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Best F1 game out at the moment.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

FORMULA 1 cannot be beaten. The game was released back in 1996. Graphics are very poor. but the gameplay is great! F1 fans and motorsport fans must forget about getting the disapointing FORMULA 1:Championship Edition. Buy this.you won't be disapointed

Who says Formula 1 ain't fun?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 17, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you've been following my Psygnosis reviews for the Playstation you may wonder just what happened to this juggernaut of game design. I mean, for a while, they could do no wrong. Game after game of sterling quality and astounding gameplay. Where are they now? They were so awesome... And you know what? I picked up this game used at a GameStop store for 25 cents! But I digress. Back to the review!

In their heyday as crown princes of Playstation development, Psygnosis produced this gem of a racing game, which has the distinction of in my opinion being the single greatest Formula 1 racing game ever, and certainly the greatest arcade-style Formula 1 race game you'll ever play. Bold words I know, but you just have to PLAY the thing.

To describe this game... have you ever played Rage Racer? If not track it down and buy it on Amazon. I'll wait for you. Back now? Okay. You know how Rage Racer features extremely fast and detailed graphics without that hideous ugly draw-in that some PSX games have? Instead of course it made the trade-off of having some crazy SEAMING, or basically white slivers between bits and pieces of everything drawn on the track. Now, that effect may distract or annoy you or drive you crazy, but I never minded it in the slightest. And games are all about style anyway, so we can just think of that as UNIQUENESS of the graphics, eh? At any rate, THAT is the graphics style of this game. Lots of seaming, but blazingly fast, and none of that ugly draw-in problem.

It's hard to describe exactly the impact of the graphics of this game, but to me it's like what Virtua Racing (that great old arcade game!) WISHES its graphics looked like. Simple but beautiful polygon and textures, with a cleanness and crispness that is just beautiful, overall fantastic. And the speed really MOVES, making you feel like you're in a RACE, not a Sunday drive. Everything, you, the track, the other cars, gives you feeling I'd imagine you would get form a real Formula 1 race, that you're moving so fast you're kind of scared, you can't see the corner coming up and you think you might fly off it not because the handling is bad, but because at this speed it's just gonna come up so FAST. You can stop and turn with incredible precision, but you gotta have lightning quick reflexes in this game. You end up doing what I imagine a lot of real races drivers do when they just don't have time to think and figure it all out. You draft the guy in front of you and use his race line as a guide.

I've played a LOT of race games in my time, and I've NEVER felt like part of pack the way this game makes me feel. There might not be much enemy A.I. at work here, but I feel like I'm racing just as much as I do Gran Turismo. I've already said that the controls are amazing (you won't go spinning out nearly as easy as in most F1 games and the controls are just incredibly tight and precise for being digital), but I haven't mentioned the sound. Everything has that virtual surround sound, and it is EXCELLENT. By default you're going to hear race commentary constantly in the background, but that really isn't my thing. It's fortunate indeed then that you can switch from that to some truly great arcade style background music (no I'm not kidding it really is great).

There are some racing games where it's all about unlocking everything or being totally realistic, and then there are great racing games that are great simply because they are so PERFECTLY balanced. It's what drives you to keep going back to F-Zero and Wipeout for just one more spin around your favorite track. It's the thrill you get of hitting the corner just a little too fast and still making it okay, overtaking someone on a tricky corner and jockeying for position and drafting through spots where you aren't sure WHAT could be right around the corner. This game is incredibly fun, a racing classic in absolutely every way. If you dig Psygnosis' old games or classic racing games for the Playstation you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this jewel pronto.

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