Formula One 2001
Score: 93% ESRB: Everyone Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment America Developer: 989 Sports Media: DVD/1 Players: 1 - 2 Genre: Racing
Graphics & Sound: Formula 1 racing is commonly overshadowed in America by Nascar, but the European division of 989 Sports hopes to change that with Formula One 2001 for the PS2. But they could have a hard time trying to win over the U.S. crowd while still holding true to the rabid fans of the sport. The graphics of Formula One 2001 do an outstanding job of conveying the true feeling of the sport. The game is officially licensed which means that you will get to enjoy the full-on advertising blitz that comes with Formula 1 racing. All of the details that you would expect are there and everything looks beautiful. Camera flashes come from the grandstands, flags wave convincingly with the simulated wind, and the tracks are adorned with ferris wheels, lamp posts, trees and radio towers. But the cars are where the true graphical splendor lies. All of the cars are unique and feature a level of realism that will make your heart race as fast as the game. I only noticed one problem which was a slight case of the jaggies at times, but you will have a hard time noticing it. It is obvious that a lot of work went into the technical details of the graphics in Formula One 2001. I was amazed to start a race and find that it was raining, but I was even more amazed at how good it looked. While there weren't the pools of water or reflecting pavement found in Gran Turisimo 3, Formula One 2001's rain effects looked great. Formula 1 cars by there very nature are powerful machines, and as you break the tires loose, you'll realize just how true that is in the game. Tires put out smoke like The Fast and the Furious on the pavement, and if you are unfortunate enough to hit the dirt, it flies like Mad Max. Formula 1 cars are famous for their high-pitched screaming engines and Formula One 2001 does a pretty good job of emulating the real thing. In the lower gears like when exiting the pits, it doesn't quite sound right, but once you get up to speed, it sounds dead on. For all of the modes other than Championship, the music in Formula One 2001 shows where the developer, Studio Liverpool is from and I'm not talking about The Beatles. Formula One 2001 features that light techno that is all the rage in Europe these days (or so I hear). For the Championship mode, the race tries to be as true to life as possible with a commentator, but in the end it just detracts from the experience. Usually the comments are late after hitting a wall or going into the grass and the names don't flow into the speech at all. The only other problem in the sound department is that sometimes the impact noises don't match up when you hit something, and in the worst case aren't even there.
Gameplay: Formula One 2001 works like most other racing games by offering Championship, Single Race, Test Run, and two player modes. All of the modes are just what you would expect, but the Championship mode is amazingly deeper than most games. Choosing your racer is the first step, after that it is up to you to take him to the top using your skills as a mechanic and a racer. For each course you are allowed two 60 minute free sessions to tweak the settings of your car and learn the course. By the way, that's 60 minutes of real time and it's not hard to use all of it, but you can fast forward if you need to. After that, the qualifying round starts, in which you can further perfect your machine's settings and try for the best lap. During the whole process the other teams are doing the same as you, and will leave and enter the pits as needed, further adding to the realism. Naturally after qualifying comes the race. The tracks are long and most races are 14 - 22 laps which means that Championship mode isn't a pick up and play affair. Also 22 racers are on the track at one time without a drop in the framerate. The key to winning a Formula 1 race in real life is fine tuning of all of the parts, and in Formula One 2001, you have the same control. Everything from wheel camber to wing pitch is customizable and it makes a real difference, both in the visuals and the performance of the cars. Thinking that I was the best racer in the world, I figured that I could prove to everyone it was possible to win a rainy course with dry, hard compound tires. After completely missing the first turn and flipping four times after hitting a wall at 130 mph, I learned my lesson and humbly headed back to the pits. With the default settings, damage is turned off but after a quick jaunt through the Options menu, I was ready to start the destruction. Objective 1: Drive the wrong way on the track resulting in a head on collision with another racer. Mission complete. The damage engine in Formula One 2001 is the best I've seen in most any racing game. After taking enough damage, the entire car can blow apart, leaving tires, spoilers, nose cones and the like littered across the track.
Difficulty: Formula One 2001 is a hard game in only the fact that if you want the true experience, you should play with fuel consumption, damage and penalties on. This makes the game very hard because if you leave the track and take a digger into the wall, or don't make pit stops, you lose. It is best to start out on novice and work your way up to the level where you can take the realism but still do well. I found that the AI of the computer players wasn't as vengeful as it should have been. After hitting another racer five or six times, nearly crippling his car, he would never put up a last ditch effort to run me off of the road. One of the hardest things to get used to is the starting of the race. Thinking that I could just hold down the gas and zoom off when the light hit green, I was amazed when I slammed into the car in front of me and received a penalty for jumping the start. The best method to use is to put the car in neutral and gun it until the light hits, then drop her into first.
Game Mechanics: First off and most importantly, use the analog. Formula One 2001 requires precise control of both speed and throttle. In addition to analog, Formula One 2001 supports Logitech's USB Force Feedback Wheel for the PS2. It costs 100 clams but it could give you that extra edge if you really need it. One thing I found annoying is that every time you start the game, it asks you which memory card you want to use for auto-saves even if you already have data on the card. When you save a game for the first time it takes quite a while, but after that the auto-save kicks in and works quite fast without taking up a lot of memory. What Guys thinks: I looked at the lackluster package and had my reservations, but the gameplay speaks for itself. The Championship mode is as deep as Madden and I'm sure I'll be playing it for months to come. The only problem that I can see for Formula One 2001 is that F1 2001 from EA is being released around the same time and it could have a little more support simply because of the developer's name power.
-Joe Guys, GameVortex Communications AKA Joe Labani
F1 2001 Giants: Citizen Kabuto