F1 Race Stars Review

I’m going in to this with the full assumption that this is going to be Mario Kart in different clothes. Whilst there is absolutely a place in the market for MK clones I don’t know what audience this is really appealing to. The success

of others in this area have been down to excellent (and quick) competitive gameplay, fast 4-player action, recognised characters and big and bright cartoony graphics. Off the bat then F1 Race Stars fills all of this, but this is where I think it is targeting the wrong audience. I’m not sure that F1 RS will appeal to the F1 fans or the older gamer so its target then must be kids and/or young teens. This assumption is supported by its cutesy graphics, big, bright colours and the style in which the drivers are presented (small bodies and big heads). However, I think this audience has seen, got, played and traded Mario Kart on various formats and then bought the next version once it appears, and with the Nintendo bound to include one on their new console (the WiiU), where, really, is the place for this?

So, assumptions out of the way, let’s get in to the game. The first thing I noticed about this is that it’s a Codemasters release – big thumbs up straight away. Codemasters were the original developers in this genre with the Micro Machines series which was simple yet highly addictive and always scored highly in reviews. For the current generation of consoles CM have provided us with Race Driver Grid, another well received game both by audience and critics and the mainstream F1 games. So question 1, is this just another release with the F1 licence, whilst they hold it, and a chance to cash in on the stars? Or is it really a serious contender in the (current) 1 horse race that is led by Mario?

Ok so Codemasters is a good thing, what came next however wasn’t. Default resolution is only 1280x 1024, despite my system and monitor being set to 1920×1080. Then the game loaded straight in to demo mode. Now I don’t mean you had titles and menu and I left it for 30 seconds and it started the demo. I mean, there were no titles or menus and all I get to see is the bright little cars racing around the tracks. Thumbs down for me on this. Now this was made worse by what happened next. Usually to get out of demos and back to the menus you press Escape. Nope didn’t work. Ok, so then you try clicking the mouse, nope, not that either, Space then perhaps…. No. So after mashing the keyboard a bit, Enter gets you to the start screen. Now I know its petty but this sequence of events annoyed me. There wasn’t even a “Press enter to Start” set of instructions on the screen… Nothing! You have to wait a full minute for this demo sequence to end before you get any instructions about how to start. This isn’t the dark ages, there have been plenty of games out, we know what people like and what they don’t (change!) so why have we gone against the traditional view for something different, normally I am all for innovation and change – but that would suggest something new and better, this is neither! Now some into sequences are well worth watching but even they end on the click of a button. This wasn’t worth watching and doesn’t…

I’ve had my gripes, maybe it’s just some silly bugs and the game will be excellent. So off to change the resolution and whilst I’m there I’ll check the controls out. Mouse and Keyboard or Controller. Seems fair, so I dig out my Logitech controller, plug it in, installed by MS W7 and configured and tested. Great, so back to the game…. No control with my joypad. Hmmm, must be a bug… Shut down Steam, reload, try again… Nope, still no joypad control. Ok, back to Control Panel to double check, Yup all still configured and working. But not for F1 Race Stars. So, yes, annoyed now, I decide to play on keys so let’s go and set them. No as a retro gamer, my first keyboard control experience was on the ZX Spectrum 48k and that had its own style of controls. Those that remember will have wistful moments over Q.A.O.P.Z…. ahhh memories. So off I go to set these keys and….. no! No customisation of controls. Nothing, you can’t change it they won’t let you. I briefly wonder if this is a pre-release version but it’s been out a little while. So all that praise for Codemasters and my fondness for Micro Machines has long since left and now I’m just annoyed. I exit all the way back and start a race hoping that this is going to change my mood. It should be fun, cute, and competitive…. Let’s see…

Right, I’ve chosen a basic race, picked Fernando Alonso and am about to start. Now its given me a choice of abilities but nowhere has it explained what those abilities do… this starting to be a typical trend with this game. I’ve chosen toolbox and started. Now knowing how to skip elements, I’ve bypassed the starting grid sequence (pointless!) and can finally start a race. I hate racing games on mouse and keyboard controls but as it didn’t want to accept my joypad I have no choice. 3.. 2.. 1.. Go!

Just as I thought… It’s Mario Kart, same style tracks, same type of star pickups (no explanation of what any of them do!), music sounds the same and gameplay is definitely the same. I race around the track a couple of times, finish second… oooh I didn’t achieve anything, no details as to what the icons on the screen mean and I can either back out or replay. Sorry Codemasters but I’m leaving. This might have been good as a PSN or Xbox Live release for £5 but as a full title this falls way short of expectations. Will you have fun with it? On the consoles, most probably. Will you be happy you spent £40 on it… hell no! Will it annoy you as much as it did me, I doubt it. But ultimately I think you will feel the same way I do. Why buy this when you can get the definitive version, where it is consistently done right.

I’m off to borrow a Wii so I can play Mario Kart and forget about F1 Race Stars.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.