Just a quick message with first impressions of Formula One 2004 for
the PS2 that I bought yesterday on something of an impulse :)
Main *huge* improvements -
Career mode... and it appears to be a brilliant career mode.
Physics engine - completely re-written by the look of it
AI - the computer drivers appear very good, and fair (at last!)
Graphics - brake dust pouring out, exploding engines :)
So what's the career mode like? It has a lovely interface, and tons of
things to see/do... I went to two tests and ended up taking the offer
for a race drive for Jordan (I was also offered a test drive with a
couple of teams). This turned out to be a bit of a mistake :)
My first GP at Australia consisted of four breakdowns in practice
sessions, attempting to sort out the setup on a dog of a car that I
wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Qualifying was almost funny - three
corners into my hotlap the engine exploded in spectacular fashion.
The race was little better - three or four laps in I started losing
gears, and a lap later something started making awful grinding noises
and trying to shake the controller from my hand :) I went and parked
it up...
So - here's what people probably wanted to know - what does it look
like, and how is it to play?
It looks like the physics has had a huge revamp. The suspension
settings have just about everything - spring stiffness, bump and
rebound damping, wheel camber, ride height, and so on. And it makes a
huge difference too - take off some wing and soften the car up and it
moves around in an alarming fashion in corners... its much more of a
fight (at least in a crap car) to get a half decent lap time.
Although I've only done a couple of laps (and for a crap team), the
experience of "driving" the car is great. During the bit of a race I
survived for, getting annoyed and driving aggressively into corners
saw partial fishtailing with locked tyres, brake dust pouring out of
the front of the car, and gravel and grass spraying across the car...
and boy is the gearbox noisy in the Jordan :)
Driving around the track you can hear most of the ambient noise of the
entire event - the grandstand announcements in the distance, the roar
of the crowd in the grandstands echoing around the track and so on.
You probably need to hear it to understand what on earth I'm on about
- imagine flying around the back of the park at Albert Park and
hearing faint rolling echos of the grandstand from the opposite side
of the track...
All in all, Formula One 2004 appears to be BY FAR the best F1 game on
the PS2 there has ever been, and better than most of the F1 games on
other systems.
I guess I'll give some more comments later :)
Jonathan
Jonathan Beckett
jonbeckett_at_pluggedout.com
http://www.pluggedout.com/blog
Jon Beckett wrote:
> I guess I'll give some more comments later :)
>
Just one comment for now: Are you using a wheel or the dual shock?
I've got a MOMO Force that'll work with GT3, but seems to not be
super-reliable with other games. If the game can't control well with a
DS, I'll pass, but if it does, I might end up picking this up.
--
Swervo -
Do not remove TAG under penalty of law. Unless you want to e-mail me.
