Just after the midway point of the current Formula One season (21st September), in almost perfect timing F1 2012 was released by Codemasters. Developing a new F1 game each year is surely a difficult task with such a short space of time to enhance the gameplay and add new features. So let’s find out if they’ve managed to entice old fans back for more and convinced new fans it’s good enough or if it’s all becoming a bit samey.
Immediately upon starting the game you are guided into the Young Drivers test, a new addition, to get you up to speed with the main aspects of racing in a Formula One vehicle. In almost a tutorial that’s set up as a prologue to career mode you are placed in the driving seat and must perform numerous tasks to satisfy your team that you are ready for the big time. These include simple straight line driving, tricky hairpin turns, how to take corners in general and an explanation of KERS/DRS usage. Once done, it’s then time to use everything you’ve learnt to drive around the Abu Dhabi track in a certain amount of time. Now it may be like teaching the veteran F1 gamers to suck eggs but personally as an experienced yet quite average driver I picked up many things to improve my own techniques. In short, kudos to Codemasters as I’m sure it’ll be appreciated by most and will mean there are less destructive or just plain awful drivers lurking online.
When you are finished learning the ropes, just one of many options this year is the returning career mode. It has had a huge makeover in style with a sleek menu split up into a race calendar, news, emails from your team, contract offers, current standings and settings. Much easier to navigate and better looking than the previous offering .Featuring all 20 race venues its one hell of a career, spanning over a maximum of 5 years there’s plenty of game time in this one. Starting at a less prestigious team such as HRT, your goal is to not only outperform your team mate but also to make yourself known by climbing the drivers’ rankings. With high finishing positions comes better contract offers from rival teams looking to snap you up, with the end game to make it to Red Bull or McLaren and win championships using the better performing vehicles.
My main and only real issue with Career mode has been the length of time it takes to complete a Grand Prix event, even on the lowest settings it seems you must complete 25% of the real life lap count. Add the qualifying to that and it turns into a real time consumer, which most of the time is fine but I have those moments where I just fancy a quick race and Career mode is out of the question. Luckily (I’ll explain more, keep reading) they have included a game mode that suits the pick up and play needs of some gamers, leaving Career for when you have a spare evening or afternoon to get the most out of it.
A clever little feature I found whilst on the Career menu, as you get round to each race venue you can view more info and it shows you a small video. Within this video is almost a full walkthrough of the upcoming track with advice on how to take particularly tough corners. For me the advice is golden and should really help those who might not know the tracks too well, especially the new track. I am of course speaking of the new USA GP Circuit in Austin, Texas which I’ve never seen before; it prepared me for the fast and furious corners early on where going at any less than full speed would be a crime. Quite liked it, has a strange feeling though like I’ve played it before or something similar on GRID. Obviously I haven’t because it’s an entirely new constructed circuit in the USA.
Now remember how I mentioned I’d love a pick up and play Career style mode? Well I kind of found the perfect fit, Season Challenge. Using ten of the best tracks in an order that isn’t structured like the real GP Championship, you get to choose any team to start at, so no grinding for a better team. Pick your own rival and show him how it’s done on the track, each time you defeat them twice it’ll let you choose a new one and offer a contract from another team. It’s up to you whether you stick it out as a loyal driver or fancy a change. Hold on though there’s more, qualifying can be set to the new One Shot style where you literally have one flying lap to put in the best time. Should you also lower the number of laps to 5 you can finish a grand prix event in around 15 minutes, much more user friendly. Easily my favourite mode despite only being one season at a time you can change the difficulty to make it tougher next time around.
In what I would call the padding, (but by no means is that negative) to fill in around the two main modes I’ve mentioned, comes the real test of the skilfulness possessed by you. Time Attack, in settings given to you by the game and a vehicle chosen at a specific venue it’s your job to beat times set out as Bronze, Silver and Gold. I thought I was improving to the point where I’d be competing for that Gold medal; let’s just say I was pushing for Silvers after lots of practice. And where best to practice (other than the young drivers’ test), Time Trials using your own vehicle settings to master each track and compare times with friends on the leaderboards.
Last but not least for the offline game modes we have the brand new Champions Mode and if you didn’t guess it’s you vs the born winners in Formula One such as Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. Each challenge is geared up to suit the champion, they could be ahead of you but you’re using fresh tyres and have a couple of laps remaining to overtake him. I really enjoyed pitting my skills against the big boys and at times it was touch and go as to whether I’d manage it.
Multiplayer-wise it offers the same as last year with a co-op online Championship, but exactly like F1 2011 I’m asking myself why it isn’t available offline? They’ve missed a trick here as time and time again various friends are like “come on let’s have a season”... I have to inform them it’s only one player unless you get Xbox Live. Now don’t get me wrong it’s a whole lot of fun online but nothing beats a side-by-side co-op session. The only thing available to split-screen gamers is a quick race, disappointing to say the least.
As for single races online you can have up to 16 drivers in the room for an epic battle and this is something I enjoyed. Despite only managing this feat with a few A.I. bots included it was a real thrilling race especially when the psycho bots tried to pass at the tightest of corners. For those like myself who take part in many online gaming events, I always say the more the better and with such a large capacity now it’s perfect to accommodate large numbers. I was shocked to have no lag so far in any of my races; servers have always been up and running smoothly when I’ve been using them. Excellent service and maintenance from Codemasters, considering the amount of games from other companies that I play have server issues from day one and never fix them.
Onto one of the most important aspects of the overall game, how does it feel to play in general? Much better is my simple answer but if I get a little technical the vehicles handle smoother and you can almost feel when you may be about to spin out, giving you a tiny window to correct yourself. Tyres play a huge part, choose the wrong ones when it’s chucking it down with rain and you’ll know about it. It also seems to reward drivers who take it steady, whereas if you force it too much it’ll send you flying into the barriers. Unfortunately the irritating parts are when you get a penalty for no real reason, the flags even when reduced are still pretty flawed and ruined one or two of my races.
Graphically it’s stunning from the vehicles all the way up to the landscapes of the circuits; it’s usually hard to notice when driving at such high speeds but I decided to cruise around in a time trial. When you crash there’s bits that fly off, could land on the track, its tiny details like that which add to the realism and enjoyment of a game.
Here are my final thoughts – I don’t think they could get any more realism into a Formula One video game, certainly not on the current generation of consoles. They have improved on previous years and have added new modes, most of which have become my new favourites. The penalty system still needs work, it can’t seem to recognise who’s at fault when a crash occurs and the AI can be a bit mental at times which doesn’t help matters. Hours and hours of game time to be had.
8.5/10