Starting first among the racing games this year is F1 2010, simulator of the biggest motorsport championship developed and distributed by codemasters. The game, based on the entire 2010 season of the championship, comes to fill a considerable gap in the genre, as games based on the championship are released irregularly, without having a great franchise as such. FIFA, Need for Speed, etc.
The first thing that strikes you about F1 2010 is the graphic beauty. The cars and tracks are very well modeled, bordering on perfection. Ironically, it’s precisely when it rains and the weather “turns gray” that we see the real graphic power of the game: the spray generated by the cars in front of you really harms your vision, forcing you to swerve and look for another route. Furthermore, the reverse process is very well done: the difference between a wet track, a drying track and a completely dry track is noticeable.
the audio of F1 2010 also worth mentioning. The difference between the snoring of a Ferrari for one Lotus it’s easy to understand, which only increases the realism of the game even more. However, the dubs of the engineer on her team and her businesswoman leave something to be desired – that of the businesswoman, on top of that, has a very strange accent.
The game brings a good balance between simulation and arcade. For the hardcore fans of the league, it’s possible to play with all the current rules of the Formula 1 activated, while those who are not very familiar with the F1 can disable them. It is also possible to choose some options that facilitate the control of the car, such as activating (or deactivating) traction control, guide lines, automatic brake, etc.
You can only play for percentages of each grand prix. For example, it is possible to run only 10% of the race – but the limitation is proportional to the training: 10% of the race brings 10% of free and qualifying training. F1 2010 still has the traditional system of Rewind gives codemasters: If you crash or get lost in the corner, you can go back in time and repeat that section, this time without missing. The number of attempts is limited according to the chosen difficulty.
The main game mode is the Career (career), which allows you to compete in 3, 5 or 7 seasons. You start your journey by F1 as a rookie pilot of a low-level team and tries to dig his space until he gets to the top teams. All the drivers of the 2010 season are present in the game and each one of them has a biography, with the history, data on how many races they have raced, number of victories, number of pole positions, etc.
F1 2010, however, finds a big problem in the pilots’ poor artificial intelligence. They make no effort to avoid crashes and collisions, so the player has to go out of their way to avoid taking a punishment. In addition, the attitude of the opposing drivers is quite strange: they walk in single file, just like in the eighties game Enduro, and do not strive to surpass each other. There are also not few times that opponents clog the pit-stop, preventing the player from making his stop.
Despite the flaws in artificial intelligence and dubbing, F1 2010 is the best championship based racing game there is. Even if you’re not used to Formula 1, the fun is guaranteed, but it’s in the public with a passion for F1 that the game focuses on, because the level of realism is high. If you ever wondered if you would be better than Rubinho Barrichello, now is the time to get it right – even if it’s only on your console or computer.
