Christopher Marx
themarx@neosoft.com
Game: _Formula 1_ (USA release)
Developer: Psygnosis Ltd.
Price: $54.99 @ Babbages
Format: Sony Playstation

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  I'm a big fan of racing games so I've been waiting for
Formula 1(F1) since I heard about it a few months ago.  I own
Wipeout and Destruction Derby, and have owned Ridge Racer
Revolution, Twisted Metal, and Ridge Racer (also for the IBM I
own Indy Car 1/2 and Nascar Racing) so I think I have a relativly
good perspective on driving games.  I've been playing F1 for a
few days now and I have been having a blast.
  This game offers a ton of options, more than I have space to
go into.  The main options are controller set up, what kind of
sound you want (sond effects only, announcer and effects, music
and effects), what kind of sound proccessing you want (mono,
stereo, Q-sound, dolby pro-logic), a choice between arcade and
grand prix mode, choice of race length (by percentage), weather
(dry, rain, variable), driving aids (transmision, steering,
braking), full grid or dual mode (one on one), choice of teams
and drivers (13 grand prix teams, 26 drivers), and choice of
track (17 grand prix circuts).  Naturaly the manual is thin and
inadequate in describing the more complex aspects of the game
such as how to adjust your wings, etc.
  Now, even though it is advertised as a simulation it does
not fully simulate F1 racing.  Now I'm not talking about
nitpicking little rules discrepencies, I mean that in this game
there is no such thing as a yellow (or black) flag.  No cars seem
to ever be really "out of the race," even on the hardest
difficulty level in grand prix mode, and no amout of illegal
passing or dangerous driving will get you sent to the pits. 
Speaking of which, pit stops are handled well, but the glaring
lack of a fuel gauge makes it difficult (almost impossible) to
plan an effective pit strategy.  Also car dammage is limited to
normal wear on the tires and loosing your front and rear wings
(e.g. no huse multiple car pileups with overturned vehicles and
tires flying everywhere :-P ).  However, the tires seem to wear
out at a realistic rate and going into the pit for new slicks and
repairs to the wings definitley has a large impact on lap times. 
Regardless of the lack of real pit strategy and flags the game is
_a lot_ of fun.  When you are out on the course with your nose in
another car's exaust and three cars breething down your neck, or
screeming down the front strait to the roar of the crowds the
game has a wonderfull "you are there" feeling that makes it very
exciting and vicarial.
  The graphics are very good at recreating the grand prix
circuts and they are all modeled exceptionaly well.  There is a
differing amout of popup depending on which course you are
racing, from almost none on some tracks to a medium amout on
others, but it is very little considering the fact that they
could not change the track around to cut off lines of sight in
more detailed areas.  Also there are some gaps in the polygons,
again it is worse on some tracks and better on others, but not by
any means bad.  The textures are all _very_ good and do not
pixelate at any kind of normal viewing distance.  The car models
seem a bit strange when looking at them from some views, and
normal looking in other views.  This could be because in the game
you can see the cars from a point of view not available in the
real world.  The rain effects are well done and effective but not
drop dead.  I have not noticed and slow down.  Overall I would
say that the graphic quality of the game is very good.  The
individual elements come together well and the whole is greater
than the sum of its parts.
  The in car sound effects are very good (your family might
get tired of F1 cars screeming around the track lap after lap ;-) 
).  The engine sounds were recorded from the genuine article and
you can easily figure out when you are in the wrong gear.  The
anouncer (his name slips my mind) is nice and calls out the race
order and gives you info on how your doing on the split time.  He
has an annoying habit of calling out what gear you are in, but
only during practice and qualifing.  The samples get repetitive
after about an hour of play, but they don't get irritating during
the races.  The music out in the menus is definitely a cut above
your average game music (naturaly) because of the Vai/Satriani
input, but is not their best work I've ever heard.  The tracks
that play during the races are nice ambient music but nothing you
want to listen to in your stereo.  Overall I like the sound
quality, again, the elements together do more than they could
apart.
  As for the control in this game, I think that it is excelent
considering that I'm using the standard playstation controler
(hopefully getting the steering wheel this week :-)  ).  The car
gets squirley in the rain and the amout of steering is dependant
on your speed (e.g. when you're going slower the wheels turn
more).  Very good.
  This game has a lot of replay in it with all the courses,
drivers (each of whose cars handles a little differently) and
difficulty settings.  I'm going to be playing this one for a long
time.
  All in all I think this os one of the best racing games I've
ever played.  It's just fun, fun, fun to drive it.  I would
recomend this game to anyone regardless of what kind of games
they like, and to racing fans, go out and get it now.

Here's the numbers (scale of 1-10):

  Options:   9    
  Graphics:  8   (a little pop up and break up keep this one
                  down)
  Sound:     8   (the anouncer is anoying during qualifing,
                  but the engine sounds rule)
  Control:   9.5
  Replay:    9   (can always use more tracks :-)   )

  Overall:   9

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Christopher Marx