As a F1 fan
who enjoys the occasional video game, I had to get my hands on F1 2012 the game
to both compare to previous years, and pound laps round old favourite tracks
such as Malaysia’s Sepang, and a new favourite in the form of the recently
completed ‘Circuit of the Americas’ track in Austin, Texas ahead of the latest
inaugural United States Grand Prix outing.
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Sports
titles that sell yearly releases face a demanding battle to deliver noticeable
improvements worthwhile of annual purchases to both fans, and newcomers to the
sport or game franchise, and developer ‘Codemasters’ have done an extremely creditable
effort in doing so.
Despite a
few somewhat cliché gaming features in career mode such as ‘emails’ from your
team, the game makes you feel responsible yet excited to be
driving as you fly away to Australia, Malaysia & China for the first races
of the season. Initially, on-track mistakes are almost inevitable as you
perfect your craft, and as a rhythm appeared, I unquestionably have been
suitably challenged and rewarded as a result.
Overall, the
gameplay is excellent. My Williams car certainly feels different near the end
of the season in comparison to the beginning, mainly due to the completion of
R&D objectives, of which directions can be altered mid-season. The most
noticeable improvement however for both gameplay and presentation is that the
weather system promise has finally been delivered.
Within a
Chinese Grand Prix I dropped to 11th, but by the pitstop window it
started to drizzle. I (pretending to be Jenson Button in dry to wet conditions)
stayed out despite high tyre wear and a cranky race engineer reminding me to
pit twice a lap. As the field pitted for their other dry tyre compound, I
pitted for intermediates emerging 1st, after others re-pitted to change once
again as the rain fell heavier. Nevertheless, on the last lap, my tyres impressively
visibly looked worn, and ended up spinning at the slightest acceleration round
sharp turns, ultimately finishing 6th. So congratulations
Codemasters, you can finally tick the boxes for weather and tyre wear!
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| The Williams Car Swoops Round The 'Circuit Of The Americas' |
For many, a
concern has been the computer’s AI being too easy or difficult, but happily I
have found a perfect match for my skill capability this year. In my first career
race in Australia, I fully concentrated on chasing down Alonso in P3 until the
very last lap. Whilst I finished behind, it was so engaging to hook up
near-perfect laps to take tenths off of his lead most laps, creating a tense
finish, and immediately making me look forward to the next race. The desire to
keep playing strikes me as a top rate game, no matter what the genre.
Still, there
are areas could be created with greater realism however, and more involvement
in what is going on in the rest of the field would be appreciated to give a
more complete experience, such as notifications and replays of crashes,
mechanical failures, key overtakes, etc. Even with ‘full’ damage on, the worst
I can seem to do is break the front wing. Whilst some would find occasional failures or
having to retire after being hit by Grosjean or Maldonado frustrating, I
believe it would make a virtual championship as exciting and unpredictable,
just like the REAL thing. Perhaps this could be included as an option in the
future.
Existing features
have been refined and expanded, but thankfully fans voices have been heard, with
many new modes both off and online being introduced. For some a whole career
has been too long, particularly for newcomers to the sport or only wanting a
short race occasionally. ‘Season challenge’ was introduced to address this,
with a comparison to career mode of 10 instead of 20 races, 10% rather than 25%
amount of laps, and ‘one-shot’ qualifying, in which only one flying lap is completed to
determine grid position rather than multi-stage format of real race weekends.
This doesn’t hit the mark personally, but it has definitely opened up a new
market for casual racers and fair play for this creditable addition.
‘Champions
mode’ has a super concept of challenging the six champions on the grid in
various scenarios, yet this great opportunity has disappointingly been
delivered too straight-forward on the hardest difficulty. They are not distinct
enough to ‘proving grounds’ which are back, setting scenario based challenges
designed to give the less familiar F1 fan and gamer an arcade-style mode to
settle in to. Nevertheless it is a useful way to measure and develop your
skills, before embarking into ‘Racenet’.
Racenet is the
most desirable addition for me, as unknown fresh weekly challenges are
presented which allow you to see where you stand against the whole F1 community
through leaderboards. This makes a limitless challenge for all and gives great
value for money.
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| Singapore Visually Is Fantastic & With Wet Conditions Is A Spectacle |
The
presentation of the race tracks are as immaculate as always, with track layouts
and surrounding environments being represented to a tee. The new circuit in
Austin, Texas as mentioned is a delight to drive, and as a result of playing F1
2012 has made me look forward to the new event more than any since the first
night race in Singapore in 2008. The track is unbelievably flowing with some
classic style complexes, unique new turns and elevation changes yet several
opportunities for the real event come November 18th.
Essentially,
it is easy to assume F1 2012 is just tracks you’ve raced 95% of on previous
titles, but like the evolution of popular series like FIFA, with new
game-modes, an enhanced gameplay feel, arguably the best new track since Sepang
was inducted in 1999, and fresh online community challenges weekly, there is
plenty of content to keep F1 newcomers and experienced gamers alike engrossed
as equal to any other high quality title. If you’re a true Formula One fan and
enjoy a gaming challenge, you will be rewarded as you sit in that cockpit and
strive for the perfect lap(s) strategy and hunt down anyone in front of you - to
be the best.
+ Racenet & Other New Varied Modes
+ Austin Track
+ Weather System Improvements
+ Listening To Gamers Feedback
+ R&D Implications on Car
- Poor Champions Mode Attempt
- Damage, Crash & Safety Car Realism
F1 2010 = 7.5/10
F1 2011 = 7/10
F1 2012 = 8.5/10
Realistic & Far-Fetched Suggestions For Future Titles
- Classic drivers/races/cars scenario replicas
- Rise of damage/mechanical realism
- Cut scenes with Team Principles/similar
- Safety car appearances more realistically frequent especially when not involved
- Special guest appearances e.g Bernie Ecclestone, Murray Walker
- GP2 feeder series includement?
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