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Sony’s latest first-party title is a new entry in the Formula One series. Championship Edition walks the fine line of being an authentic but fun simulation. Thankfully, the developers were able to achieve both, delivering one of the finest racing games currently available on the PlayStation 3.
Formula One CE features modes like career, grand-prix weekend, and world championship, as well as a quick race and time trial mode. The game’s career mode is the most in-depth singleplayer mode since it lets you play through a five-year career with a created driver. As expected, you begin as a no-name driver but you’ll begin to receive offers for better teams as you make a name for yourself. Eventually, you’ll be assigned the primary driver of a team and given various goals for the season. The game does a good job of keeping you up-to-date with a number of news articles and emails, which surprisingly help make the whole thing more realistic. In grand prix weekend, you compete in three preliminary races which help place you in a good position for the actual grand prix race. The slowest six cars in the first race fill the last six spots in the actual race, and so forth. World championship is like a light, one-year career mode.
As mentioned above, Liverpool Studios ensured that the game was accessible to many people. The default control scheme isn’t focused on delivering a full-on authentic Formula One experience and eases you into the game. There are a lot of helpful tools like showing you the ideal route through a track, braking and stability assistance and stability control to help get you started. You can even turn off car damage (which affects how the cars actually drive) and pit stops. If you choose to make the game more authentic you can turn back on car damage and pit stops and turn off the various assistance methods that the game provides. Nonetheless the controls are very responsive at all times.
The actual racing is fun and even intense at times. As soon as you ramp off the default difficulty setting you is going to find a challenging game to play through. However, despite the smooth learning curve, Formula One isn’t the most exciting of races and for the most part there isn’t a whole lot of passing one another and things of that nature. This makes the game more realistic but it also removes one of the most fun aspects of a racing game. The game supports Sixaxis tilt functionality to steer and while it works, it simply doesn’t match the responsiveness provided by the analog stick.
Formula One CE includes online multiplayer for up to 11 players. The online mode is very basic but works well enough with solid network performance. We would have like to see more complex features like online leagues though.
The game’s graphics are great although not phenomenal when compared to upcoming PS3 games like Motorstorm. The car models are quite detailed and car damage is replicated very well. The same can be said of the various courses, which have all the technical prerequisites. However, the game is lacking a sense of flair or art style which is present in the technically-great but somewhat sterile vehicles and courses. Where the game most succeeds is in creating an amazing sense of speed. It does so by keeping up a great framerate, amazing particle effects, blurring, and camera shakes.
The game’s audio is more or less the same. Technically, this is a great sounding game courtesy of Dolby Digital use and some fantastic engine noises but the game is lacking soul. There is no music while driving and the announcer doesn’t appear to be excited by the races. It’s not bad—though somewhat repetitive—just not enthralling.
Formula One Championship Edition is a great game and a solid addition to the PS3 lineup, especially since it’s an exclusive first-party title. F1 fans and those who are curious will find a lot to like in the game from the technical aspects to the smooth learning curve. However, if you hadn’t previously considered an F1 game, this probably won’t convince you that you’re missing out on a lot. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Feb 28, 2007
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