F1 Race Stars
Reviewed By Luke "Lukaz" Withoos
Need For Speed, Burnout, Forza, even the Gran Turismo series are considered to be great racing games, hell, racing games have an extremely loyal fan base. But there is one series that seems to get forgotten from time to time. The Mario Kart series; one of the most popular racing series of all time.
F1 Race Stars channels the Mario Kart formula almost to a fault; and while I could claim "unoriginality" in a lot of ways, there are many things that set F1 Race Stars apart.
The first noticeable difference is the drivers. All of the characters in this title are real people; real F1 drivers with hilarious caricature appearances. Never before has a “bobble head” been so funny. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa from team Ferrari for example, look ridiculously humorous. Short cartoon-like bodies with enormous heads; and most of all, they are spot on depictions. Brilliant.
The best part about the characters though is the voices. All the drivers have their own unique vocal traits; quite often an exaggeration of the stereotypical voice of their home country. Vitaly Petrov has a strong Russian accent and Kamui Kobayashi has a strong Japanese accent that will leave you in tears of laughter.
The most hilarious voice though is that of Australian driver, Mark Webber. I have heard Mark Webber speak many times and now will never be able to see his face without thinking of him as a croc-hunting, ocker Aussie who likes to sit down with a couple of cans and watch the footy.
The drivers aren’t the only exaggeration, the F1 cars appear like tiny go-karts in comparison to their drivers with their enormous heads and their excessively large helmets.
Power-ups are a vital aspect to F1 Race Stars and are used by the drivers to attack their opponents and eventually slow them down (Much like Mario Kart). By slowing down, we mean: the front and rear wings come flying off first leaving the wheels wobbling on their axles as the engine smokes away.
As you might expect, this requires a quick stop over into the pits, if this happens to you of course; this is mainly to fix up damage and stop billowing smoke from obstructing your view. It's a nice visual treat to see bits of f1 shrapnel flying off in every direction. An aesthetic bonus that sets the game apart from several games of this style.
Power ups are very similar to those from other titles, such as Mario Kart, however in this case, not surprisingly, they have an F1 theme; such as rain on the track or getting the safety car to do a few laps. These make the game interesting; particularly when the rain starts and lessens the grip on the track.
Travelling the globe visiting race tracks from the USA to Australia to Abu Dhabi to Singapore, the races are presented with difficulty levels of 1,000cc, 2,000cc and 3,000cc. As you might expect, 3,000cc can be very difficult to play. I can definitely admit that it takes a very dedicated player to succeed at the highest difficulty. The challenge is certainly appropriate.
F1 Race Stars is a fantastic game, albeit without much innovation. An entertaining, enjoyable title, one that definitely results in fun when played with friends. I know I will definitely spend more time with my wife playing the title in the coming months.
The hilarious voice acting; the bobble-head like characters, the simple, clean fun make this game worth every moment.
Game: F1Race Stars
System: XBOX 360
Developer/Co-Developer: Codemasters Birmingham
Publisher: Codemasters
