Formula 1:Championship Edition is out and it has been well worth the
wait. Well...Somewhat. Game reviews are a dime a dozen on the internet
with some being more informative than others. Some peoples reviews read
just like their previews(Absolute Playstation) and thus offer no real
information. No doubt, there will be many game reviews for this title as
well as this game is practically flying off the shelves. Therefore, I
won't go into the details trying to describe the game's features and
whatnot.  If you've played the original Formula 1 by Bizarre, you know
the foundation on which this game is based. After playing the game for
about a week, I have been able to draw my own conclusions about this
title. Keep in mind that the following points refer only to the Grand
Prix(simulation) mode as I have not played the Arcade mode much at all,
although many will carry over to the arcade mode as well.  I am sure
more points will come up as I continue to play this otherwise excellent
game. You may even have some to add. The following are my praises and
gripes for F1:Championship Edition with some added comments:


What I do Like About F1:Championship Edition

1.	Plenty of  Eye Candy. The car details are great(glowing brake discs,
smoke, fire, damaged wings, cockpit views, etc.) The tracks and
background look as good as the first game. The intro is very nice. Some
racing footage would have been nice. Can someone show me what
high-resolution is? Dynamic Draw-in...Locked...Huh?
2.	Game is Still Fast. One thing I always liked about F1 was the sense
of speed. But after 180 MPH, it's all the same. Glad to see the frame
rate is still 30fps.
3.	Menu System and Options. The menu system has been improved and is
very easy to maneuver your way around the menu selections.  The default
race setup is Practice, Qualify, Race. But you can skip the Practice and
Qualify sessions if your feeling confident, but I don't recommend it. 
4.	Car Setup. This is your chance to fine tune your car to your
specifications and driving technique. Select transmission type, tires,
tire compound, suspension, Brake disc size and bias, and separate front
and rear down-force.  Practice + tweaking + practice + practice + luck =
Good race results.
5.	Damage, Failures, Weather, Tire Wear, Fuel Consumption, Flags, Lens
Glare. All of the characteristics make for one realistic simulation. You
also aren't smoking the tires at every chicane. Sim-Heads will love the
pit strategy involved. However, nothing will piss you off more than
completing 70 of 72 laps and having your engine blow or some jack-boot
crash you.
6.	Damage repair time is directly proportional to damage you have. A
problem with the first game. If you elected to "fix" your front or rear
wings, "Working" would show for at least 10 seconds whether you had
damage or not. With this game, the less damage you have, the faster your
pit stop.
7.	20 Car Setup Save Slots. If you're a Sim-Head like me, you will still
need the notebook, but one just not as thick, thanks to this feature.
Have a car setup slot for each track and adjust each individually. Very
Nice. Back-up that memory card though.
8.	More Racing Views. Includes the cockpit view and the longer nose
view. The cockpit view shows the drivers hands struggling with the
wheel. 
9.	Commentary. Murray's back along with Martin Brundle, ex-driver. Set
it up to give as little or as much information as you want. After
awhile, you will most likely go back to Murray's statistical
commentating. 
10.	Collisions. Completely absent from the first game. Gives that extra
touch of realism. Barely touching the dirt won't cause you to spin-out
as easily as the first game, but the spin-outs are still cool. Just as
in real racing, contact with other cars can end your day.  One of the
best moments was when I was rounding the corner at 125mph, two cars were
sideways in the middle of the road and I had to swerve fast to miss
them. Great job.
11.	Game Manual is Better. It's still not perfect, but it gives you the
basics. Anything is better than last years manual. I will still be
looking for Klaus Timmermans' FAQ on this game.



You may be thinking, "Oh, this is great. I'm going to get that game
right now". But wait! There is more than meets the eye. This title also
has its' own share of flubs and flaws; some of which have no excuse for
even existing. Read on...


What I do not like about F1:Championship Edition

1.	No link Mode. Throw out the useless crap and leave in the link mode.
Thank you Sony, for remembering the link capabilities of the playstation
with CART World Series.
2.	No full grid in two-player mode. This is utterly unacceptable, At
least NASCAR 98 gave you six other cars to race.
3.	No two-player championship season mode. Am I the only one who wants
the ability to compete against a friend in a championship season with
each person practicing and setting up their car on their own and
linking-up on Sunday to qualify and race while saving this season on a
memory card?
4.	Cockpit view wastes ¼ of your TV screen with the timing box. They
could have gotten the angle a little better with this view.
5.	Useless telemetry readout that doesn't allow you to compare laps.
What the hell is this for anyway? Excuse me for not working for
McClaren, but how do you interpret this thing?
6.	Being black-flagged for actions that were clearly not your
fault.(getting hit from behind, getting caught in someone else's mess of
a wreck, being unlucky)
7.	Trying to pit with the steering assist on pulls your car into the
wall toward the track. This sucks big time because at some point, it
will cost you a race. 
8.	Inability to change anything in pits but tire types. (slicks, wets,
monsoons). To be fair, at least now, fuel input is measured in laps.
Step on the gas when you've got enough.
9.	No options for configuring your analogue wheel. Madcatz setting
doesn't use the shifter.
10.	Timing is still not completely accurate. Tag Hauer would not be
proud.  Last years game had a problem when linked-up. One player would
never be able to qualify good even if the both ran identically perfect
laps. Psygnosis solved that problem this year...no Link Mode!
11.	"Tear Offs"  feature is completely useless. Did someone ask for this
feature?
12.	Driver name editing feature flawed. Doesn't allow for blank spaces
or deleting extra letters in a drivers name longer than yours. Murray
still calls you by the old name, but what else would you expect? I would
have fallen out of my chair had he called out my last name during a
race.
13.	No create-a-driver feature. Most other sports games have it.
14.	No hard rock sound-track. Fewer music track selections. No
Overdrive, Joe Satriani, or Steve Via. Normally this would be a major
gripe, but with the improved commentary system, I don't listen to the
music while racing. The song played in the menu section is actually very
good. 
15.	With steering assist off, your car drifts all over the track and you
have to jerk it around just to stay on the track even on straights.
This is very annoying and forces you to make a choice between crashing
around on the track with steering-assist off, or crashing around the
pits with the steering assist on. Since you spent 99% on the track, I
think you know which one is obvious.
16.	Gears don't catch very good coming off the corners and you have to
manually downshift with the button even when driving an automatic.
17.	Race Length Setting. I actually enjoyed using the percentage scale
to set the race length. I could set the race as long as I wanted it to
be. With F1:CE, you have short(3), medium(5), long(10), half, and full.
I guess the full race lengths are the same as the last game. Maybe
someone can confirm this. Is the FAQ still useful?
18.	No performance attributes meter for car setup ala' NASCAR 98. This
would be a valuable tool to aid in car set up. Oh Well,
Adjust...Practice...Adjust...Practice..... 
19.	No Replay Feature Whatsoever. Couldn't use it with the wheel on the
last game so I never really got use to it, but I know some people will
miss it.
20.	This space reserved for more gripes.


Don't get the wrong idea. It is not my intention to bash the creators of
this game. But with all of the feedback gathered from the last game, I
believe they could have done a better job. Bizarre/Psygnosis took
everything that was good about the last game and left it out of the
sequel. Is this what we asked for? We wanted the bugs fixed, more
realism, more strategy.  I didn't here anyone say sacrifice the Link
mode. It's like they were trying to correct problems that did not exist.
Why would you better the graphics with a high-resolution mode when the
graphics of the first game received rave reviews? Could it be that
people expect it in a sequel? Well...people expect two-player racing
with extra computer competition in a racing game too. At least I do.
Thankfully, these is no shortage of racing games being released this
fall. There is no doubt that this game will enjoy a long stay in my game
stable, but as with the last game, I am left wanting more. Damn! We
gamers are hard to please.

Brandon Lawson
10-7-98
lawsonb@dms.state.fl.us