F1 2010 (The Computer Game Review)

BY JASON WRIGHT

Although the support of Formula 1 has grown in recent times, for several years now, its place in the gaming market has been very much in the doldrums.  The axing of EA Sports’ take on the series in 2003 meant the titles became PlayStation exclusive as they were made by Sony.   Though these games still were massive bestsellers, Sony hardly developed and improved the format and with the titles became boring and repetitive, finally having its contract terminated in 2007.

It wasn’t until March 2008 when the FOM decided to award a new contract.  Codemasters was given the rights to restore F1 to its former glory in the games world.  The decision was soon taken to only release a 2009 version of the game on the PSP and Nintendo Wii, intending to put all its effort into 2010 for it to really attract the likes of Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, the former of which has never had an F1 game until now.

Utilising their self-titled ‘EGO’ games engine, which has made the Race Driver and Colin McRae DIRT titles such a success, the task was simple but as always, complicated.  To not only give the player the experience of racing in F1 but to live the life off the track as well.

As expected, the game is mainly built around the career mode.  Unlike in the Sony versions, the player jumps straight into the championship, without having to go through the daunting task of earning a super license, compete in a shoot-out for a race seat or take part in pre-season testing.  Starting with one of the three new teams on the grid for this season, Hispania Racing F1 Team, Virgin Racing or Lotus Racing, it’s the player’s ultimate task to be successful, rise through the ranks to the point that they are eventually racing for a championship challenger like McLaren-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing.  The player has the choice of stopping after their third of fifth season in the sport but after having done seven seasons (in this case, the year 2016), that’s it, they will have to retire.

It is what’s off the grid that adds excitement to the game.  Never before has the player been able to talk to media, which varies from whatever language the game is in, (the English version allows you to speak to BBC Radio 5 Live’s David Croft and Holly Samos.)  These interviews can seem innocent but players have to watch out, just the small word of criticism spoken can land the player in hot water with their team.  Performances in races also matter, out-race your more experienced team-mate and you can get first call in technical upgrades on the car.  You also get an agent, named Gabriella, who sounds Italian, who will handle contract negotiations and transfers to a new team.

Sony’s ultimate letdown in recent years was its tedious AI (Artificial Intelligence) system which usually had the cars racing around in a straight line with no action, changes in order only happened in pit-stops.  Codemasters has been extremely careful not to repeat this mistake and bases each circuit and weather condition on deciding whose best in those particular environments.  Good examples are that Felipe Massa may be the one to beat in Turkey as he’s won three times in the last five years there and Lewis Hamilton could be the one to watch out for in wet weather because of his strong drives in these conditions in real life.  It actually also has cars crashing into one another at any time.  Players have to also watch out for hazards such as bits of bodywork on the track or a stranded car on the racing line.  This does though have a downside that this game does not have any mechanical failures or a Safety Car.  Codemasters has had the decency to admit this before its release and has already confirmed it will work to bring back mechanical retirements for the 2011 game, although whether the safety car will also return remains to be seen.

Advanced technology in games has allowed the opportunity to provide the best wet weather racing yet.  Skill and nerve is what’s required now, just like in real life, in order to master the tricky conditions.  The dynamic weather setting will allow to automatically selecting the most common conditions for each circuit.  Malaysia, Belgium and Japan are perhaps prime examples of where it is most likely to rain.

Other missing features include no race commentary, instead receiving constant feedback from your race engineer via team radio.  Some players though might consider this as a good thing as in-race commentary could distract their progress in trying to listen to it.  After all, who wants to listen to the tedious Jonathan Legard!  It is also not possible to watch live footage of either practice or qualifying when in the garage, instead relying on just the live timing page.  Also, there is no World Championship mode this year though the grand prix weekend mode allows up to all 19 races on the F1 calendar to be contested at any one time, auto saving in between, so players can race the full championship calendar, or for the first time ever, ability to mix up the order of the races (e.g. you could possibly want to go to Singapore first and have Britain as the season finale).

In conclusion, the gamble that Codemasters in rushing through 2009 and fully committing to 2010 has well and truly paid off.  As long as they make significant improvements year after year, this completely heralds a new dawn for F1 games.