F1. Codemasters. Do I need to say more? Are you ready for a new entry in the series? Then come check out our F1 2019 review to see how the franchise has evolved this year!
The official videogame of the 2019 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™, F1® 2019 challenges you to Defeat your Rivals in the most ambitious F1® game in Codemasters’ history.
F1® 2019 features all the official teams, drivers and all 21 circuits from the 2019 season. This year sees the inclusion of F2™ with players being able to complete the 2018 season with the likes of George Russell, Lando Norris and Alexander Albon.
With greater emphasis on graphical fidelity, the environments have been significantly enhanced, and the tracks come to life like never before. Night races have been completely overhauled creating vastly improved levels of realism and the upgraded F1® broadcast sound and visuals add further realism to all aspects of the race weekend.
Online connection required to download the final F1® teams’ 2019 cars (as applicable) and F2™ 2019 season content.
F1® 2019 | OFFICIAL GAME TRAILER 3 | LAUNCH
Codemasters are the masters of racing games, from the DiRT series to Grid, the new IP OnRush from last year, and what I’m here to talk about today: F1 2019. Codemasters is a studio that specializes in racing titles, and I don’t think they’ve made a bad one. I reviewed the F1 games over the past few years, and now it’s time to see how the series has evolved for this year’s entry.
The big change this year in the series is the addition of the F2 to Career mode. You can skip it and go right into the F1… but you shouldn’t The Story mode this year starts, here introducing you to your Devono, your rival who’s the douchebag of douchebags, and your friend/rival Luke. I remember the story mode from last year’s version, and it didn’t have a lasting appeal. With the characters of Luke and Devon, the game gets some much-needed personality to it, especially as you all start in the F2 series and move up together. Between races, you’ll have cutscenes with them, interviews with dialogue choices, and more. This really helps the game stand out from the pack of racers, and I think it will give it some extra longevity.
In terms of the gameplay mechanics, not much has changed, and that’s a good thing. F1 2019 feels just as solid as previous entries. You can play the game like a hardcore sim, or a more casual player can jump in and get a bit of an arcade time with the game, helping with more of the backend decisions for your settings. The flexibility here is what is most impressive about this game and how accessible it is for people that want a solid racing game.
In each race, you have your line on the track for the optimal path to follow. If it’s green, you have to keep your speed up. When it starts to go to yellow and red, you better slow down so that you can take the curves without flying off the track – easy to learn hard to master. This year felt a bit different, though, and that’s because the AI seems to be smarter. In previous entries of the series they always felt like they stayed in their lanes. In this one, racers are more aggressive, and it makes it harder for you to pass them. I’ve talked about this in previous entries of the series, but with F1 racing, when you have to move past other vehicles, it almost feels like a puzzle. You approach some cars, and you need to figure out the best way to pass through them in one piece.
There are daily and weekly challenges that you can jump into as well – maybe you are looking for a shorter playing experience. You can win in-game currency for unlocking cosmetics in the game. If you don’t want to do these, buying currency is also an option. Since it’s just cosmetics, it’s fine by me. I’ll be curious to see if they add more as they continue to support the game for the rest of the year.
F1 2018 looked phenomenal last year, and 2019 somehow looks even better this year – I’m playing on PlayStation 4 Pro with a 4K TV. The shine of the cars as you race, the wat the tracks look, even the cut scenes in the story mode all look great. The game uses light in interesting ways depending on what time of day you are racing in. It’s really good. The weather effects are great as well. I took on some races that took place in a downpour, and I could barely see in front of me as I was racing. The water pouring onto the windshield looked very realistic. This is one of the best-looking racing experiences that you will find on the market. Would love to see them tackle a PlayStation VR mode in the future.
Final Thoughts
I came away from F1 2019 impressed about the evolution of the series for this year. I find it can be really hard to iterate year over year on a franchise, but Codemasters is doing a great job. The addition of the F2 series and the increased personality in the story mode, the tougher AI, even just the visual fidelity upgrades go a long way in this year’s version. Whether you are looking for a more casual racer or a detailed racing sim, you can’t go wrong with F1 2019 as it caters to both audiences really well.
Disclaimer
This F1® 2019 review is based on a PlayStation 4 copy provided by Codemasters Inc..
