Codemasters could potentially write a book on “How to ruin a good series” and use F1 as the main topic. F1 2015 is everything that an F1 game shouldn’t be. The score we gave it may even be too optimistic, but we can’t say that in some ways the development team didn’t try.
By that, we mean: the graphics, animation and driving itself. Graphically, F1 2015 uses the maximum of the current-gen consoles’ potential and the game truly looks great. The same can be said about the animations and the strongest point of this game is it’s execution – F1 2015 almost feels like a 100% precise simulation of driving a Formula 1. So, in those regards, the development team is to be commended. And it beggars the question – if the graphics and driving are so good, why such a low score?
Well, the simulator that we mentioned pertains mostly to driving solo and the behavior of the car on the track. Now, calculate in the opposing drivers and chaos ensues. They are not typical Formula 1 drivers, but are instead rabid pitbulls that were trained to drive, don’t know the cost of destroying a car, and whose main goal is not to win, but to kick you out of the race. Last time we checked, Formula 1 wasn’t “Destruction Derby”, nor the American-style crushing of 20 cars using jeeps with 1000-inch tires, so it’s uncertain what Codemasters was thinking here.
Career mode does not exist anymore, so you as a driver can decide only to drive season 2014 or 2015 and that’s where choices end. Everything else that F1 had before is now gone. Why? Nobody knows. You could say – “Never mind, single player is only intro for the great multiplayer action” and you’d be right…. on paper. In reality, multiplayer in F1 2015 simply doesn’t work. You can’t connect to any servers or play any games. We checked to see if it was a local problem – but no, everyone’s reporting it.
Even though it might seem that this review is too short or that there should be more to be said, that really is not the case. F1 2015 could easily be reviewed in one sentence. The game is a step up graphically and as a simulation, but a huge step back in every other way. And that’s all you need to know before spending 50€ on it. Perhaps the best piece of advice we could give would be to wait and see if at least multiplayer gets enabled, because even as a great simulation, it simply is not worth that much money.
Author: Stefan Starović
F1 2015
Pros:
- Realism
- Graphics, presentation
Cons:
- Singleplayer, i.e. career mode
- Multiplayer mode has huge issues
- Bad AI
