Publisher: EA Sports
SLIDE SHOW
By Kevin Ma
Shall we play a game?
Racing games have come a long way, and with the increasing computing power and online capabilities, desktop experience is getting closer and closer to the actual racing experience. Just think of your home as your personal speedway.
Jenson Button (left) can be a cheater in virtual world.
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PC vs. PS2
While software companies continue to push their products for game consoles (i.e. Playstation 2, XBox and GameCube) for a wider range of gamers, racing simulations for PC still hold the advantage because of greater calculating power for onboard telemetry. If you want to compare the two platforms with the same title, the easiest way is to pick up F1 2002 for PC and PS2, and you will know the differences. For the PS2 version, the framerate is better but lack of telemetry makes it a better arcade game, on the other hand, the in-depth telemetry in the PC version allow players to setup the car more precisely just like the real thing, and for sure more fun if you are a F-1 nerd like me.
Also, if you pick up a copy of F1 2002 at your local store like Game Stop and EB, you will discover that the PC version is actually $10 cheaper than the PS2 version. If you like F-1, you will know how to invest a product and make a wise decision, but only if you have a decent desktop computer, the choice is easy.
Juan Pablo Montoya rolls over yard of bricks at Indy.
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Brief F-1 Sim History
The evolution for F-1 sim started when Geoff Crammonds - the grand daddy of F-1 simulation, released Grand Prix 2 in 1995 thru Microprose, back then the game was by far the best in the market and I personally was one of the 'unofficial' car-set developers in 1995. While the internet was starting bloom in the mid 90's, I actually had a website in which I put my car sets online for others to download them. In case you don't know, Grand Prix 2's car models consist of two-dimensional bitmaps (BMP) and put together as a three-dimensional model, so it was easy to change graphics using Photoshop for the car sets. Seven years passed by, my Geocities site is gone, but I can tell you the best graphic I made for Grand Prix 2 was a Dome-Mugen with 7-Eleven logo on the rear wing. In case you forgot, this Japanese team actually tried to enter the FIA Formula One World Championship, and the team tested several time with former part-time F-1 driver Marco Apicella. Who's Apicella? Go ask Eddie Irvine.
EA Enters F-1 Market
Since the popularity of F-1 sim/game increases, EA entered the F1 scene in 2000 after getting the licensing and started the F-1 franchise, code name F1 XXXX. While F1 2000 for Playstation was far from realistic, it was the first game that included the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the market. Despite this attraction, the lap time for the USGP was way off and the game was just too easy, so it was not a big hit with Gran Turismo 1 and 2 dominating the console world back then.
Following F1 2002 was an updated called F1 Championship Season 2000, and the PC version was actually a decent one. However, the system requirements were way too high for general users -- even my office's 400 mhz PII machine could not handle the demanding graphics, and I ended up putting the game on the shelf until I got my new computer earlier this year.
Unfortunately, F1 Championship Season 2000 was incompatible with my Windows XP. Bummer! Fortunately F1 2002 came to rescue.
Wheel-to-wheel action can be seen in F1 2002.
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F1 2002
More than two years after EA's first F1 release, F1 2002 made its new season's debut and finally lives up to expectations.
PRESENTATION
I popped in the CD from the small retail box, and installed the game to my self-built AMD 1800+ computer. After a boring game introduction, here I am -- in the main menu! By the way, EA Sports only made one good F-1 introduction, and ironically it was in 2000 for the mediocre F1 2000 PS1 game.
The main menu is quite easy to navigate. When you first entering the game, you should click on the helmet icon to enter your info, as well as choosing a driver and your nationality. From then on, your name will replace the driver of your choice (just the name) in race classifications, which means you can replace Michael Schumacher's name with your own name. Bye-bye Schuey. The downside is, you can't replace the helmet with you own design.
In-depth telemetry a must for die-hard tech fans.
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The game also provides you a personal profile in which your overall race stats will be accumulated, the idea was good because you know how your racing progress is as you play on. The only thing is, the statistics are not accurate because I don't recall I won five races as shown on my stats, I won only once.
Like F1 Championship Season 2000, there is a race school in which you can complete different tasks to gain track experience. However, in real life you don't really put the cones on Indy's front straight for lane changing test, but it is quite fun when you get a hold of your steering wheel and do the parking lot stunts. You can also choose from season, individual race weekend, test day and multiplayer on the top menu. If you go in the season mode, you will be able to see some movie footages of individual races before each race. Individual weekend includes practice, qualifying and race, just like the normal race weekend.
Where are the SAP grid girls?
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GRAPHICS
Graphics in F1 2002are top notch in today's standard, but the game is extremely power-hungry. Even though my computer has an AMD 1800+ 1.5Ghz CPU with 512MB RAM, which normally handles most of the demanding games in the market, my old GeForce 2 GTS 64MB graphics card suffered and cannot me to turned on full details without drop frames. If you need to turn on all the details while having high framerate, you properly need a GeForce 4 128MB graphics card to 'feed' this beast.
Other than that, the graphics on F1 2002 are by far best in class including realistic shadows, tire smoke, individual car model and weather effects. However, I encountered one minor problems, in which a reversed image of the rear wing showed up several times over the front of the rear wing during replays, Normally it is no big deal, but it is painful to see a serious flaw like this especially the everything else is so perfect.
Also, without the emotion engine like the PS2 has, the grid girls look horrible! I rather they don't have it and just cut to the chase.
My other complaint is there is no one at the pit lane during qualifying, and like many other games you can actually drive through your pit crew without suffering any consequences. Also, the wings won't change even though you adjust your downforce, so my car still carries a double-decker at Monza - I had little downforce and I should have little wings!
A lonely Juan Pablo.
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Grand Prix 2 was an old game, but there were features I really love. I like to see abandon cars got strained at the trackside, in which F1 2002 achieved that. On the other hand, the sparked coming from the rear of the car cannot be seen on F1 2002, no matter how low the ride height is. Also, the glowing brakes cannot be seen on F1 2002.
Weather effects are quite good, but there are questionable reflections on the track surface, and what's up with the rain coming down inside the tunnel at Monaco!
Crashes look good, but the engine cover won't fly off, and there is no track marshals or cranes pulling the retirements out of the way, it just poof!
Forgive me, I am picky, but I have to give credits to the artists at EA, in which they created realistic trackside objects in the game, wood plank with actual wood grains, and those blanking taillights and pit exit warning lights. Say, where are the blue taillights on the Toyota?
TV Button, Jenson's style
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GAME PLAY
With good sense of speed and realistic car physics, F1 2002 quickly set the bar as one of the more realistic racing games out in the market. Unlike the IRL, Formula One is all about sliding into the corners [Kimi Raikkonen], and the cars slides a lot - including the AI cars. F1 2002 provides sensation feelings to the players. If you are using a steering wheel, like WRC, you will need to buy a top-notch steering wheel - the MOMO Logitech leather-wrapped wheel ($199) should be a good choice.
Formula One is not easy, so if you are playing with the keyboard you properly need to turn on steering help (low) and stabilizer, or you are going to do doughnuts as soon as you turn into the corners. The con for such realistic simulation is that you are not likely to run well in Monsoon condition, especially using a keyboard.
What I like about F1 2002 is that there is a launch control key (/) for the start, and a traction control override (O) for some occasions. In this year United States Grand Prix, you saw how drivers drove beside the pit exit light, stopped the car in front of the white line, turned off the speed limiter, dropped the clutch then released the launch control button. In F1 2002, you dream comes true.
Though, the control in F1 2002 is sometimes unpredictable, but general speaking this game is right on the top ahead of many other games - no one is perfect. Okay, this is gonna be fixed -- You just cannot repair both front and rear wings in 8 seconds at the pit!!!
In-depth telemetry provides technical information for players to tune their cars. Even though F1 2002 is not as comprehensive as Grand Prix 4, F1 2002 does give players enough to play with. In the real world drivers cannot test in winter during ban, perhaps the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya and Jenson Button are going to spend their time playing in front of their desktop computer to prepare for the 2003 season?
The AI in F1 2002 is quite interesting, and other competitors' aggressiveness can be adjusted. However, while I, as a player, have to obey flag rules at the circuit, the AI seemed ignore the flags at time. For instance, one time I was lapping a Minardi and Alex Yoong kept blocking under the blue flag and he wasn't penalized. Another example is, Jenson Button shortcut the first turn at Indy and overtook three cars, and he wasn't penalized as well.
Am I asking too much? Well maybe, but hopefully these problems can be resolved.
No such wreck in real world, thank god!
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SOUND
Excellent. At last the sound in a racing game is getting closer to the real thing. The engine sound is almost perfect, but the sound of misfire can be better. You can also hear the sliding sound from the wheels, giving you the sense to correct you steering. Overall the sound is bar-none, considering that this is not the real thing.
The only drawback is, the commentator mispronounce Takuma Sato (Sa-to) as (Say-to), and the same problem two years ago with Gaston Mazzacane (Maz-za-can-ee) as (Maz-za-cane). Sato was a British 3 champion, please make sure you got the right pronunciations before you release the game. Man!
MULTIPLAYER
Thanks to Game Spy, players can go online at ease. Just to remember that you should have broadband in order to really play the game. Sometimes in multiplayer, some users go online with 56K modem, and generally they mess up the race (just as flashing graphics due to slower response from the modem). I have DSL, so I can log on with no problem.
Multiplayer does have minor problems, and the game chokes when someone joins the race. However, online experience in this game is still quite remarkable.
Another good thing above multiplayer is, you actually race with human beings from all over the world. One time in practice I was blasting down the front straight of Indianapolis Motor Speedway into the first corner. At the same time, another car (user) exited the pit and immediately pulled aside and let me go. To me this is just like the heaven, because AI would never do that in the game!
Of course sometimes there are jerks screwing in a multiplayer game and choose to cause trouble in the game. Like many other games, as a host you can kick out the player at will. Of course, sometimes if you are driving really bad in a multiplayer game, there is a good chance that you are going to be booted as well.
Multiplayer also allows games to chat. For instance, last Sunday people were leaving the game right before Japanese Grand Prix, and a player from New Zealand actually complained about the delayed coverage he had from down under. Sometimes you just have to believe the power of internet.
OVERALL
F1 2002 is exceptional and exceeds all my expectations, the multiplayer in particular. As an original Grand Prix 2 fan, I really have to give it to EA this time around. Though, this game is not perfect, as a tough judge I will give it 4.5/5. By the way, the loading time for each track is quite slow, so you just need to be patient.
PROS
- Multiplayer capabilities
- Stunning graphics
- Realistic race situations
- Launch control and traction override
- Beautiful replays
- Good sense of speed
- Sub-game (Racing School)
CONS
- Unpredictable control at times
- Steep learning curve
- Minor graphical problems
- Multiplayer flaws
- Far from perfect AI
- Steep hardware requirements
- Grid girls and empty pits
VERDICT : If you are a F-1 fan, this is a MUST HAVE. Hopefully Ferrari is not as dominant in cyber world!
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