F1 Race Stars review (PC)

F1 can be terribly dull. Especially with the slew of new rules introduced to make the sport safer and fairer to anyone who isn’t Michael Schumacher or Lewis Hamilton.

The announcement by Codemasters that they were going to be taking an off-the-wall look at the sport surprised quite a few, and likely ended up in some very huffy conversations around the water cooler.

All those naysayers can now release their collective breath – F1 Race Stars is fantastic. Before I delve into the why though, let’s get the elephant out of the room.

Yes, F1 Race Stars is similar to Mario Kart. And yes, LittleBigPlanet Karting is also very similar. If we’re being really nit-picky, they all owe their ideas to 1994’s Wacky Wheels, anyway. Fortunately, Codemasters have brought their considerable creative flair and produced something that is so much more than the sum of its parts.

Is… is that Truckosaurus?

Set all over the world, F1 Race Stars has a killer list of amazing raceways featuring some hair-raising tracks from Belgium, Japan, USA, Singapore and a few others. If you fancy flying down a skyscraper hairpin, or plummeting down a Brazilian waterfall, F1 Race Stars is going to be your cup of tea.

Each race track has particular features, pitfalls, hazards and bonuses which certainly improves the playability of the game. Hazards in particular are creative and stereotypical for each country – Truckosaurus will flame you in the USA, Sumo wrestlers will crush you in Japan and an entire phalanx of Roman legionaries will run you off the aqueduct in Rome.

Power sliding? Bah humbug

As with all of the karting games, Race Stars doesn’t require nearly as much finesse and careful manoeuvring as other, more serious F1 titles – but after all, why should it? That said, Codemasters have worked really hard to keep some of the Formula 1 discipline without intimidating any of us laymen.

As Chris Gray (Senior Producer for Race Stars) said in an interview with Gametrailers.com, “F1 cars don’t tend to power slide unless something’s gone horribly wrong.”

The track design is very carefully thought up, compensating for the lack of some features and control that we’ve come to recognise as staples of karting games. It’s a little trickier with F1 cars, as they’re not nearly as flexible as the cartoony karts, but the developers have done a great job.

Corners have been kitted-out with blue bars that build up boost, as slipstreaming plays a major part in how quickly you get around the track. Add in the some of the most unique powerups strewn across the track and you’ve got a winner.

There are a lot of little nods to Formula 1 – the powerups are themed, so there’s a wet weather powerup (you get wet weather tires while everyone else slips) and a safety car powerup that slows down everyone in the group.

All the tracks are based on the usual gamut you’ve seen on TV, but with extra crazy thrown in all over the place. Rather than simply trying to shove F1 tracks into the game, Codemasters have gone out of their way to make them work. Fans will still spot various famous corners and landmarks along the way, but you won’t have time to care.

Multiplayer mayhem

Everything from the classic multiplayer options all the way up to the always popular 4-way split screen is present and even then, you haven’t been limited to either 4-way split or online play. If you want to play 4-way vs. 4-way, that’s completely open as well.

Multiplayer functionality wasn’t available at the time of this review, but if the connectivity and matchmaking is smooth, the experience looks to be one which will form a small cult following.

Graphically good, slick sounds, musically mundane

F1 Race Stars is crisp, clean and cartoony without being overbearing. If I had one criticism, it would be that the graphics in corners and other strategic points tend to blend a little too well, so it’s all too easy to plough into a wall or some other obstacle that you didn’t know was there until the last second.

All your favourite drivers have hilariously large heads and are there for the picking including Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and of course, Michael Schumacher complete with strangely alive helmets.

Sound effects are cute (as you’d expect from a karting game) while engine noises are rough and scream at just the right pitch to remind you that you’re still in a Formula 1 car. Unfortunately, the music is repetitive and this can get more than a little irritating if you leave the menu open for any extended amount of time.

Christmas conclusion

It’s the festive season – would this make a great gift for your loved ones? Absolutely.

It’s difficult to find fault with this particular gem and although I’m admittedly not the biggest F1 fan in the world, I’d cheerfully sink a few dollars and hours to play this game into the ground.