Formula 1 2014 Review

Formula 1 is back in its 2014 edition, a game that surprisingly has kept its slick driving reserved for the last generation of consoles. Formula 1 brings a more thrilling experience this time round with races feeling adrenaline filled and sometimes even stressful. The game offers a more authentic Formula 1 feel and it delivers its most stellar mechanics to date.

Formula 1 2014 does have some terrible flaws, though, and they sadly Co inside with its release on the last generation. The game seems unfinished graphically yet at the same time feeling like it’s pushing too hard to try and make the hardware do what it simply can’t. The surroundings look rough and jaggies plague the screen retracting from the otherwise solid experience.

It is almost as if the game should have been better, but isn’t due to the hardware limitations, there is a shine to all of the cars, yet that shine looks unreal to an extent due to the car looking slightly low res in its textures. As mentioned above the environments also look pretty awful, add that to a jaggie fest and you have yourself a pretty poor looking formula 1 title.

The game plays great though, races are fun if you try to overlook the visual side, in fact the season play was one of the best parts of the game. It was easier to set up than in previous titles and it ended up providing me with a reason to keep playing. Tearing round apexes and roaring along the straights were satisfying. The A.I are exceptionally challenging too. Most importantly the realism was there, tire wear and fuel consumption played a vital role as they forced me to pit during races. If I refused to stop my tires would lose grip and eventually I would come to a stop if I ran out of fuel.

It kind of adds a strategy element which causes you to take risks in order to win or inevitably lose the race.

Formula 1s penalty system was unforgiving too, ensuring that when I screwed up, I knew about it by being forced to endure pitting for no reason other than driving slowly for a length of the track. All these different elements add to the realism yet frustration of the game. It is just a darn shame that the visuals are crude prompting me to wonder whether the game was simply rushed or planned for a current generation release then pulled back.

Once you see them you will understand what I mean as things simply don’t fit. It tries to look amazing, but ends up looking awful.

Multiplayer didn’t work too well either, sessions were laggy, the game would disconnect periodically as well.

Overall Formula 1 2014 is a disappointment yet at the same time vaguely great, it is a fun game with many problems that essentially make it a bad game, one that you will either love or hate. For me it was as gathered above, a mix of confusion. On one hand, I loved it, but on the other I thought it was terrible.