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So, graphically, it is a true representation of the sport. The game looks exactly how it looks on television. This is both good and bad. If you are familiar with the setting, the tracks and the cars, then you will admire the realistic looks and authenticity. That is, however, also the game’s downfall. Codemasters can’t take liberties and fill some of the barren-looking tracks with extra scenery that just isn’t there in real life. As a result, some tracks do look a little uninspiring. It isn’t helped by the fact that the textures used for the grass surrounding the track looks flat and lacks detail. Other tracks, like Monaco, look terrific, though, and this is the nature of Formula 1. What Codemasters have managed to do is to make the weather effects look spectacular. When it rains, it pours! The water runs over your car and your visor. It creates a haze that’s difficult to see through on the track, especially if you are stuck behind the pack. Night races look amazing, too. Tracks like Abu Dhabi and Singapore use lighting to great effect.
If you are an F1 nut, some of that detail can seem a little wonky. For instance, the celebration animations appear to be shared between all the drivers. I know it’s been a while since Kimi Raikkonen won a race, but his jubilant celebration was completely out of character for the man known as The Iceman. Seeing Lewis joyfully celebrating third place on the podium was also a stark contrast to his usual truculent stance under such circumstances. Lewis is a born winner and only first will do!
The podium celebrations are short. There is no Eddie Jordan or Martin Brundle.
There is also a distinct rubbery-ness to the faces of all the racers. You can certainly tell who their likeness represents, but the effort has gone into the detail of the cars where drivers wear a helmet, rather than the drivers themselves. The realism in the facial expressions you see in a WWE game, for example, is lacking here.
Back to racing – even with settings on easy, and damage on full, there is the randomness of F1 that can ruin your race. I had finally tiptoed my way to the front of the pack and was hoping to see my first podium. An unexpected puncture put an end to that. This saw me lose the lead and rapidly fall back through the pack as I tried to hobble my way back to the pits. I rued my choice of a 3-lap race as I knew that, effectively, my race was over. It’s these type of events that keep the racing fresh and interesting. Bear in mind, it needs to, because just like watching the sport on TV, there’s a potential for a race to be a boring, uneventful procession. Watching your favourite driver have a mechanical failure on TV is disappointing, but when it’s happening to you in that cockpit, the thrill of getting the car home, if it all possible with some points, is where the challenge is at.
If you are careless when racing, or try to brap round the track like your playing Need For Speed, then you will witness some spectacular crash mechanics. Wheels come off, bits of carbon fibre litter the track, and nose cones will be destroyed. If you are the cause of a massive pile-up, you will likely be disqualified. Strangely enough, I didn’t notice a safety car being deployed during any of the accidents that occured when racing.
I then decided to try my luck online. The first attempt saw no players available, but the next time I tried, I was able to get online and see how things fared. Well, I can say I was consistently in the points. That was only because you have to be in the Top 10 to be in the points and the maximum number of racers that the game could find for me was five, including myself. I chose Beginner Mode, obviously, and found that the other racers couldn’t collide with me, or me with them. This gave the online racing the impression that you were racing ghost driver’s times rather that battling it out live. I decided I’d be better honing my race craft in single-player first before attempting higher difficulty levels, which I presume would bring collisions with them.
F1 2015 – Gameplay: My First Race! – Tiametmarduk
As an F1 fan I enjoyed F1 2015. You can really appreciate the amount of detail there is, but if you’re a fan then there are details you will want that just aren’t there. I wanted to see the man who is at every F1 race behind the podium – he has the best job in the world, as all it appears he does is give out the hats and watches to the drivers before they step out on to the podium. I look out for him every race! That may be an unnecessary detail, but for fans of previous games this reboot is missing game modes that attracted buyers before. If the reasoning was to attract fans like myself, then the aforementioned details are what I’m looking for. Things like the drivers sharing celebration animations irked my knowledge of those drivers’ real life behaviours. Out on the track where it counts, the racing is solid. F1-style racing isn’t going to attract fans of arcade racers, and it isn’t aimed at them.
The problem is – this release has taken a step back from those at which it is aimed. There is nothing wrong with the game, it just comes with an array of game options fans may expect on a PS Vita, but not on the Playstation 4. F1 2015 is the equivalent of FIFA 2014 when it was released on next-gen consoles. That game was missing popular game modes, too. EA may have been excused because, at the time, the next-gen consoles were new. Codemasters should have learnt from EA, but instead took a leaf from their book. FIFA still sold by the truck load, but then that one will. F1 is a niche game in the racing genre – admittedly it has no competition, but they have risked buyers snubbing this release and waiting for next year’s F1 2016 instead. Codemasters don’t have the excuse of rushing the release for a new console. The PS4 is no longer next-gen – it is current gen.
If you are a fan, then try before you buy. F1 2015 is in no way a bad game. What is there is good, and it’s a true representation of the sport and it’s a solid, enjoyable racer, but for those who have followed the series faithfully, some may find this is the Diet Coke Lite version. For the likes of me, who hasn’t played an F1 game in a long time, I enjoyed the racing but I wanted more realism on top of what there was outside the car. So Codemasters appear to have tried to attract new customers to the series like myself, but fell short on details my fan’s eyes are looking for, whilst alienating long time fans of the series like my pal, by giving them a barebones version of what they have experienced in the past.
Thanks to those Youtube channels featured for the gaming footage.
F1 2015 is out now on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
F1 2015 – Official Teaser Trailer
Important info:
- Publisher: Namco Bandai
- Players: 1
- HDTV options: up to 1080p
- Dolby Digital 5.1 sound: Yes
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GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY POTENTIAL |
7.5 6 7 6 |
| OVERALL | 6.5 |
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