however, just the sounds of the race itself are a pleasing enough aural experience. The announcer (whose name escapes me) is a mainstay in F1 titles, and follows the lead of every other sports game announcer by repeating the same canned phrases over and over again. At least they don’t dominate over the in-game sound effects though, and are informative enough to be passable. You’ll also hear comments from your pit crew over the radio as well.
Finally, it would’ve been nice if this game offered an install option as some other PS3 titles have before. For a game all about speed, the load times between menus and races are a little lengthy, and frustrating when you just want to move on to the next race. Really, every game on the system (given the PS3’s beefy 60GB hard drive option) should have the option to store data on the hard drive for quick access, but a game like this in particular really needs it.
Bottom Line:
Formula One Championship Edition is definitely a niche title, but it fills that niche very well. It’s focus on true simulation racing, combined with a deep career mode and fun online multiplayer, makes this one of the better games to be released for the system to date. So despite a few issues, Formula One Championship Edition is a solid F1 title that’ll definitely please fans of the sport, as well as gamers that enjoy more technical racing in general.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 7.8 |
Posted: 2007-03-18 12:44:50 PST