The only way I can sum up this game is Marmite. You're either going to love it or hate it. I don't think there will be a happy medium for F1 Race Stars. Its a game I have been looking forward to playing for sometime now. I was a huge lover of Mario Kart and this was being billed along those lines. With Codemasters at the helm, adding the touches of official F1 drivers plus the success of the recent Formula 1 game, this could be something big. Who would of thought that seeing a bobble headed Lewis Hamilton would cause such a stir?
The tracks from the game are parts of the real life tracks with lots of extras thrown in. Fly through beer breweries in Belgium or whiz past the carnival in Brazil, al the time you feel like your on one roller coaster ride. Codematsers certainly have captured the lighter side of F1 racing with this venture. Each character is a caricatured version of himself from the real world of F1 and all your favourites are in there. Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and Paul Di Resta. Codies have also thrown in a few female drivers to mix the it up. In total you have 28 racers to choose from or you can use your Xbox Live avatar which is another good addition and gives it a personal feel. Each racing team comes with its own power-up feature. So for instance the Red Bull team use a slipstream boost or the McLaren team have the ability to swap power-ups. Again this adds variety to the player or team you pick.
The game modes offer you full career mode to play through as well as multiplayer and time trials. All of these modes can be single player or you can have up to 4 friends in split screen which I'm looking to try out soon. Career mode allows you to play through a series of championships where the aim is just to win. As you move through each championship you unlock more and more championships. Each one consists of a set of races so for instance the European 1 Championship will have you racing around Italy, Germany and Belgium. The down side is that there are only 11 tracks in the game so you will find yourself playing the same track a few times.
You do have a choice of what type of race, be it 1000cc, 2000cc or 3000cc however I find that this made no difference to the race. Its didn't make the tracks any harder or easier. I did wonder why the actually the selection. The power ups that you get during the race all seem to be bubble based. They could of added something with a bit more imagination with the power-ups. They do keep the race tight so even if you are lagging behind a short rocket boost will have you back in the middle of the pack in no time at all. the randomness of it all does take away any sort of skill factor during racing which to me mixes the game up a little and makes it more enjoyable. Nothing like pulling out the safety car to slow whoever is in first place down.
Some elements they have brought from F1 do work well. The addition of KERS (kinetic energy recovery system) will give you a boost around those corners when needed. As soon as the blue arrow appears then its down on the accelerator 3 times and the boost will kick in. A great way to play catch up.
Multiplayer is just as much fun as single player. Its offers a variety of playlists to choose from as well as offering split screen play which many of today's games don't offer. Having played quite a few mulitplayer games on F1 Race Stars I think an appropriate word to use is carnage. All in a good way as its a pure battle. You'll find you'll be visiting the pitstop a few times as well. These are drive through sections on the game where your car is repaired on the go. Miss the entrance and you could find yourself doing another half a lap before finding another pit stop.
If I'm honest the on the whole game it does feel like it could have given more. Career mode was lacking in depth. In every career mode you expect to immerse yourself in it for hours on end. This game doesn't do that. Be it career mode or single track racing it feels the same. The addition of Co-Op career wouldn't of gone a miss especially as they have used real life teams. More tracks are needed although it does look like they will be at some point via the Xbox Marketplace. F1 Race Stars is one of those games that just a pick up and play. Loads of un to be had although single player will be short lived. For those who have friends then hours of fun could be had throwing your kart around the street of London whilst the Red Arrows fly over head.
Think Mario Kart, think Blur and you get F1 Race Stars. Overall I would give the game a 6/10