F1 Championship Season 2000

"A good F1 racing game??"

Right, lets start with the facts. This was EA Games first F1 game, it was a PSone game to start and was ported to PS2! But its still an enjoyable game on the dull sport which is F1.

As most people know, F1 is usually a procession of odd shaped cars following Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari. This game (as with all F1 games) allows you to change it. If you want a Minardi to win, you can take a Minardi from 22nd to 1st easily.

Graphics - 6/10
Even though the car models are highly detailed with all the sponsors in the right place and that, the frame-rate throws a fit on Monaco and Spa when there are lots of cars on screen. This does put you off but when you are flying down the back straight at the USA Grand Prix, you see the Frame Rate can be very stable when it needs to be.

Sound - 7/10
The car sounds are very realistic. There is a convincing scream of the engine when you hit the Rev Limiter at 16000rpm as well as a convincing turbo kickback when you slam the brakes on into a slow corner.

Gameplay - 8/10
The game is easy to play but hard to master and put down. The handling is very light and makes it more fun to play. When your chasing a car down the straight and gaining, you want to be able to swiftly move out and the handling on this game allows that. On other games, the handling is very heavy and I find my self plowing into the back damaging my nose cone. This is hard to do on this game because of the lightness of the handling. It is a bit light at time and when you are on a very narrow monaco straight with Full Damage and swerve out, you will more often than not hit the wall and damage your car. This can be in anyway from your suspension struts to ripping your front wheel from the mounting. When you damage your car as well, the lack of wings contributes to making the handling even more difficult and you will lose your turning circle.

Lastability - 7/10
Even though this game is a 2000 edition, noting much has changed since it. Yeah, some new drivers have arrived but the tracks are the same as the new editions and the cars (Except Minardi) look pretty much the same.
The game will last a while too! Playing it on easy is fun to see how much you win by. I have lapped upto 7th on 4 laps using easy which now is dull. On medium, there is more of a challenge, you have to have a good qualifying session and then a good race to win. On hard, a good qualifing session will put you 10th if your lucky! You have to have a blinding race to win on hard. But thats part of the challenge. Learning the braking points and the speed of the corners, its rewarding. Unfortunately, as with all F1 games, there is nothing to unlock. No hidden cars or tracks at all. Its a bit frustrating when you win everytrack in the championship and they just say 'Well Done, You won the F1 Championship, try the next level'.

Overall - 7/10
This is a good starter F1 game and I think probably the second best on PS2 behind EA's F1 2001. Its easy to pick up and hard to put down. I got it at a bargain price of £10 and feel it was worth every penny.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/02, Updated 05/30/02