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F1 Challenge 99-02

Are you a career-minded individual with a micro-management obsession?

It appears that the monolith that is EA Sports, ("it's in the game"), has released another title to satiate sporting fans all over the globe. This time the Formula One fanatics are the lucky group, and if you are one of them you may want to make the most of it as F1 Challenge 99-02 may well be the last game in the series. As you may have been able to deduce from the title, for this final release they've packaged four racing seasons together as a so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu to the international gaming community.

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I think the main reason why this series is not as popular as it could be is due to the unfriendly interface and steep learning curve. After all most gamers would love a fast racing game. While many sports games, particularly the best ones, will gently welcome a new player and allow them to start gaming without too much fuss, F1 Challenge by contrast is very daunting. There are a large number of options to scale the difficulty up and down, from brake and steering assistance to the adjustment of the AI of your opponents. Most of these though require an inordinate amount of trial and error before you'll find something to match your skills. Expect to have to roam back and forth between racing section and the menus. A word to interface designers out there, "Mystery Meat Navigation" is not big and it's not clever. Can we please have some text to go with those rather indeterminate icons?

Once you get passed some of these problems you'll start to become aware of the detail in this game. Evidently EA decided not to gather information for this year's season and instead relied upon their database collated over the past four years. What you get then are accurate team rosters consisting of 14 teams and 34 drivers; a selection of car performances and 17 racing tracks to try these all out on. Not a bad selection I'm sure you'll agree. Once you've created a profile you can choose to simply drive around on a test day, go for the full weekend race, and lastly compete in a championship for a season. Unfortunately there is no career mode included and it is certainly a missed opportunity to have had one that spanned all four seasons.

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1. This is not a game for casual gamers (like the reviewer probably), It's targeted at hardcore simmers and should probably be viewed and rated as such.

   As far as the review. Well that one is pointed towards casual gamers as a simmer won't find any useful information in there (what controller was used?, what has changed since F1-2002?, etc.).

   Therefor, I don't see the use of this review.

   Zamorano Friday, 15 August 2003, 06:37:28

2. go for autobahn raser, stupid, and stop boring us with unintelligent articles like this in the future.

   nunnini Friday, 15 August 2003, 09:15:29

3. The reviewer left out a critical point: There are 2 levels of mechanical adjustments available. One for the casual user that entails setting 4 slidebars (not mentioned) and then the more complex and sim related level that allows one to adjust the car as a Pro would, item by item. This function, the ability for the driver to set various driving aids, and the ability to set the A/I and aggressiveness of the other drivers allows both the sim driver and the casual driver to get the most from this excellent game.

   kooldakracing Friday, 15 August 2003, 11:34:38

4. That is one of the worst, primitive, meatless reviews I have ever seen in my life. You have no idea what racing simulations are about.

   You have no interest in reviewing the new and awesome physics. The brilliant new sounds. The improved multiplayer. The wonderful new skies which change every time you load. the many, many new options in your player file. The kind of things the mod community will get from this because ISI specifically did many things for them.

   This review is total crap. I suspect it's written like this because you've never played any of the other F1 games from this developer, and maybe even the whole genre.

   Pick up your cheque and go home.

   oh man Friday, 15 August 2003, 14:15:56

5. A fair review. I'd definately agree with the gfx issue though - whats the deal with the buildings? They look very rushed.

   David Saturday, 16 August 2003, 07:38:37

6. Ditto to the other comments. You are hapless. And the reason why it is based on previous seasons is because from 2003 the FIA license is exclusive to Sony.

   weiteck Sunday, 17 August 2003, 17:06:8

7. anybody know a steering wheel that you can adjust the sensetivity (deadzone) in this game?

   jah Thursday, 21 August 2003, 12:52:18

8. anybody know a steering wheel that you can adjust the sensetivity (deadzone) in this game?

   jah Thursday, 21 August 2003, 12:52:19

9. Well obviously this reviewer was either

   a) paid off

   b) likes arcade games

   For the former he should stick to console games such as the very _nice_ Colin Mcrae Rally 3 *sarcasm*

   This is about the best F1 simulation you are going to get in several years.

   I use a logitech momo, and can adjust the deadzone settings...you can do that for any controller make sure the "lock" isn't "locked" above the deadzone controls.

   robo Monday, 1 September 2003, 09:30:22

10. well i am i hardcore simmer and this is one of the best racing games i have ever played, i have a wheel so u can get the real feel out of it, the cars handle realistic and it has alot better physics engine and upgraded features than F1 2002

    shaunyboy Thursday, 25 September 2003, 06:35:23

11. Your comment:

    "Evidently EA decided not to gather information for this year's season and instead relied upon their database collated over the past four years" was quite obviously a misinformed assumption. Sony have the licence for 2003, not EA.

    I am also a simmer. It is a simmer's game, not one for GranTurismo style arcaders. So please don't shun the game because you can't work it right. With time it is easy to navigate.

    Roadkill Thursday, 25 September 2003, 15:02:48

12. You completely left out the fact that the whole game can be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and turned into a game featuring just about anything with wheels.

    search for the title and the word "mod" or "addon" on google, then dive right in...

    Sam

    Albyno883 Thursday, 25 September 2003, 17:47:56

13. uh

    having a casual gamer (im sure this guy wasnt a f1 fan) play and review an f1 sim, is incredibly stupid. 60%? rofl.

    Brent Friday, 3 October 2003, 15:52:16

14. e's Ebeneezer Goode !! e's a good e's a good e's Ebeneezer Goode !

    Salmon Thursday, 17 February 2005, 12:03:1

16. Totally ser cos a jist like heavily agree n that ahe he he he pure f1'n it up tae the max n that ken whit am saying like pure heavy schumacherin it up wae the boyz like !

    Flalu Thursday, 17 February 2005, 12:07:31

17. The rewiever is a fanatic of The Sims House party????

    Ho man, stop to write rewievs of games that you never played.

    F1C is one of the best!! better than GP4.

    Isolenko Monday, 20 June 2005, 19:30:11

18. The trolleys are pure fu a it noo like

    Johannesberger Friday, 28 October 2005, 23:03:7

19. Great game,although I actually thought the sims was a tin of beans.

    iboribena Friday, 28 October 2005, 23:06:3

20. ging gang goolie, goolie, goolie watcha, ging gang gool ging gang gool

    That fake Mika Hakkinen lookalike guy Saturday, 5 November 2005, 19:52:14

21. Argokelbellplu ? lan dusx reperrto vial casamov. Lacs casamov dil vel pliu ungerd guarsh deil litolopo. Diel 'F1 Challenge' is asocortinal deverasgo aginant.

    Dowzukur Saturday, 26 November 2005, 19:19:24

22. Calarfer der gartherika

    Carapy galaxies Monday, 23 April 2007, 14:40:6