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Player Score
8.5
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 9
Sound: 10
Value: 7
Reviewer's Tilt: 9
Difficulty: Medium
Learning Curve:
1 hour
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When I first bought the game, I anticipated an game much advanced from the old shareware text games that were the only GP manager games around. As I began the game, the amazing sound effects and the sharp SVGA graphics really got my attention. These are definitely strong points of the game. I loved the detailed information on each driver, as well as the randomness of up-and-coming rookies. The interface for managing an F1 team was really well done, and with a little studying to learn every symbol, was quite powerful. I did find it somewhat cumbersome, however, when I tried to make adjustments during a race. A few bugs were still noticeable in the game play. During an actual race, the console was nice, however the sliding bars for some controls were too slow and/or inefficient.
The game's one downfall was the apparent lack of detail in the AI. It seemed impossible to win a race without manually racing every lap, but it always seemed like no matter what happened, you would crash otherwise. This unrealistic feel really was disappointing a game that was otherwise well done. At some points it became boring as my own decisions didn't seem to affect what happened... My cars would qualify in EXACTLY the same spots for every race. If I didn't qualify manually, I could never qualify above 7th on the grid, which was where I qualified EVERY TIME.
I would have to say that even though this game had everything going for it and was well done in theory, it ended up on my shelf after a month because of it's disappointing realism. I really hoped that this game would be somewhat more realistic when it came to actual race simulation. Too bad, this game had great potential. When it comes out as a bargain game, grab it, though, there is still much to play around with for the avid auto racing fan, but I wouldn't recommend paying the $45 retail price for it.
By John Prather
Posted 02/24/97
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