I had played the demo of the game, and it seemed much more promising, albeit when not running winamp or any form of anti-virus at the same time (on a p4 1.8ghz, 512mb RAM, GeForce3 64mb), and also without using the pathetic automatic breaking system, oh and using less cars on the grid also seemed to help
I have to hand it to EA though, the game is a lot more playable if you know where to break and how to do it – racing with my 360 Modena Pro steering wheel (hey, it was the only one I could find, it’s not my fault it’s got the ugly Ferrari logo on it) in a BAR through Canada actually looked somewhat comparable. So why is this a critical review?
Multiplayer
Don’t even bother with multiplayer. A race with more than 1 other opponent on a connection of anything less than Cable/ADSL is almost unplayable – and this is coming from someone with 512 guaranteed ADSL. The first time I loaded up multiplayer, my friend created a game so that we could meet up and try it out – we did a couple of laps of qualifying, which were, to say the least, severely interrupted by people joining (every time someone joins your computer “locks up” for about 5 seconds). To our surprise, after about 10 minutes in qualifying we had about 7 other opponents. When we finally when to the race, before the lights even went out I was shoved from some idiot behind who decided that green lights were synonymous with red lights – which promptly gave me a stop and go penalty even although I had yet to touch the accelerator. As we accelerated into the first turn, I was amazed that the person in front of me should be able to stay on the road, after all he was oscillating between each side of the track (
) about 40 times per second. It took me about as long to realize that internet multiplayer SUCKS in F1 2002. The only way to have a fun race with anyone else is over a LAN with absolutely no latency, otherwise, good luck.Test Day
Playing in Test Day can be entertaining though – it allows you to play with setups and try the best possible time, and honestly, it’s where I’ve spent most of my time in the game so far.
Championship
I started a championship at 107% competitor ability in an Arrows. I qualified in 15th place at Australia (where I’m amazing) and was taken out by a massive accident on the first turn. COOL! The most amazing part was that it WASN’T caused by me! Drivers weave around, clip each others wings off, flip over each other and, in this case, take me out. Although this was highly entertaining, it did make me realize how absolutely awful the F1 2002 crashes are. Sure, you lose a couple of wheels, occasionally a wing, and yes, they do now bounce around like they should on the track, but that’s about the extent to which damage is possible in the game – massive accidents usually result in you flying about 70 feet in the air, spinning feverously for 5 minutes before landing, usually still with at least 1 wheel and 1 wing. In other words, the crash engine sucks. One other thing to note is that you cannot change teams in Championship, thus you can’t run your own little storyline about Ralf Schumacher breaking his legs and you, the young and talented rookie being bought up by Williams and led to your first Grand Prix win, midseason!
After my unfortunate experiences with Driving School in last years game, I haven’t even bothered to load it up yet.
The Cars:
The car models in the game, in my opinion, suck. Driving from the TV cockpit view (it’s the only to drive!) in a Ferrari makes it look like an ugly Minardi, which had a large box of Micheal Schumacher Fan Merchandise dropped on the cockpit, and then painted red. Seriously, it’s all bent up in the front and doesn’t nearly pay enough tribute to the beauty of the F2002 (I hate Ferrari but I have to hand it to the guys, that car is just beautiful).
The Jordan is laughable – the front wing isn’t even close to resembling that of the real life thing – they’ve clearly used last years model, because the front nose is just about as different as it could possibly be, it goes STRAIGHT out instead of swooping down severely.
One of the best cars, in terms of models, is the in-car BAR, which looks somewhat similar. The Toyota also looks decent.
The cars control much better than they used to, and driving them feels much more like what it looks like on TV. In F1 2001, steering aid was a joke and often caused accidents, but in this game, steering aid is a must, because it allows you to drive smoothly and really attack the course. You can now take a turn in more than 1 possible way, in 2001 if you entered with the wrong line you almost always had to brake severely if you didn’t want to go out, but here you can simply lift off the accelerator and go through, albeit a bit more slowly.
There are serious differences between driving a Minardi and driving a Ferrari. Ferraris have much more downforce and speed, and driving a Minardi in the same way as a Ferrari often results in planting yourself firmly in the barrier.
Disappointments:
On top of what I’ve listed, I’ve noticed several disappointing things:
The crows are the same old 2-D sprites, which frankly is 1990s technology and I expect more.
The game lags on a 1.8 with a GeForce3 if it rains – Sure there’s a payoff between graphics and performance, but I think they’ve achieved neither with an boastful excellence.
No pace car, no parade lap, no drive-through penalties. We’ve seen all of these this year and none of them are offered.
Lots stalling – Cars stall left and right on the grid, and honestly, have we seen that once this year? Sure it was an issue in 2001 with the implementation of launch control, but most teams now don’t suffer from that stuff anymore.
Conclusion:
I’d give the game 3 out of 5. Although in this EA have done more than just update a couple of names and give the teams a new outfit, the changes that they’ve made are small, and, in many cases, outweighed by aspects of the game which have gotten worse. Although, I have to say, after a couple of hours of F1 2002, I loaded up F1 2001 again and found it unplayable, so if you’re a fan of F1 2001, I think you’ll enjoy the changes that they’ve made (you better learn where to break though, because if you even DARE to turn the steering wheel the automatic breaking will kick in – it also seems to like to suddenly start breaking in the middle of a lot of straights).
At least Grand Prix 4 will be coming out soon, hopefully it will make up for where this came has not.
Please Note This review is written by The Sensational, and reflects only my opinion with the game, it does not reflect the opinions of the Atlas F1 website, EA Sports, or any official Formula1 organisation.
