Recent reviews by Pascal29AUT

As a fan of the World Superbike Championship I decided to buy this game and give it a try. This is the first game from Milestone I bought since MotoGP 19. Once you start it and go to the main menu, you can hear the nice background music. Milestone always do a good job here.

I tried time trial at Philip Island in the beginning. The handling is hard, especially the braking. Much practice is needed to get used to the handling. Once you did it this game is fun!

There are many different game modes: Single race, championship season, time trial, career and multiplayer. There is no leaderboard for wet racing, which is a shame. The multiplayer is pretty dead, there are barely any lobbies. Thankfully I was able to do some races with a friend though and the lobbies were stable. So, online racing would work on this game.

I mainly play career mode. As of now I've completed six seasons. The career mode is very good imo. Once you become successful you can change to any team that you want. It's also possible to develop upgrades for your bike to increase your bike's performance and fight for better results.

The customisation is also a nice feature. You can customise your helmet, race number or race suit sticker for example. Furthermore you can choose race gloves, boots or helmets from different brands.

The AI could be better. Sometimes they follow their line, even if you are battling them, and then they hit you while you are braking or turning in for the corner. This combined with the hard handling means, that you crash, although you did nothing wrong. Tbf I definitely experienced worse AI than this in other games.

Summary: This game is a must buy for any SBK fan, but you should wait for a sale.

Short review for this one: It's a good and fun game. In terms of fun it's definitely goat tier.

Short review from my side:

Positives:
+ Handling
+ Engine sounds (amazing!)
+ Career mode
+ Intro
+ in-game music
+ Camera options (especially the deactivate halo column option)

Neutral:
Regulation change is a great feature, but often the AI teams don't save much upgrades and fall behind your team massively

In some cars you've to set the field of view to the highest setting in order to see anything in the mirror in cockpit view, for example in the 2018 Red Bull

Negatives:
- In my first career in Season 6 there happened a save issue which let the game crash after practice or race. There is no way to fix that. So, I had to cancel this career.
- No driver transfers
- The drivers aren't really optimised. In my opinion they don't look good except when they are on the podium.

I definitely recommend this game. If there wouldn't be the negative points which I mentioned, this would be probably the best F1 game!

F1 2020 is probably the best F1 game from Codemasters. They added some nice features to this game.

+ MyTeam Career mode: You can participate as the 11th team. You can change the team name, character, team logo, team and livery colours at any time in your team's headquarter. Between the seasons you can switch your primary sponsor and engine supplier. Furthermore it's possible to sign any F1 driver from the Driver market. Well, I won't list all features from this game mode. But, it is definitely a great addition and I hope that Codies will extend the possibilities you can do there for the next game.

+ Season length: You can do a 10, 16 or 22 race calendar. Another great addition, if you wanna kick out tracks you don't like. This is possible in both driver career and MyTeam career mode.

+ Driver market: In MyTeam career you can sign any F1 and F2 (2019) driver for your team.

+ Engine sounds: They are pretty awesome and much more louder than in F1 2019. Hopefully Codies keep up their great work there.

Now some negative points:

- Bugs: Well, I haven't played the Multiplayer so far, but I can tell you some bugs from the singleplayer. For example when you change your engine supplier in MyTeam career, you still hear the sound from the previous one until the start of the following season. So, you're gonna hear the wrong engine sound for one full season. When you change the season length often then the Season results will show weird and buggy results. Another bug occurs when you become World champion before the final race. Claire congratulates you to the championship again at the next race weekend.

All of this bugs are pretty annoying after some playtime.

- Cutscenes: They removed a lot of cutscenes. In the previous F1 games you could see many before practice and qualifying. A lot of drivers where shown there, either they've got interviewed or where shown in the garage. Now, you can only see 1 driver. The best cutscene in my opinion was that where the new Drivers' World champion was celebrating with his team and mechanics. Codies removed that, which is a shame.

- Driver career: It is good that Codies still put this mode into their game. But, unfortunately it is pretty boring compared to MyTeam. You can only switch teams every 8-11 race weekends instead of every 4 race weekends. It is still not possible to choose your teammate. When you are a driver fan it hurts because it could be the case that you replace him. Well, I stopped playing this mode after Season 2, especially due to the driver retirement of Sebastian Vettel.

- Driver transfers: It was probably the best feature in F1 2019. Unfortunately, in this game there are hardly any driver transfers. In my MyTeam career there were no driver changes for three seasons in succession. I believe that the new Driver retirement feature is the cause for this.

I'll probably add some points in my review in the future. Despite the negative ones I can only recommend this game. I hope you enjoy the new MyTeam career mode as much as I do!

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Update 03.09.2020:

More positive points for this game:

+ With the Patch 1.08 the cutscene where the driver is celebrating the driver's title with his mechanics is working/back!

+ Online XP level: Codies got rid off the XP level or how it was called in F1 2019. I was never a fan of that, especially because of the achievement where you had to reach Level 50. Online racing isn't that enjoyable due to the rammers and penalty system. To reach level 50 you had to do at least 100 races (probably more). So, I'm pretty happy that the achievement and online XP level are gone.


Unfortunately I have some negatives to add:

- Penalty system: As always in the Codies F1 series it is bad. Sometimes you receive warnings/penalties for minor exceeding track limits, but sometimes nothing for bigger track limits exceeding. When someone crashes into you and ruin your race they only get a warning.

- Mechanical failures for AI: They are not randomized. For example, you are doing a 25% race, Hamilton retires with a mechnical failure in Australia on lap 2, turn 3 -> When you restart the race the same scenario happens the exact same way again. This scenario can also happen to your teammate, which makes no sense when you have all durability upgrades fitted (100% of the upgrades in the car). This is the reason why I always do 5 lap races in career since F1 2019.

- Grid penalties for AI: Sometimes the AI has a grid penalty. Mostly it is a 10 grid penalty, probably for a 4th ICE (in F1 2019 sometimes it was because of that. I don't think this has changed for F1 2020). Well, my problem with that is when this happens for your teammate. When you have every durability upgrade applied there should never be a grid penalty due to component changes for your teammate.

Well, a pretty nice content. After purchasing you can complete those 8 Senna/Prost challenges which can be found at the menu "Solo" -> "Championships". The other content are a Senna and Prost car livery, helmet, gloves and their 1990 cars.

For people who are fans of F1, Senna and/or Prost this DLC is recommendable. For this price Codies should have delivered us a bit more than this, maybe more challenges imho. Nevertheless I recommend this DLC if you have bought only the normal version of the game (like me).

A short review of this game (a longer one will probably follow later on):

+ Driver transfers
+ Graphics
+ Career
+ AI
+ Classic cars
+ Championships, Grand Prix mode still there

~ Engine sounds are still good but the F1 2018 engines sound more aggressive

- Again no classic tracks (F1 2013 is still the only F1 game featuring that)
- After your last race in Season 10, don't switch to the main menu if you haven't checked your stats + season results 'cause you won't be able to do that after doing so (you can only start a new career after going to Main Menu)
- Mirrors in Cockpit cam view are pretty bad at some cars, for example the 2019 RB or 2019 Williams even if you adjust the point of view and the other camera settings it doesn't get any better

Despite the negatives I can only recommend this game. My favourite feature of F1 2019 are the Driver transfers. It is the best F1 game from Codies so far imho but there are still areas which can/have to be improved.


Update 17/03/2020:
I'm gonna list some features which are very cool and still in the game (more will be added probably later on):

+ Teammate can be chosen at career start (Codies removed this option at the beginning but added it again to the game later on)
+ Podium ceremony
+ Season results in career workstation, which contain a complete season table like for example in Wikipedia
+ Lots of avatars, also female avatars
+ Contract reviews after Round 4, 8, 12, 16 and 21
+ It is possible to switch to any team on the grid
+ Parc Ferme celebration
+ Credits after finishing the career mode are dedicated to some F1 legends which passed away in 2019
+ Regulation changes. It takes longer to apply all car upgrades.

Unfortunately I have some negative things to add:

- If you win the Constructor's title after Russia and then switch teams you will lose this title and it also disappears in the stats of your current career save game (but at least it stays at the stats in your driver licence)
- Too less regulation changes. In the middle of the career almost every team has finished with R&D and especially from Season 8 to 10 it is boring when they remain with a fully upgraded car. It would be nice if there would be an option to set the interval for regulation changes.
- If you switch to another team, it is not possible to choose your new teammate. It hurts especially if you are a driver fan. If you try to follow your favourite driver to team up with him again, you could just swap teams with him.
- It rarely happens but sometimes the AI drives into your car and damage your front wing although they have enough room to remain on their current line.

Update 10.01.2022:
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If you play the "raw" version of the game then it's like I wrote it 2 years ago. If you use mods (for example from RaceDepartment) this game is much better. You can race on track from the previous F1 games (Valencia, Istanbul, Nurburging etc.). There are tons of other mods too. Check it out.
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Well, I've never really enjoyed this game. Yes, I have 460 hrs on record thanks to league racing and a 50% races Co-op championship with a friend. Having this amount of playtime also means that I know this game very good and should give you a neutral review. Not everything is bad though.

Let's start with the evaluation test. This replaces the Young Drivers test. You are doing one lap at Monza and the game recommends you the AI level which you should use in the game. After that you can start with your career. The career mode is pretty much the same like in 2012 and 2013. But, you can choose between short, middle and long season (7, 12 or 19 races). While in F1 2010/11/12/13 you had to start in a midfield or small team, in F1 2014 it is possible to start with a top team. But, like in the two previous games there is no paddock, interviews and that stuff which is a shame.

I played this game with wheel and this is the reason why I can't recommend this game. The handling is terrible, especially in the rain. The rear wheels stay cold and you have almost no chance to get them up to temperature. When you drive without assists it is no fun as you have wheel spin all the time. The AI uses traction control and don't have this problem.

The graphics haven't improved really. But, the main menu and engine sounds are pretty nice. The multiplayer was stable, but public lobbies were not fun. This isn't Codemasters fault. It is a fact that there will always be many brainless rammers in those lobbies.

Positives:
+ Main menu music
+ Engine sounds
+ Evaluation lap (one lap) instead of Young Drivers test
+ Starting your career in a top team

Negatives:
- Handling with wheel and no assists
- AI (sometimes blocks you in Practice/Qualifying)
- No classic tracks and cars anymore
- Again no paddock/interviews and that stuff in Career mode

F1 2012, well, it is a game where I have mixed feelings about. Don't get me wrong, I like this game and would recommend it to every Formula 1 fan! But there are some points who are really annoying and are the reason why I sometimes dislike it. But let's go into more detail:

I've pre-purchased the game on Steam. It was the first F1 game from Codemasters for me. I was very excited about it. When it was finally released I started playing it immediately. First of all, I came to the menu of course and hear the music which is very good! Then, I did the Young Driver test. After that I probably started my career.

A big pro is the amount of game modes. You can do Time Attack scenarios, Champions Mode, where you have to beat every F1 champion. There is also a Season Challenge mode and of course the typical Multiplayer, Career and Time trial mode.

Negative point for me is that you have to do at least 25% races. In this game there was no mid session save option. So, if you were tired for example, you had to think twice whether you do the race on the same or next day. In Bahrain there was a bug where the game crashed when you drove over a certain curb. This happened to me in the second half of the race, so some time was wasted there because you had to start the race again. It happened a couple of times btw.

Positive feature is the rivalry. In the second half of the season you can choose a rival. You can only select a driver who is close to you in the championship standings, but if you beat him you can take place in his cockpit the following season.

This game included a tier system. Codemasters probably tried to mix up the field for your later career seasons. It's hard to explain how it works but I try it though: The first 3 teams were in Tier 1, the next 3 teams in Tier 2 and so on. Decisive for the order is the Team championship standings after the season. For example if Red Bull finished 3rd in the Team championship and Lotus 4th, then RB drop down to Tier 2 and Lotus move up to Tier 1.

This resulted in Lotus being of one the top teams for the following season and RB is in the area where Lotus have been before. My problem with this is when you change to a team which either drop down or move up a tier. Why? It can happen that you drive a Tier 1 car and your teammate drives a Tier 2 car or vice versa. In 2019 I started a new career and in Season 2 I joined Red Bull alongside Sebastian Vettel. While I have won every race, Seb was behind Alonso, the McLarens and Mercedes and even a Lotus. So, he was definitely not in a Tier 1 car like me! In Season 3 then Seb and me were in 1st and 2nd in the Drivers' championship, so in this season we both had a Tier 1 car.

To finish this long review I point out another positive thing about F1 2012, the Soundtrack! It is amazing and I love listening to it. There is music in every menue and also in the garage during the sessions.

In conclusion to my game review, a list with pro and contra:
+ Soundtrack
+ Game modes
+ Engine sounds
+ Graphics

~ Rivalry feature (would be nice to choose any driver)
~ Handling
~ AI (they often block you in Practice/Qualifying 1 and 2)

- No paddock and interviews
- Tier system (because of the scenario I mentioned)
- Can't do shorter race distance in career
- Grand Prix mode was removed and replaced by Quick race mode
- Can't use a custom setup in One-Shot qualifying
- No Short qualifying option in career
- Can't turn off Parc Ferme in career