Formula 1 (video game)

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Formula 1
European cover art
European cover art
Developer(s)Bizarre Creations
Publisher(s)Psygnosis
Platform(s)PlayStation, PC
Release
1 September 1996
  • PlayStation
    PC
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single Player, Multiplayer

Formula 1 is the first racing game in Sony's Formula One series. Unlike later games in the series, this game's cover has no specific driver on it (except for the North American version which features an image of Michael Schumacher driving for the Benetton team during the latter portion of the 1991 Formula One season).

Published by Psygnosis, Formula 1 is based on the 1995 Formula One season, although it was released in 1996. It is distinct from its sequels because it was made after the end of the season, meaning that it features driver substitutes. The game also allows two-players to compete against each other either head-to-head or with other computer cars via the 'Link-Cable'. Both players may then compete over a 17-race Championship season, or in a single race of the players choice.

Gameplay

Formula 1 follows the 1995 Formula One season, with 17 tracks, 13 teams and 26 drivers. If a player is to complete a season after winning every race, and leading the Constructor's Championship, a special hidden circuit is unlocked. The track is a lower-level city circuit, which when viewed at the Race Preview page is in the shape of a Formula One car. As there is no way of saving game data, the track is lost when the console is turned off.

Later tracks have 24 competitors on them instead of 26 because Simtek pulled out of the actual championship after the Monaco Grand Prix. It is still possible to drive a Simtek on any course after Monaco, creating a field of 25 drivers. If two players are playing the game via the link cable setup (where players would connect two PlayStation consoles together with two copies of the game), it is possible to play as both Simtek cars, thus creating a field of 26 drivers on any course after Monaco.

Development

The track models in Formula 1 were modelled from surveyors' track data.[1] The designers started with wire-frame models of the track data, then exported these from their Silicon Graphics workstations to a custom Windows 95 track editor.[2] The track editor was used to reformat the tracks so that they could be used in-game, before exporting them back to the SGI workstations where scenery and other details were added in.[2] To create the in-car sound, a Digital Audio Tape was strapped to a driver.[1] To reduce demand on the PlayStation's processor without significantly reducing the game's visuals, the developers programmed the game so that when a car reaches a certain distance away, it switches from its normal high detail model (composed of 440 to 450 polygons, depending on the car) to a low detail model composed of only 90 to 100 polygons.[1]

Commentary

This game saw the introduction of in game commentary, which was done in the English version of the game by Murray Walker, the German version by Jochen Mass, the French version by Philippe Alliot, the Spanish version by Carlos Riera and the Italian version by Andrea de Adamich.

Soundtrack

The in-game music was composed by Mike Clarke, who worked in-house at Psygnosis at the time, and Stuart Ellis, a session-guitarist from Liverpool and owner of Curly Music, an independent music retailer.

Ellis was initially brought in for one week to record some guitar ideas and riffs with Clarke at the Liverpool studio. The end result was two DAT tapes full of guitar sections, riffs, motifs, bits of solos and so on.

Clarke then spent three months composing the tracks. Sections of the DAT material was sampled (into an Akai S3200) and pieced together into skeleton riffs with parts of solos chopped up and added on top. This was added to the rest of the new instrumentation (bass, drums, keyboards) to form complete demo tracks with rough, sampled guitar. Everything except the guitar was programmed by hand (using Bars & Pipes Pro 2.5b on an expanded Amiga A1200 computer), with great pains taken to make sure that it was almost impossible to tell. Special care was taken on the drums, where everything was designed so that it could be played identically on a real drum kit.

Once the 12 tracks were ready, Ellis was brought back in and spent a week with Clarke recording the final riffs over the arrangements and improvising new solos based on the demo tracks with direction from Clarke. As a testament to Ellis' skill, some of the solos were completed in just one take after Ellis only hearing the demo track once or twice. Recording was done using a Tascam DA-88.

A final week was spent on final mixing and mastering at Pearl Music Studios in Liverpool, with Steve Cowell as engineer.

On insistence from the marketing department, who wanted to convey the idea that the music was licensed (and thus seen as being more professional), the name "Overdrive" was chosen by Clarke as the name of the "band".

The soundtrack also features the songs "Juice" by Steve Vai (from his Alien Love Secrets album), as well as "Summer Song" and "Back to Shalla-Bal" by Joe Satriani (from The Extremist and Flying in a Blue Dream, respectively).

Alcohol and tobacco-related sponsors

In the North American and all European versions besides Great Britain the alcohol sponsors are censored, but in all versions the tobacco sponsors are censored also:

  • On the Benetton cars, "Mild Seven" is replaced by "Benetton" (as in real life).
  • On the McLaren cars, "Marlboro" is replaced by "McLaren".
  • On the Williams cars, "Rothmans" is replaced by "Racing".
  • In some versions, "Foster's" is replaced with a stylised barcode.
  • In all versions, "Marlboro" is replaced by an image of an F1 car under the Marlboro logo (as in real life).
  • In the North American PlayStation version of the game, at Monte Carlo coming out of the tunnel one of the "Marlboro" advertisements was left largely uncensored. It is missing an 'o'. It is noticeable if the player is in the view mode directly behind the car and slows down immediately coming out of the tunnel and looks up to the right of the screen. It is a very large banner that is the largest "Marlboro" banner at Monte Carlo. This is the only tobacco advertisement in the game that closely resembles its original form.
  • In all versions of the opening, "Kremlyovskaya Vodka" is noticeable on the Jordan in the opening.
  • In the English version of the game, the tobacco sponsors are not censored on the Car Select screen for some reason.

Reception

The game was a best-seller in the UK.[3] The game was reasonably well received, with the PlayStation version earning a 7.6 on GameSpot[4] while the PC version received a 6.0.[citation needed] IGN.com gave the PlayStation version an 8.0.[citation needed] PSM gave the game 9/10, praising the AI, before concluding "Psygnosis' finest game to date, it relegates every other racing game to the back of the grid. This is the game that will sell the PlayStation to Grand Prix fans and unconverted gamers alike. An envelope-pushing killer-application. F1 is one of the essential purchases of 1996".[5]

Review aggregation website GameRankings provides an average rating for the PlayStation version of 87.75% based on 4 reviews.[6] While the PC version receives an average rating of 56.40% based on 10 reviews.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c "The Ultimate Formula". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (5). Emap International Limited: 140–3. April 1996.
  2. ^ a b "The Waiting Is Almost Over". Maximum: The Video Game Magazine (7). Emap International Limited: 102–5. June 1996.
  3. ^ Gallup UK PlayStation sales chart, December 1996, published in Official UK PlayStation Magazine issue 13
  4. ^ "Formula 1". GameSpot. the original on 8 October 2003. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  5. ^ F1 review, Official UK PlayStation Magazine, Future Publishing, October 1996, issue 11, page 62
  6. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/ps/366655-formula-1/index.html
  7. ^ http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/197369-formula-1/index.html

External links

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