Codemasters F1 2012 demo is out today for all Xbox 360 owners, and I for one can’t wait to try it out. The game is set to be the most realistic of the series with a host of new attributes that feature in the real world of Formula 1. That feeling of driving your first F1 car, setting your fastest lap, and lining up on the grid for your first race must truly be amazing and Codemasters game is probably the closest most of us will ever get to taking control of an F1 car.
The demo allows us to try out two of the new features included in this years game, the Young Driver Test mode and the first race of Season Challenge at Italy’s Monza track. Codemasters have released new screenshots of Monza and news of a competition with more details to follow on their Froums.
The demo is due for release for PC owners via Steam tomorrow with EU PS3 owners having to wait until Wednesday.
If you’ve tried out the demo let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
On Board F1 2012 – Circuit of the Americas Full Lap
It might be tricky for anyone keen to glance at the currently unfinished Circuit of Americas track, due for it’s maiden race in November of this year. Luckily for us Codemasters creative director Stephen Hood has already driven round the track using next months final, pre-launch version of Codemasters F1 2012 game. Being a fan of the sport but having never played an F1 game, I for one am excited to see the games progress. …
Oh my! That is a teaser trailer for Grid 2 from Codemasters and that has really caught my attention. The original was an awesome reboot of the TOCA series and few titles since have quite managed to match it. The teaser promised something else to come, probably the full reveal, next week on the 8th of August. Hell. Yes.
I say, safety cars appearing in an F1 game? That definitely gets a bit of a thumbs up from me, must wonder how F1 2011 will decide when a safety car needs to be deployed though. The new game has lots of fun features, hopefully I can get into it a bit easier than last years edition.
I do wish to declare that I believe F1 2011 including a co-op season mode is a very good idea. For once you will have the chance to both work with your co-op buddy, and also to utterly ruin his game. Imagine, you both have been racing at the very limit of abilities of your car all season and have managed to secure the Constructors Championship, a perfect bit of team-work. It is the last race of the season, you have a gentleman’s agreement that the guy who leads into the first corner will keep the race lead, only to totally ruin his race, and your friendship, by knocking him out of the race to secure the win and the Drivers Championship. That sounds awesome.
The new Formula 1 season has kicked off with a bang, four races in and we have seen all kinds of excitement. There will be more F1 excitement to come later in the year with the release of Codemasters’ new racing game, F1 2010. Here Senior Producer on the title, Paul Jeal talks about the impact of games like Grand Prix 3, the weather effects and much more. Also, new screenies, still with last years liveries mind.
The Reticule – It has been a while since the last official F1 title was released, and even longer since there has been one on the PC, how do you feel about bringing this game to the PC considering the F1 game heritage like Geoff Crammond’s Grand Prix series and Grand Prix Legends?
Paul Jeal – As you say there is a strong F1 heritage on PC so we’re both delighted and hugely motivated to be bringing F1 back. My first job in the games industry was actually as a games tester on Grand Prix 3 and it remains one of my favourite games to this day. I think it’s fair to say there used to be a great level of anticipation as the latest F1 game arrived, they were thought of very highly, but they’ve lost their way over the years. There hasn’t really been any progression in terms of building on the existing feature set, or innovation in terms of thinking of what else could add to the overall experience. More than anything developers lost their way with the entry requirements for such games – the driving and racing elements have been poor for many years. Instead we’ve just had a series of updated assets using the same feature sets. Our philosophy from the very beginning has been to not only over-deliver on all the features you’d expect in a F1 game but also to add entirely original features to the mix so that F1 games can once again be talked about in a positive light and return to the head of the pack.
Codemasters have been hard at work on a new Formula 1 game and they are now ready to reveal all about the game in their first developer diary. F1 2010, due out this September will feature the whole 2010 season including all the world champions that are on the grid, Schumacher, Button, Alonso and Hamilton will all be in the game.
Lets get down to the dirty stuff right away, DiRT 2 is one of the best racing games I have ever played, it is a game which successfully mixes together traditional European style rallying with the glitz and glamour version which is coming out of the US.
Just what was Operation Flashpoint’s chief achievement? I suspect, everyone has a different answer. Was it the fact that every shot fired conformed to physical principles? Was it the careful attention to detail in bringing countless real world killing machines to the table? …
Ashes Cricket 2009 is a game which troubles me, I enjoy it, I really do, but it has so many problems and little niggles that make it hard to enjoy the game. The problems start with the release date, for a game that is using the Ashes licence you would think that the game would have been released before the cricket series started. That didn’t happen, the game only came out on the eve of the final test, that is just poor timing.
Flintoff bowling at the Aussies.
Still, that is just one of the small things that trouble me with the game, the licensing and player likenesses are anoother. You don’t have any of the official Ashes sponsorship present in the game, it is disoncerting to see Codemasters logos splayed at each of the wicket. There is little when you are playing the Ashes tests to make them stand apart from any other test match you can play in the game, you get the same old commentary repeating the same long-winded discussions all the time. The player likensses are very hit and misss with the two licenced teams of England and Australia. For every in game Monty Panesar who looks very realistic you have a Freddy Flintoff who bears no resemblance to the man who is retiring from international cricket at the end of this series.
The other nations available to play include the remaining eight Test playing nations along with Kenya and Ireland, none of these feature licenced players. Yes there is a customisation tool, but it most certainly isn’t the easiest to use, especially when you realise you can’t create an entirely new team, you have to swap players in and out of the pre-made squads like the CMXI and Rest of the World XI. In their own right these are small things, but after a while they add up to detract from your experience with the game. It is telling that I haven’t talked about the cricket itself yet.
Hawk-eye adds some TV style action.
Well for a start you will want to check out the Legends Coaching which sees Shane Warne and Ian Botham teach you the various aspects of how to play the game. I’ll warn you now that you will want to use a gamepad for Ashes Cricket, the keyboard/mouse combo just doesn’t cut it. The principle actions of the three areas of the game are simple, for batting you select the direction you want to hit the ball and chose to defend, attack or attempt a lofted strike. You can aim more accurately by deciding to play off the front or back foot, though be warned that sometimes if you leave it to automatically decide which stance to use, you will find yourself screwed over and walking back to the pavilion. The trouble with batting is timing, I had to ask on the official forums how to time my shots, this is where the game could have done with a ‘nets’ practice area where you don’t have to worry about playing a proper match or being interrupted by the two legends whenever you do something they don’t want you to do.
Bowling is simple enough, as a seamer at any rate, you select whether you want to bowl a fast, slow, swing or a cut ball. Once you have done this you are presented with a bowling meter, hit it in the green section for a perfect delivery, but if you go in the red you will send down a no ball. The trouble comes with the spinners, whilst they are pretty good in the hands of the AI I have really struggled bowling them myself, even when they have a high skill level. This all comes down to the fact that the ideal suggested length is really quite full which prevents the ball from actually getting to spin to a large extent. If you are lucky enough to draw a batsmen to play a poor shot to one of your fielders you are presented with a little quick time event, you have to press select when a target reticule surrounding the ball turns green. It strikes me as odd though that you have more time when the reticule is green when the ball goes to the slips than when out closer to the boundary when you should, in theory, have more time to get beneath the ball unlike the quick reflex catches needed in the slips.
I head back to the dressing room.
In the field you also have control over which end to throw the ball in an effort to cause a run out. Really though there is little need, most of the AI batsmen seem to have a suicidal mindset when running between the wickets, I regularly end up with more run outs than any other dismissal. This is a major problem with the game, another lies in the run rates. It is all too easy in a Test match to move along at 6 or 7 runs an over. This isn’t the 20Twenty format, it shouldn’t be happening. In one match I played I got onto the third innings when still on the first day. This was because of the shocking level of run outs and the ease of which you can score fast runs. I don’t think I need to mention that my poor batting skills also played a part in this speedy first day of a match.
Despite the issues I have, the game really is fun, especially in the 20Twenty or One Day games, again the competitions are not officially licenced and you can’t start a tournament before the quarter final stages, but the sense of freedom to thrash the ball around is great fun. Also the teams bright colourful kits spice up the visuals which vary from very nice in some views to plain ugly in others.
Read for the big shot.
The trouble is that despite all the issues I have with Ashes Cricket 2009, I do really enjoy it. I didn’t think I was going to at first, and it took me a while to actually make an progress with the batting, but there is a solid game hidden away here. It is just a shame that there are so many glaring problems with it. I hope that Transmission Games can go away and create a much more polished game in time for the next Ashes series down under. For now though, I have to say that for anyone not interested in cricket that you should give this a miss. If you do like cricket then it may be worth trying out, just don’t expect a perfect game.
I really like it, but it has too many problems. Give it a miss.
