F1 Championship Season 2000 PS1 DISC ONLY

by Playstation

Product Details

• ASIN: B00004W4QM
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.8 x 0.4 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #41,110 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Only eight months since its F1 2000, EA Sports returns once again with its latest Formula 1 racing game, F1 Championship Season 2000. While this iteration uses the Visual Systems F1 2000 engine as its base, a multitude of refinements and additions helps elevate F1 Championship Season 2000 above mere sequel. The game includes all the real drivers, teams, and tracks of the 2000 FIA Formula One World Championship season as well as the usual smattering of time trial, GP weekend, championship, versus, and practice modes common to F1 video games. However, the addition of two new features is what really gets F1 Championship Season 2000 going in the right direction. The first, an interactive training mode, uses cones and an announcer to guide you through each of the game's 17 tracks, focusing on speed, braking, racing lines, and even proper pit strategy. The second new addition is one that is long overdue - a scenario mode. The game feature ten real-world scenarios from the 2000 racing season, so you won't just be stuck racing hundreds of laps over the course of the year; you'll also get to test your mettle in a variety of underdog racing situations. F1 Championship Season 2000's gameplay fires on all cylinders. Control is tight, whether you use analog or digital D-pad steering, and unlike F1 2000 there's no hint of sluggish response - no more than would really occur from steering a 200mph tin can anyway. The game's artificial intelligence is similarly impressive. Competing drivers block your car or attempt to nudge your wheels for an advantage, but they also make enough minor mistakes to seem human. Although subtle, veteran drivers such as Hakkinen and Schumacher drive better than their rookie counterparts, and they always seem to be the ones occupying the upper ten race positions. Racing physics is where F1 Championship Season 2000 really shines though: Skids, spinouts, and drafting response are all realistically executed. As such, careful braking and speed control are of the utmost importance - just like in real Formula One racing. While the game lets you tweak downforce, height, diffuser, gear ratios, suspension options, and fuel load, it's also important to note that all of the game's realism options may be adjusted. If you're an arcade-racing fanatic, you can disable weather, fuel loss, damage, and body tweaking, or you can engage the automatic braking and speed control. However, if you're an F1 simulation nut, setting the game to hard difficulty and enabling every realism option should satiate your cravings.

While F1 Championship Season 2000 succeeds in gameplay, it absolutely destroys the competition when it comes to visuals. The game's 17 tracks have been re-created to real-world specifications, such that they contain all of the landmarks and pitfalls F1 racing fans have come to know and love. From the curves in Indianapolis to that brutal dip at Hockenheim, F1 Championship Season 2000's track designs are spot on. As you drive past at 150mph, trees, billboards, and spectator stands seem to glide by with the same fluidity you'd witness in a television broadcast. Car models are realistic and contain all of the appropriate decals, sponsor logos, and tire markings you'd expect to see on a fresh-off-the-lot Formula 1 vehicle. Of course, once you take that bad boy into a race, your lovely car will end up with grass-stained tires, shattered wings, and smudged paint. EA has even included such visual amenities as heat distortion, realistic weather, persistent skid marks, and five different camera angles - all with zero hint of slowdown or texture warping. By taking its previous F1 2000 engine, fixing a ton of bugs, building upon the in-game environment, and wrapping things up in a broadcast feel, EA Sports has made F1 Championship Season 2000 the PlayStation's most visually appealing Formula 1 racing title to date.

In the audio department, F1 Championship Season 2000 flawlessly succeeds at re-creating the F1 racing experience. Vehicle engines roar with that noticeable high-pitched whine of F1 cars; the pit crew goes nuts when you overtake another driver; and crash effects sound as crunchy as smashing fiberglass ought to. Minor details such as the combined engine roar of 22 on-track vehicles or tires fumbling over road markers also add to the game's realistic approach, while pit crew audio tips really pull you into the game. A greater variety of in-game commentary would be nice, but superb track sounds and a psychotic pit team coupled with television style pre/post-race commentary more than make up for this minor shortcoming. Critics may see F1 Championship Season 2000 as an updated F1 2000, but the game simply contains too many improvements, refinements, and new features to warrant such an injustice. In F1 Championship Season 2000, EA has created the best-looking and best-sounding PlayStation Formula One title to date, and it has excellent gameplay and features to boot.--Frank Provo--Copyright © 2000 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Improvement., December 24, 2000

By 

Steven E. Bradfield - See all my reviews

This review is from: F1 Championship Season 2000 PS1 DISC ONLY (Video Game)

I wrote a fairly nasty review of the original F1 2000, but this game is a vast improvement over it's predecessor. It's still kind of hard to destroy your car with one impact, but overall the damage is much more severe. Also, it's still pretty easy to win, but this version is much more believable and the competition tries harder that ever: i find it fun when two cars just ahead try to run each other off the road.

I still find it annoying that you can't juggle your fuel load one or two laps either way. On the other hand, it's amazing the amount of detail in the graphics now, including being able to see all the grooves on the rain tires!

On the whole, a lot of fun and the closest thing to watching real F1 racing I've found yet(on the PlayStation, at least).

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent F1 Game with Great Playability for PSX/PS2, May 22, 2001

By 

James M. Stafford III (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: F1 Championship Season 2000 PS1 DISC ONLY (Video Game)

F1 Championship Season 2000 is an excellent step up from the former F1 2000. Both games are enjoyable, but most importantly, they're both driveable, unlike virtually all the F1-based games for PSX (except the Greatest Hits game Formula1).

Those who have previously played F1 2000 will instantly recognize that F1CS2K is largely based on its predecessor. However, the physics engine has been updated, including new car set-up options (such as Rear Spoiler). Due to the upgraded physics engine, it is difficult to use the same driving approaches in both games, but F1CS2K's physics engine actually increases both playability and believeability... and overall survival at Monaco!!

However, F1CS2K provides more features than its predecessor. For those just beginning with F1 racing games, Training Mode is absolutely important, allowing the player to both learn the courses (including corner/segment names) and receive visual and auditory tips and feedback concerning each course's corners and tricky areas. Scenario Mode is great for everyone from novices to experts, challenging all players to raise their skill level as they progress through its fourteen stages of real-world F1 racing concerns, from simply finishing at or above a certain position, to coping with problems such as engine misfire.

The visual detail is quite impressive. Clouds are reflected on the shiny surface of the cars. The grooves on the tires attract the eye. There are still some minor pop-in issues as certain textures/patterns come into view, but this is really barely noticeable, especially when contending with a large pack of traffic.

The sounds are better overall. Most impressive is the higher-pitched sounds of the cars, closer to actual F1 engines. This higher pitch also carries further, allowing the player to better hear other cars located elsewhere on the circuit. The team radio provides more information, which can be of great benefit to the attentive player.

My only major complaint is the French-language option of the game. I speak fluent French, but the voice heard over the radio is extremely difficult to understand. This is not simply an issue of divided concentration (focusing on the race and focusing on the voice); the problem is the voice-acting itself.

One tip which will definitely help in playing virtually all racing games: Buy or rent any game of the Gran Turismo series and complete all the license tests. Among other things, the license tests will teach how to handle different types of cars and how to approach different types of corners in both flat and hilly conditions. The latter is especially important to F1 racing; for example, the Interlagos circuit itself has 90-degree corners, J-turns, chicanes, and severe elevation changes, including the deadly left-hand steep-downhill Turn 1 at the end of a lengthy stretch of flat-out acceleration.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A virtually flawless game, December 1, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: F1 Championship Season 2000 PS1 DISC ONLY (Video Game)

However, there is one flaw (and it can be a big one for some)and I'll get it out of the way first. The game is faily easy even at it's highest level. I can start a race as a lesser racer at the expert level in the 22nd postition and have the lead by lap 2 or 3 at the latest. The opponents simply are not fast enough. They will qualify at blistering speeds but come race time they will be 10 to 15 seconds off the pace. I'm willing to overlook this flaw because the rest of the game is brilliant.

There is the usual time trial and scenario modes that add to the other indiviual or championship modes. The incredible feature is the training mode... where you race along the course with the use of visual aids to help in braking an throttle points with the accurate commentary of an instructor. This can be repeated and analyzed with various grade scales for each turn. It's impressive.

The test day feature in a championship weekend is enjoyable too. You can tweak your car, take it out on the track and then view the telemetry with all the appropriate overlays and a TV style presentation of your recorded action on the track. Again... it's impresssive.

The damage physics are not pure... they are lenient with the car up until a certain point. One or two bumps.. your fine. After that expect some damage. I would say it is 90% sim and 10%arcade. These cars have a lot of grip compared to the Expert level on F1 World Grand Prix... which was like driving on ice.

If your an absolute simulation person... Jarret and Labonte Racing is your current ticket. If you willing to forgive some of the less than sim aspects, this is the greatest racing game ever to appear on the playstation. I own Jarret/Labonte and NASCAR 2001 as well, but F1 Championship Season is the one I come back to time and time again.