Formula One Championship Edition

We take PS3's first Formula One game for a spin.
Version
 PlayStation 3		Developer
Sony Liverpool		Publisher
Sony		Genre
Racing



Page: 1  2 

By Alex Wollenschlaeger

It was after my 20th-or-so crash into the wall at a particularly tricky corner in Monaco, with my poor car lying wheelless and wingless, my blood pressure rising, and car after car passing me by, that I began to wonder whether I was actually having fun with Formula One Championship Edition. There's no doubt that the game is bolted together in a mechanically sound way, but Formula One as a sport is so unyielding that it can make for a frustrating experience - even when the game is good.

And it is. While I wouldn't go so far as to call myself an expert on Formula One, there was a time not too many years ago when I used to watch it religiously. Mostly I would marvel at how Michael Schumacher could keep his screaming Ferrari right on the edge, how he knew exactly when to turn and when to break at every corner of every track. In a way, if you really want to get the most out of F1CE, you need to do the same.

"Much like Formula One itself, the game requires you to exist on the edge if you want to compete with the psychopathic AI."

Not everyone has the patience to learn the nuances of the full season's worth of faithfully recreated tracks in F1CE, so Sony's Studio Liverpool hasn't so much thrown less hardy players a lifejacket as it's called the Coast Guard to come pick them up, seat them on a sofa and feed them cookies on the way back to the shore. The Easy mode is truly an abomination when it's functioning at full force.

P L E A S E   V I S I T   O U R   S P O N S O R :

The car will help you accelerate, steer, brake, read the track, change your tires, prevent you from crashing and anything else. Unless you're so uninterested that all you care about is hitting the checkered flag first, there's no reason to keep the belt-and-suspenders on. It's only once you start turning off these aids that you'll start to feel like you're actually driving. And that's also when I started to crash.

Much like Formula One itself, the game requires you to exist on the edge if you want to compete in a real sense with the sometimes psychopathic AI. The setup of the more advanced modes helps here. Whether you're racing in a single Grand Prix weekend, a full season or even assuming the role of a complete rookie in the deep career mode, you'll always be prompted to drive the tracks over and over - during testing, practice, qualifying and on race day. And you'll need to do them over and over again if you want to be any good.

Page: 1  2 

NEXT PAGE >>











Video Coverage
(See Latest Videos & Video FAQ Here)
PLEASE DO NOT DIRECT LINK TO ANY MEDIA FILE ON KIKIZO
DescriptionDur.SizeDetails
Formula One Championship Edition
New trailer (hi quality)   		1.01m 23MB HD, 60, CAM
800x448
3.5Mbps
Formula One Championship Edition
Direct feed gameplay 1		 00:33 15MB DF, ED, 16:9
852x480p60
4.0Mbps
Formula One Championship Edition
Direct feed gameplay 2		 01:05 32MB DF, ED, 16:9
852x480p60
4.2Mbps