Yearly sports titles tend to face an uphill battle. While the likes of EA’s FIFA and Madden could easily get by on roster changes alone, most other games really need to prove their mettle to get punters to pony up their hard earned cash again. Yet for its third outing with the Formula One license, that’s just what Codemasters have done with F1 2012, delivering numerous small-but-notable improvements over the last two years’ offerings.
Everything starts with the young drivers test in a meticulously recreated Yas Marina Stadium and racetrack in Abu Dhabi. Taking you through everything from vehicle handling, acceleration, and breaking to the more advanced elements of the sports such as KERS and DRS, a mixture of hands on time and short instructional videos prove invaluable to those either unfamiliar with the sport or new to its digital recreations. Depending on your inherent skill, the young drivers test will take about 40 minutes to 1 hour to complete but this solid foundation in gameplay mechanics will prove time well spent. Even returning F1 players should appreciate this refresher course in basic training, as there are plenty of nuanced differences to pick up on that reflect the changes the FIA has introduced to the motorsport since F1 2011 hit shelves.
It’s just one small aspect of the game’s commitment to authenticity. Obviously, a number of recognisable drivers were practically a given – Raikonnen, Button, Hamilton, et al – but appearances by real-world team members, such as Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner and race commentary from former F1 driver Anthony Davidson, helps craft a truly immersive experience. From the training mode onward, F1 2012 does a fantastic job of placing you in the mindset of an up-and-coming driver. Emails from agents and teammates advise you of race specifics or analyse your performance afterwards, helping put your head in the game. The tension, the weight of expectation of your colleagues, almost feels palpable, all creating a determination on your part to improve.
Improvement is something you’ll have to work hard for though, and rarely does a game make you fight so hard for a fraction of a second’s performance on a lap time. The overall difficulty could be placed somewhere between the brutal F1 2011 and the challenging F1 2010 – not easy then. With even minute deviations from the track resulting in time penalties or outright disqualification, learning to control the cars properly will be your number one priority. Given just how specific the game’s demands are though, there’s temptation to become over-reliant on Codemaster’s trademarked Flashback feature; zooming backwards to take one more pass at an awkward hairpin or avoid a collision. As such, it can become difficult to gauge any sense of genuinely improved performance.
Throughout the game, vehicle handling proves simultaneously precise and punishing. Veering onto the grass causes the green stuff to accumulate on your wheels, adding a perceptible slide and minimises traction, while deploying KERS (strip back the complexity of the rules and it’s a horsepower-boosting equivalent to a speed power-up in lesser titles) affects your braking times and accuracy as a side-effect of its eye-watering forward momentum.
Thankfully, with a range of braking assists, traction control and a racing guideline available, F1 2012 remains accessible for newcomers who want something perhaps closer to a typical racing game but still serving as an entry point to the sport. Ramp the difficulty up though, and every turn of the car, every gear change, and even aspects of pit time are your responsibility. That responsibility is even felt prior to races, with your car’s customisations – best tires, engine optimisations, fuel types – largely determining victory before you’ve even hit the tarmac. It’s more to learn and can feel frustrating if you just want to jump into a game, but the results really pay off once you know what you’re doing.
Moving into the main game content, the Proving Grounds area feels closest to an Arcade mode and is likely to be where more casual players spend a lot of their time. Champions Mode offers a selection of six challenges seeing you outwit and out-race some of the biggest names in the sport, and is immediately more accessible than the career or even the quick play modes. The difficulty curve on these is blistering though, and as you put yourself through races spotlighting Formula One’s finest, you'll find yourself having to put every speck of training you've gathered from elsewhere in the game to its utmost use. Proving Grounds is also where you will find the Time attack and Time Trial modes, the former seeing you attempting to set speed records on some of the world’s top racetracks, the latter testing your racing skills against the demands of international race teams.
While these more casual modes allow you free reign to select racing team and cars, the full Career Mode instead sees you racing up the league tables, beginning with a lower tier team before your successes earn you promotion after promotion. Impress the global press and industry observers and you’ll attract contract offers from more prestigious teams, your choices of which to accept affecting progression. It’s a lengthy outing, though the new Season Challenge mode allows a more relaxed approach, still putting you through the paces of a competitive chain of races but proving less of a time demand than your full career.
In addition to expected online multiplayer, split-screen and LAN options make welcome appearances. With no noticeable decline in frame rates or overall visual quality in split screen, the chance for some deliciously tense competition with your real-world mates is one to be relished.
Visually, the improvements in F1 2012 are harder to spot – 2011 already looked amazing. Most notable is a refined weather system, where rain can, and frequently will, sweep across a track during weekend-long events. Storm clouds are visible from a distance, and the look of the track as it gets soaked is perceptible. Best of all, this forces a gameplay change, as you’ll need to switch out tires to continue at optimum efficiency. Racetracks new and old – the main attraction being the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, hosting this year’s US Grand Prix – are authentically modelled, each delivering a unique atmosphere and, as with last year’s entry, there’s a brilliant soundtrack to accompany you.
Essentially, if you enjoyed F1 2011, there’s more than enough here to keep your attention: everything that was great last year returns, with enough tweaks and improvements to warrant a return. Newcomers will find F1 2012 a shock to the system compared to more conventional racing games, but the ample tools provided to get into the sport provide a gratifying experience with just a little bit of commitment on the player’s part.
Source : ign[dot]com
