Codemasters’ newest driving game is out and it’s a surefire winner. F1 2016, the official videogame of the 2016 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP™ is a complete gaming experience for fans. We can enjoy a race weekend complete with NBC Sports’ styled video intros and track previews. Climb into motorsports’ most coveted seats and tear along international race tracks from the comfort of home.
Quick Race is a pretty good way to figuratively kick the tyres, and learn circuits. There’s no tutorial mode so setting AI difficulty to “Very Easy” whenever possible might not be a bad idea. Beyond single grand prix, players can delve into Career or Pro Career (elite driving proficiency only) which allow for character creation. RPG enthusiasts’ ears may have just perked up but it’s pretty basic. We spent more time on Joe Tanto’s helmet colour than picking his face from a selection of twenty dudes. (Women drivers? LOL)
Your avatar gets an agent named Emma Jenkins in addition to a laptop with stats and tutorials. Not unlike Codemasters’ masterpiece, Dirt Rally, lessons teach concepts as opposed to press this button to do this or that. Speaking of which, the game directed us to http://f12016help.codemasters.com/ for controls. We tend to take things like that for granted so its absence was puzzling but not a deal breaker. Interacting with fully rendered team members is great immersion whether we finesse your way to the top or flounder about in loserville. There’s nothing wrong with a “pure” racing game but these touches make for a complete experience which is one of the reasons we love gaming.
Principal Games Designer, Lee Mather said, “We strive to create a game that is as close to the actual sport as possible. We have listened to the feedback from our community and that has resulted in us introducing the Safety Car, Virtual Safety Car, Formation Lap, manual race starts and the host of other gameplay features that get us even closer to the real sport and add to the experience for the player.”
Another reason we love gaming is beating the pants off friends and strangers. (EZ PZ! Git gud or get rekt, son! #TDP5GUD) We’re kidding. My Life at Speed does not advocate chat harassment in any way, shape or form. (Don’t be a d-bag and GLHF) However, playing with real live people is fun and F1 2016 makes that easier than ever. According to Mather, “Increasing the multiplayer support to 22 players was extremely important to us. We want to be able to fill the whole grid with human players to create those great race moments and stories. It also provides greater support for online leagues.”
F1 2016 is both enjoyable and challenging. While there’s nothing wrong with using a controller, a racing wheel would make gameplay infinitely better. Still it’s a good-looking game and tons of fun for casuals or hard core racing game fans. To that end, we’re thrilled to do more than just tell you about the game, My Life at Speeders. We’re giving away F1 2016 (North America region) console keys for free. Enter to win three for the Xbox One and three for the PlayStation 4. That’s six in total!
