F1 Career Challenge

"A change from previous F1 titles"

Ok, I'm a big fan of Formula 1. I've added to peoples FAQs (Cause I'm too lazy to make my own), and I've played the games (specifically F1 2002) for hours and hours. I watch the races...I go to the races when possible. With that being said, here is my review.

Presentation (5)- F1 Career Challenge, I had been waiting for this game for over a year. When I finally got my hands on it, I was very surprised to say the least. It has the same quick-paced music and feel as the old games did, but the styling is almost bland. It's almost like EA kinda lost interest in this title. That's understandable, since they recently made a deal to give the title to sony for a few years in the future. The menus are easy to navigate, and all options are there. One thing though, if you plan on using a wheel with paddle shifting, or even knob shifting, I haven't tried many wheels, but I know that the MC2 universal wheel from madcatz can not work with this game if you want to use manual shifting with the shifter, or the paddles behind the wheel. The reason being..MadCatz are dumb and they didn't put any support for L2 and R2 buttons. Morons!

Controls (7)- In this category, this game has much much more precise controls than the older games. You lose acceleration when you turn ever so slightly, which means that if you want to be really fast, you have to be really smooth with the joysticks(or wheel), and that means extremely light movements. It can be tricky, but once mastered, benefits you in the game, since you will have to take the correct racing line as well. Acceleration and braking have been tweaked a bit. Braking now requires more precision than ever. You have to actually be realistic for once and brake way before you enter the turn, then accelerate once you get by the apex of the turn. Too much steering while accelerating, and you spin out like Taz. If you go off of the track, your handling is greatly reduced, and so is your speed. In able to keep up with the cars, most of the time, you must stay with the racing line. This means patience is the only way to go. If you liked the controls of last year's F1 2002, then you're going to need to take an hour or two to re-learn them.

Gameplay (9)- As I've said before, controls are precise, meaning you have to be patient and wait for your time to pass or turn. The sense of speed is by far the best in it's series. In F1 2002, when you didn't modify your cars at all (race under the simulation mode) your car could only reach about 185 mph tops (Ferraris), and when you got the gold medal, maybe 190 mph if you were lucky. F1 fans know that most of the cars in F1 can reach speeds of up to 225 mph. In real life, they tune the gear ratios for better acceleration, so you lose top speed. In real life, at a track like Indianapolis, on the main front stretch the cars reach speeds of up to 215 mph. I've seen it with my own eyes, and was disappointed with last year's game for not achieving the right feel of formula 1. Well, it's definitely here this year. And, to make things better, you can change gear ratios, downforce, and understeer/oversteer while you qualify for each race (thus allowing you to achieve handling/top speed/acceleration levels of your choice). While some may not like these, I love them. I don't have to spend hours tweaking away at the car. These are good enough to where they tell you what speeds you will achieve, or how many G's you're pulling when you turn, or how fast you accelerate (0-100 3.9 seconds WOO!!).
AI in this game is alright, you can definitely tell a difference in the different difficulty levels. They get aggressive, they make mistakes, and they piss you off. Not that it's bad AI; in my opinion, it's great. They'll cut you off of the racing line like a real racer would in real life. You have to react quickly in order to not crash. If your opponents pass you for the lead, and they are really straining to keep it, they can blow the engine. They can slip on wet pavement every now and then. Note that you can blow your own engine as well (You done gone blowed up!/Kablamo!). There is tire wear, and fuel usage as well. When your team asks you to pit because you have 1 lap of fuel left, listen to them. It sucks when you run out of fuel 5 feet before the pit lane entrance and have to forfeit the race. Wet racing is more realistic now than last year's as well. Also..you get sport cards for doing special things on a particular track. You get points for doing these things which you can use to buy helmets, engine, brake, traction control upgrades, perfect pit stops, reliability, NIGHT RACES!, and even pit girls!

Graphics (7)- Same as last year pretty much. The in car modeling seems a little bit more detailed. If it weren't for that kickass ''glare'' effect of the cars, I would say almost exactly the same as last year's.

Sound (9)- Lack of surround sound again! I think there is some dolby support, but it's not true 5.1 sound..but..neither is any playstation 2 game, so oh well. The engine sounds have improved over last year's dramatically. Go from a Benetton to a BMW, and you'll hear that BMW Power, believe me. They sound more realistic than last year's, more crisp..and more beefy. No in game music, but who the hecksies wants that when you can hear engines roaring? The menu music is pretty cool though. :)

Replay (8)- Lots if you're a fan of F1 and want to win it all!

Minor issues - I've noticed that when qualifying for races, or if you choose to skip qualifying...if the qualification was held in the rain, and you start the race (''the next day'') and it's dry..you're still on wet tires. You don't get to pick like in last year's game. That kinda sucks. Plus, I'm pretty sure it's a glich. Remember, this game is for seasons 1999-2002, so they don't include the 2003 rule changes like 1 lap qualifying (although they kinda did that too...) and you can't touch the car from qualification to race. But, thankfully, if you enter the pits, you can get the tires switched automatically. The downside - a pit stop in this game is serious. If you have a pit stop that is extra, you're screwed in terms of winning the race, unless it's a long long full length race or something. In fact, you'll be lucky to be top 6. They claim to have all track changes (They DO!), driver changes (THEY DO!!), and Team/sponsor changes (wth..?). Does anyone remember one or two years ago when the Williams BMW F1 team switched from having Compaq on the side of their car..to the HP logo in the middle of the season? I do, and I don't think I see that here. Although..the HP logo is on the 2002 cars..so oh well. Also, when you play in career mode, you join a team. When you join a team, you kick out one of those people from the team. I'm not sure if it's random or not, but I'm guessing you take the 2nd person's place. So if you joined Ferrari, you would kill Barrichello! This may throw some people off because they can't work with their favorite drivers.. ={.

All together, this game is very very good. I know I'll play it a ton. Just simple things like going from one season to the next (while staying on the same team) and then noticing that the car is better that next year is awesome! If they combined these ideas with other ideas like..racing any year of a track with any year of a car, or mixed up all the cars of the 4 years together for a quick race or something, that could be really fun. I'm sure they will improve next year, and keep improving. For now, I give this game a thumbs up. Good, fun, precise control to keep you into the game, loud, precise engine sounds let you know how the car is doing, the crew chiefs screaming in your radio, being able to play as yourself with all the real drivers, and of course, the pit girls..makes this one hell of a game for 40 dollars. Go buy it now if you're a formula 1 fan or like racing in general. Rent it if you're wondering about it, it will be at the least worth a rent.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/11/03, Updated 07/11/03