Having struck gold with DiRT and
GRID, Codemasters has been eager to add another racing champion to its lineup.
F1 2009, developed exclusively for one console and one handheld (Wii and PSP),
is the publisher’s first attempt at building another racing franchise since the
ill-fated release of Fuel. Unlike that game, which turned out to be a total
snore-fest, F1 2009 will definitely keep you awake. That’s the good news. The
bad news is that, while the game contains steering options and controller ideas
could be the building blocks of top-tier entertainment, F1 2009 is a perplexing
racer that seems to be ahead of its time – or at the very least, ahead of what
the Wii can handle and the average gamer’s skill level.
Outside of Mario Kart, most Wii
racing games offer motion or analog steering – not both. F1 2009 is one of the
few that gives you motion controls (Wii remote solo or Wii remote/Wii Wheel
combo) as well as the option to steer using a thumbstick (attach the Nunchuk or
play using the Classic Controller).
These control types are important
because they, more than any other Wii racer, drastically change the experience
of the game. When steering with the motion controls, F1 2009 feels great but is
arduously difficult. You will love the sensitivity of the steering – how subtle
twists of the remote are all that are needed to make your car move – up until
you hit a sharp turn. In this game, sharp turns are everywhere. They’re tough to
enter properly (hard braking won’t cut it) and are even tougher to get out of
successfully. Unless you’re an F1 video game pro, you will probably spend the
first 10 minutes skidding off the track. It’s an unavoidable byproduct of a
control scheme that’s trying to be as realistic as possible.
The analog controls are much more
forgiving, primarily because our left thumbs have been spending the last 13
years steering this way. There’s no replacement for the precision of being able
to turn suddenly with a standard controller, at least not for F1 2009. This
means the game will be a bit less realistic than it could have been (since most
players won’t use the motion controls). But unless you plan to spend hours
figuring out the intricacies of the Wii remote alone (or Wii remote/Wii Wheel
combo), chances are you will prefer the Nunchuk/Classic Controller.
Whichever style you choose, the
controls are easily the best part of the game. If applied to the right racer,
with the right courses and the right environment, you could have a game that is
truly golden.
F1 2009, however, isn’t that game.
The problems start with its inability to decide whether the game is a simulator
or an arcade racer. While it doesn’t exaggerate the laws of physics like DiRT
and GRID, F1 2009 doesn’t hold onto reality much either. This is most apparent
with the speed boost feature, which is an element you’d typically find in an
arcade racing game.
Man, those are some flat backgrounds.
The crash effects are not from
either the arcade or simulation sides of gaming. When you collide with other
racers, expect to shrug off the hit with few penalties (we can likely blame half
of this on the Wii hardware, and the other half on the E rating). Internally,
body damage is limited to your tires; that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it
means the only consequence of bad driving is that your vehicle won’t steer
properly – a punishment that will only make your driving worse.
Similar to EA’s NASCAR titles, every
car in F1 2009 is the same. They look different and have different drivers, but
unless you’re a huge Formula One fan who craves the ability to control polygonal
versions of these vehicular athletes, their inclusion means nothing. Granted,
the F1 rules require that everyone drives the same thing. But this is not a game
that strongly adheres to the real world. Why bend the rules in one area of the
game but not the other?
Every one of these complaints is
debatable; to the Formula One fan who wanted good motion controls, regardless of
how difficult they are to use, F1 2009 could be a star. Crash and damage effects
that are significantly good or bad are always worth noting. But again, to the
right gamer, the complaint is easy to overlook.
However, there is one hurdle that
few gamers will be able to ignore. F1 2009 isn’t really a racing game. Racing
implies that you are constantly zipping through a course or some open-ended
environment in search of the finish line. While it’s true that the finish line
is your goal in F1 2009, you are prevented from driving consistently because
every turn forces you to brake nearly hard enough to stop. Formula One isn’t
anything like NASCAR – you won’t find an oval track where you can just speed
around in circles. F1 2009 pulls real tracks into the game, and after trying to
get through them without slowing down, I have much more respect for the real F1
drivers. The courses are extremely rough. It would be great to say that this has
enabled the developers to create a challenging racing game that was built for a
very specific hardcore audience. But the game isn’t really that hard, so long as
you’re willing to follow the rules and brake constantly. If you do that, you’ll
understand why I say this isn’t really a racing game – because then it becomes a
start/stop driving game.
You can’t tell from this screenshot, but
there were stages with clouds so bright I had to adjust the brightness level on
my TV.
In addition to all of these issues,
F1 2009 suffers from DGS: Dated Graphics Syndrome. We all know how powerful
GameCube was, right? We all know that the Wii is essentially a slightly more
powerful GC, right? Then why, if we – gamers, developers and the rest of the
world – are so aware of this fact, do we keep getting Wii games that look like
they were made 10+ years ago? I have to give F1 2009’s developers some credit
for creating a decent sensation of speed within the graphics, which are super
plain and are often ugly. They somehow managed to make the game feel fast,
despite these flaws. But the start/stop factor reduces the excitement, so all
you’re left with is a game that looks like it should have been released for the
PSone.
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Gameplay: 5.9
F1 2009 has some great steering/controller options, but the courses are much
too hectic (and require too many stops) for players to get the most out of the
game.
Graphics: 4.0
Considering how old and ugly this game looks, the sensation of speed is
impressive. But that doesn’t make up for the fact that F1 2009 looks like it
came from the PSone era of gaming (minus the overly pixelated car models).
Sound: 5.0
Not music to anyone’s ears.
Difficulty: Medium
If you want an extreme challenge, try getting through the game using the Wii
remote/Wii Wheel combo. If you want a more traditional (and more forgiving)
racing experience, go for the Classic Controller. Oh, and be prepared to brake a
lot.
Concept: 6.0
The steering physics are years ahead of the rest of the game, which is stuck
in arcade/simulation purgatory, a place that won’t allow F1 2009 to decide which
kind of racing game it should really be.
Multiplayer: 5.0
If nothing else, the two-player split-screen multiplayer is somewhat amusing
to use against a friend that’s never played F1 2009 before. While he skids all
over the track and starts whining, "Let’s play something else," you’ll cross the
finish line with several seconds to spare. Beyond that, however, F1 2009’s
multiplayer content isn’t that great.
Overall: 5.7
Racing fans of any kind are strongly urged to play F1 2009 before handing
over the full asking price ($39.99 at GameStop, the only retailer selling the
game in the United States).
