ImThinking's Full Review: F1 Championship Season 2000 for PlayStation 2
Finally, a Formula 1 game that is actually fun to play. Amazing you say, you don’t believe try it for yourself. I will even go as far to say that this game is worth buying, but let me explain myself first.
GRAPHICS:The graphics are outstanding, especially when your in the cockpit view. This should be the way you play this game (in the cockpit view), but not just because of the graphics but because it feels so much more real when you hit a bump in the track while your flying down the straight-a-way at breakneck speeds. Sure it still looks great when you play in the third person view, but if your like me you want the most realistic feel there is, and this is the way to do it. I would love to be able to show you a picture to prove it, but I can’t so the best thing I can tell you is to at least rent this even if your a bit skeptical. Plus, not only are the car models stunning but the tracks are quite stunning as well, and the best part about it is that there are plenty of each to quench your thirst. (This is all based on the cockpit view) The thing that will impress you the most (I hope) is the great detail put into this game like for instance; the side mirrors which actually work, the smoke and tire marks, the pieces that fly off when you mash another car or the wall, the inside of the car including the driver and the dash, the groves in the tires, the pit crew, the backdrops/scenery, and just the overall look to the cars and tracks. The only thing that I find a bit precarious is when you break your axel or blow your tire, and all it does is dangle it does not break completely off. And another thing that kind of sucks is that your car does not blow up or break in half even if you try to do it, what usually happens is that you’ll flip over and get static or all your axels will break ending your race. Even so I give the graphics (in cockpit view) a 5 out of 5, and I give the graphics (in any other view a 4.5 out of 5 just because you don’t see as much as you would in the cockpit.
SOUND:If you don’t like the sound of a real Formula 1 car you won’t like this, but I’m one for realism so I like to hear the whine of the engine as I hit seventh gear going a buck seventy. Plus, it really does add to the realistic feel when your throttling up and down. Okay, this is where I get a bit confused so bare with me. I have read other opinions and it a few of them say that you can listen to music if you don’t want to hear the car, but I didn’t hear any and I didn’t find any options to turn it up. Oh well, maybe I just missed it, but I like the sound of the car anyway so it didn’t bother me. There is also an announcer which starts off every race by giving you the low down on who’s in pole position, and a little background on the track. The only thing is though, he doesn’t say anything while the race is going no commentary whatsoever, but you do get plenty of stats to keep up to date, so it’s not necessary. There are also a couple of other cool sound effects including, the squeal of the, the thump of the wheels going over the markers, and the spark of the engine. The worst part of the sound will be the car if you don’t like it, but it will add to the realism if you get use to hearing it. I give the sound a 5 out 5 if you want total realism.
CONTROL:This is where I thought the game would get painfully hard, but to my surprise it was actually very smooth (unless you loose a wing). You can use either the analog or the D-pad to drive (I prefer the analog) so that at least gives you a choice (I don’t know if this game works with the steering wheel, but I’m sure it would kick a-- if you could). This is the first Formula 1 racing game (since Andretti racing for the original Playstation) that is to control, and that actually responds to almost every move you make...every step you take....every bond....oh woops I slipped into that didn’t I. Anyways, the control will take you practice to get use to it, which means you will actually have to use the practice option. The best part about the control is that you can make your car fly through the corners at almost full speed like they’re suppose to. The worst part about the control is when you break the front or back wing off (if you break the front wing off the car won’t turn good, and if you break the back one off you will over turn) or even worse yet if break an axel or the wheel. I give the control a 5 out of 5, but remember that once you break something the control will change.
Overall this game is very fun one-player, but kind of mediocre with two-players (because all you do is race against your friend with no other opponents). There are plenty of different modes including, career, single race, two-player, and more to keep you going but my favorite is career. This game was done well, which surprises me because a lot of times EA speeds along games making it worse than what it should be, but this time they can be proud of what they accomplished. I recommend you at least rent or even buy this if you want a good one-player racing game, but I do not, however, recommend you buy this if your planning on playing it two-player. I wouldn’t even say this game is worth renting if you want to play it two-player so keep that in mind. Also, this is not something where you actually have to be a fan to enjoy, so at least rent it if you want a good realistic racing game to play while your waiting for GT3 to come out. I give this a spectacular 5 out of 5 if you play the single player mode, and I give it a 2 out of 5 if all you want it for is two-player because it does get boring real quick racing against your friend over and over.
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