This review was written November 18th, based on a copy of the game I purchased on September 22nd. Almost 2 full months to think about the game and analyze it properly.
I am a massive F1 fan. Massive. I've been following it since the times of Senna x Prost despite my young age. I've been through GP2/GP3/GP4, F1 1998 World GP, GPL, F1 2000, F1 2002, F1 99-02 Challenge, F1 2006 CE, certain rFactor mods, GTR 2 mods, a brief iRacing stint, and the latest F1 2010. I have been driving sims for almost a decade as well so I feel I can talk about this game properly. I'll try to be direct too.
Presentation:
It's very nice to have the Paddock system, in the first few weeks it still seems cool but to be honest, the novelty wears off once you realize how much time is wasted when you have to keep transitioning back to that one area, dealing with loading screens. Despite the setbacks I'll give kudos to Codemasters here, was a nice touch.
Graphics:
At first they seem very awesome, no doubt about it. The cars have a nice resolution, the circuits look pretty, the stands are "alive," the pitcrew is properly detailed. However the helmets are incredibly low resolution compared to the cars, and their mapping just baffles me. The rain looks very good on the track and so does the spray over the front tires from the cockpit view.
The lighting of the game has a filter that makes colors less lively which may not be noticeable by several people, but I feel it takes a little bit away from what it could have been. On TV the cars may look one way but live there's real vibrant colors and they're very reflective but not poorly done like F1 2006. F1 2010 gets that reflection the best out of F1 games I've seen; talking more about reflections, they have a funny effect because their frames per second is at a lesser rate than the game, so they stutter by.
Audio:
Absolutely love the sound of the cars. F1 doesn't have the v12s or v10s of not long ago but the v8s don't sound that bad and this game does a great job in that aspect. Overall the audio is good, we don't have an annoying announcer (i.e. James Allen) bugging us and we do have some pit radio messages every now and then - sometimes they're fine, sometimes slightly off. It's funny when it's off, to be honest, so I'll let that one slide :P. Lastly, on audio, you may be disappointed not to see your name in the list of possible names with audio, but the name is basically only mentioned once on the interview. I picked Colin just for laughs.
Gameplay:
Here's the thing: Codemasters hyped up this game a lot, review sites and shows didn't play enough to really tell us anything, so when the community got a hold of the game it was shocked. Car behavior on the dry was ok, on a wet track it was problematic. Too much grip with wet tires on, and just a generally super forgiving gameplay. Unless you touched the kerbs! They were terribly modeled and sometimes you can just ride them (when you shouldn't as in real life you'd probably damage the undertray an even screw up the gears, as we've seen with Sebastian Vettel) and sometimes you can't even look at them and they'll throw you off. I think Monza was an example of poor kerbs. Oh, you don't need TC even in the rain. It's incredibly tough to lose the rear, wheelspin is completely off.
Anyway, it's understandable this game isn't made to be a sim but Codies could have been straightforward instead of beating around the bush with their and Anthony Davidson's crap (there's a reason he hasn't been on a F1 grid for several years).
Closing statement on driving: It mostly makes sense to drive the cars so if you can remember where kerbs give you problems you'll be fine.
Live The Life:
Simply put, you don't. It's a very shallow experience that will be summed up with you not caring for the press and actually hating your agent :P.
Now, to point out the bad stuff...
CONS:
- TERRIBLE AI rubber banding. Qualifying lap times are completely unreal. Race times are unreal. The AI has predetermined laptimes for every session, the only one who has to worry about setting a certain time around the track is you. You may overtake Vettel on your hotlap but he may still have the faster laptime. Also, do not be surprised to see a lower team car jumping several positions during pitstops or later in the race as they set fastest time. This game is terrible with that. Don't be surprised to see the HRT set the fastest lap of the race, or to see a computer-controlled car simply appear infront of you after warping 100m behind you. The AI has set times for each sector so they'll warp if these are outside a certain range.
- Fuel Simulation and Tire Wear. Another aspect of the game that pretty much only applies to the player. It is incredible how this issue also got through testing, or it didn't but was ignored. To be brief: The player suffers from both but the AI doesn't.
- Track accuracy is poor. Codemasters outsourced the work on the tracks, and when CAD data was available the tracks came out just fine - except Silverstone that has the MotoGP layout. MOTOGP LAYOUT for the F1 TRACK. Also, how the hell does Monaco have a BANKED TUNNEL?! EMBARASSING. Oh yeah, it also rains inside the tunnel!
- Terrible replay. Awful camera, very short. Just terrible.
- The AI is very good on areas where they fail in many games, like T1 of the first lap. The AI moves about to find the proper line instead of just line-up to be overtaken. They put proper fights for position too. Unfortunately Codemasters screwed up everywhere else. They got the toughest part done but completely botched the easy ones! Careful when passing someone on a blue flag, they may BRAKE on you.
- Career is a shame. You could win on Legend your 1st season with HRT and you'll not be offered a contract by a team higher than midfield. It's tough to point out the main problem in that sentence, that you can WIN on Legend with the HRT, or that a top team will ignore the fact you are amazing. Oh, and when you move teams, don't expect to replace the worst performing driver. If you go to McLaren and Lewis beats Button by 50 points, expect Lewis to get the axe.
- Pit Stop bugs still happen despite the patch. Seems to be give and take on luck. That means you could be P1, make a stop, and come out P20. Great way of making a person angry.
- Force Feedback WEAKER after the patch. It was already poor to begin with...
- FPS stutter
- You may set laps in quali faster than some AI but during the race the AI will pull laps 5-10s faster than they did in quali, out of nowhere. This relates to point #1 but it's just so frustrating it deserves another mention.
- Only accurate tracks and best cars in the game are those with CAD data.
- Tracks with poor kerbs (Jump!) and modeling in general, like the exit of Parabolica in Monza. It's like they completely botched some polys while making the track and didn't bother fixing them. Also, how can they put the MotoGP layout for Silverstone in a F1 game?
This game should be avoided, to sum it up. Even casual racers will be upset with the faults the game has. A F1 fan may try putting up with them - like me - but there's always a limit. I will not be buying another Codemasters game, I hadn't in several years for a reason. I most likely will skip F1 2011 as well.
This game is embarrassing, we wanted a proper console F1 game so bad but we got this instead. Do yourself a favor and resist the urge, this doesn't deserve a purchase unless it's on the bargain bin, and even then only if you're an F1 fan.
2/5 is actually me being nice to it.