It’s the second to last race in a shortened Formula 1 season, Valtteri Bottas is about to win the world title and with Hamilton already out of the title race, it’s up to the newcomer team owner to stop his progress. That is until their gearbox failed, with both Bottas and one Danil Kvyat coming at them at the last corner.
With F1 2020, Codemasters has finally redeemed themselves after a lacklustre 2019 edition, all thanks to the July launch being quite close with the opening of the reason shorten F1 season and the highly anticipated My Team manager career mode. So, have they struck gold before the next-generation cometh?
Presentation
There aren’t any big graphical changes for this season (besides more Amazon sponsoring during the races) but it still looks quite pleasing towards the eyes with its solid 60fps during gameplay. Though in my time with the game, some texture problems arose with some logos being blurry before loading fully, sometimes after a full session.
Sound-wise, the new TV mix setting has made the car sound quite better than ever. With it sounding one-to-one with the real thing you’ll hear within the TV screen. However, the My Team car keeps having the same sound regardless of engine manufacturer could be immersion breaking.
Speaking of My Team, there are new customization options for your player character and team, but some of the more colourful options are locked in a “Battle Pass” progression system where the more you drive, the more goodies you get.
Some of them are also locked in a VIP tier (like those you see in Fortnite or COD Warzone) which as of writing this, isn’t available for purchase. So like the GRID VIP, it’s a paywall for those wanting to flaunt their creative side but at least it’s not locking off career paths this time.
Gameplay
The main star of this year’s iteration is of course My Team, where you get to build a new team from the ground up. And it gives the series the much-needed breath of life.
It’s a mini manager mode which takes a few pointers from Sega’s Motorsport Manager series helps shape the vision where you get to run a team from building its factory side, getting sponsors and hiring/firing drivers, which helps make the feeling of your team progressing from the start.
On the more technical side, some options make does the racing not as hard and tedious like before with the availability of the casual mode, which could make those who want it to be a more casual experience have fun as well. One of the newer options is the number of races being shortened from 10, 16 to the full 22 races. All of which have the game’s parts wear mechanics scale appropriately.
Despite all that, old glitches like the shadow qualifying glitch (where cars go faster after you are done with the session) are still present without any fix. Why this persists after three games is quite baffling and hopefully, this won’t be a thing in next-gen.
Content
Besides the big feature, 2-player couch co-op and the usual career mode is available for players to enjoy the content which ranges from the F2 2019 cars to classics cars, which in the Schumacher edition that includes the legend’s title-winning cars like the Ferrari F2000 and the Benetton B194.
And for the Online Multiplayer in this new state is quite buggy as usual, but quite enjoyable when you race with the right people.
Personal Enjoyment
For me, F1 2020 is the quintessential F1 game. Its mechanics and gameplay are now well enough to the point of making it the easiest game to get into. Any fans of the sports must have this game tried out just for the My Team mode alone.
Conclusion
The F1 games by Codemaster have been quite a roller-coaster ride, from the highs of the early 2010s to the dismal 2014-2015 games and now we come towards the turning point of the series.
F1 2020 is one of the best simcade racers on the market as usual. But with some of the kinks from the past games still haunt the current edition. Hopefully, they could fix it by the time the next-gen hits the ground.
Played on PS4, Review copy purchased by reviewer.
F1 2020
The F1 games by Codemaster have been quite a roller-coaster ride, from the highs of the early 2010s to the dismal 2014-2015 games and now we come towards the turning point of the series, F1 2020 is one of the best simcade racers on the market as usual.
But with some of the kinks from the past games still haunt the current edition. Hopefully, they could fix it by the time the next-gen hits the ground.
- Presentation 8.5
- Gameplay 8
- Content 7
- Personal Enjoyment 8.5