| advertisement |
|
|
ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER FORMULA One championship season, and therefore another F1 game from Electronic Arts. Since EA first brought their F1 franchise to the original PlayStation they have tweaked and improved their game model to further simulate the sport of formula one racing. The question has to be asked however, what else can they do to make the series better apart from just updating the teams each year? A higher framerate would be a good start, but unfortunately EA have once again opted to stick closely to last year's title as far as fluidity is concerned. Let's not get started on too much of a negative note though, as F1 2002 is still a very solid formula one game.
One new addition to F1 2002 is the ability to complete challenges in order to unlock other features hidden away within the game. These challenges mimic the license tests in the Gran Turismo series, in which the player must earn gold, silver and bronze medals for performing such tasks as sharp turns, pinpoint stops and quickest laps. These challenges will earn the player certain team-based trading cards that signify something new has been unlocked within gameplay. It certainly provides a nice break from the continuous racing of a Gran Prix, and you can also learn some invaluable strategies that can be utilised within the main World Championship mode.
In order to experience a race with a decent amount of Challenge in F1 2002 you may need to tweak the default game settings a little. In it's default form the opponent AI just follows a set path along the track, not putting in too much of an effort to block you out. Turn up the difficulty level however and suddenly you have some mean competitors! Not only do they not want to let you overtake them, but they don't believe in slowing down unless they absolutely have to. If you're a skilled exponent of F1 gaming you can still beat these opponents, but you'll need to increase the amount of laps required to remain competitive with the leaders which further increases the feeling of being in a long, grueling formula one event.
The tracks themselves are modelled superbly around their real-life counterparts, and Monaco is especially fun and challenging to race upon. The German gran prix also brings a true feel of the great speed of its long back straights, and Suzuka shows off its famous yet unorthodox design. The hazards alongside each track are also designed to be particularly devastating to your chances of winning, as even a clean spin off and recovery can clog your wheel tread with dirt and grass and make traction for the next few turns horribly dicey. Wet weather is also an important factor, and causes the player to radically change their style of driving as they must make sure they finish the race unscathed rather than setting any new lap records. Once you get into a rythm and feel for a track however, the feel of F1 2002 is wonderful.
|
