F1 2001

"EA next time push the gas a little more please"

An eight really isn't high enough to descibe this game. I've played many racing games over the past few years. I'm not even totally crazy for racing games, my son is. But F1 2001 did something for me that few if any other racing games has done to me. Right from the start, as I sat back in the pack on 22 the other racers, when I pushed the gas and drove through the smoke of burning rubber, I was hooked. This is a racer you can taste.

GAMEPLAY: I totally admire how this game is/or can be such a hard ars. The fact that theres yellow flags, time penalties and the fact that you can even be ejected from the race, really caught my attention and admiration. Of course you can make the game very forgiving as far as the rules of racing, damage etc. etc. go. But even on the easiest modes I feel challenged. The other cars do seem like they want to win. Its a gritty experience.

GRAPHICS: This is a direct port from the PS2. Not that the PS2 is shamefully low standard. But this wouldn't be a shining moment for the PS2 either. Theres anti-allising issues and some frame rate dropping going on here. Its not always apparent. It mostly happens when theres a lot of other cars on screen or when it starts to rain. But its still upsetting to see this on the XBOX because you know the software company just didn't bother to use all that they had to work with here.
EA Sports is very symbolic of the problems the XBOX needs to resolve. EA Sports is too much of a business. They will follow the bean-counters strategy. They will develope for the lowest standard and just copy it over to the other systems. That is very practical in the short term but in the long term?!....who knows. I hope next year that someone there will kick the bean-counters out and let the game designers have some pride in showing just what they can do with a system like the XBOX. Any case it is only the first year for this system and a lot can happen.
Although the graphics can be alittle rough, it still works to put you there in a big way. The cockpit view, the pit
crew, the rain effects....it's all pretty exciting.

SOUND: The sound works very well for me too. The high pitched whine of the engines doesn't get under my skin. The radio call from the pit are great. Theres maybe a few little details that could push the experience more...for example the scretch of tires is weak...should be more
dramatic. Anyways no big complaints here.

FINAL WORD: I think the XBOX version works better than the PS2 version because of the triggers on the controllers. They're just more sensitive to pressure. And you need a fine turned instruments to drive these cars. This has been a delightful surprise. If the graphics are spruced up and EA Sports decides to use all the power the XBOX has to offer for F1 2002...they're going to get me to buy another one. I highly suggest that you at least rent this. But don't expect to bumper car your way to victory, like you can in so many other of those other so called true racing
games. This game will demand more from you.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/02, Updated 03/14/02