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F1 2001 Review
Stephen Leyton
00/12/0000
EA storm INTO pole position with F1 2001, possibly the greatest F1 game to date.
From the early days on the PlayStation, Formula One games have always proved to be successful. One of the first F1 to shine was from Pysgnosis, the Official Formula One game which unfortunately deteriorated over the years. Weāve seen more than a handful of mediocre F1 titles; however with the release of F1 2001 by EA, things have certainly got hotter.
F1 2001, has carried across the āEA Sportsā branding, with familiar menu screens, that we have come to expect. Now thatās not a bad thing, the front-end is very simplistic giving you quick and easy access to the different game modes available.
For most people who like to enter the Full Grand Prix before any practicing, this simply isnāt going to happen here. Before you can enter the Grand Prix with all the options on like Interactive Pit Stops, Crashes, etcā¦ you need to complete the challenges. These range from simple road cornering and braking, to complex maneuvering, controlling the car with the wrong tyre setup etc. Completing the challenges in steps unlocks certain parts to the Full Championship.
After completing the challenges youāll be able to strap into the driving seat for the full action. So whatās next? First you need to decide what driver youāre going to play as. Are you going to be the fast and experienced Michael Schumacher, or the promising newbie Jenson Button? Every driver, team, car has been faithfully recreated from the 2001 season data, itās up to date and good for the enthusiast.
After you have competed in the Qualifying laps you are ready to enter the race, hopefully in pole position. The anticipation builds up to the race on a buzzing grid as team personnel, engineers and glamorous grid girls surround you. The race starts up, with 21 other computer controlled players and from here you can tell this is going to be great visual masterpiece. As you push your way towards the front, cars will push to get you out of their way, and in some cases even nudge you into an uncontrollable spin, the physics model is extremely impressive, reacting as youād expect. Cars will crash out creating breath taking incidents smacking into tyre walls, letās face it we love seeing these things in a game. Every driver on the track will fight, battle and react to maintain their current position, while constantly looking for the next opportunity to overtake, creating a high pressure, edge of the seat racing experience.
Throughout the race your pit crew will give you the inside track on your opponentās performance and position as the race unfolds via intelligent pit communication from your race engineer. The pit system is one of the best featured in a racing game, and is essential if you want to win the races. Advanced pit crew information gives you weather and pit stop predictions plus advice on how this will affect the race and consequently adapt strategies. As if controlling the car wasnāt hard enough throughout the race of certain courses the race will come alive in the wet. The rain clouds swell in the sky above you, umbrellas go up, and your pit crews will inform you of weather updates on the radio and then, as the heavens open, catch sight of your opponents spinning off the track, crashing into barriers or rushing towards the pits to switch tyres and change strategy.
The graphics are really impressive, as far as Formula 1 games go. The cars reflect the environments surrounding them, rain droplets run down the screen and the crowd stand up to cheer you as you pass. All the drivers, tracks and teams are from the official FIA 2001 Formula One World Championship, and are replicated in the greatest realism. Once the race has finished (if you havenāt crashed out), you are presented with a feature of the race just completed defining key moments within it. Instant Replays are also possible to view at any point throughout the race.
One of the greatest elements to F1 2001 is the controls, you can choose to use the Dual Shock 2 or the Gran Turismo 3 wheel, both of them offer great response to the F1 car. Speed is also easily created in this game, the feeling you get when you speed down the course as 180 MPH is fantastic, however the hard bit comes trying to balance the speed and the control.
