Codemasters show off F1 2010 at Gamescom

At Gamescom, Codemasters showed gameplay and their vision for the upcoming racing title “F1 2010”. The game is developed by their own Codemasters studio in Birmingham. It will feature both single and multiplayer and is based on the real life Formula One 2010 season. It is the sequel to the F1 2009 game and will be released for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

When we sat down in the room we were introduced to the producer and game designer who were about to show us the game. It ran on a Xbox 360, and someone in the back of the room was playing it while we were looking at the large screen.

The first scene popped up which was the menu, but not just some menu, it showed a nice little scene that portrayed a view behind the scenes of a F1 race with your teammates and support trucks. The menu and user interface were extremely well integrated into the environment and looked very sleek, the color scheme was very well chosen and it was a feast for the eyes. You were able to go into some of the trucks to get to extra scenes with menu’s like your press representative or technical staff.

That brings us to the first reason why F1 2010 is different than other racing games: the game isn’t just a racing game where you only race, but all the stuff that is going on around the races is also included. It’s a real simulation of everything that goes on in and around the racetrack.

There are a couple of modes to play depending on your preference: you can choose between Career, Time trial (party) or Multiplayer. Apart from that you can also create custom races or mini championships if you’re with more people. The career mode will feature the length of either three, five or seven seasons depending on the user’s choice. Players can choose to start with any of the 12 teams and 24 drivers he or she wants, which are all based on the real teams from the 2010 season. The choice you make at the beginning will affect the difficulty of the game though. For example if you would choose a very high ranked team like Ferrari, only winning would be good enough, but choosing for a team with less reputation even finishing could be a large accomplishment. This way it isn’t just always the same gameplay where you start small and need to race your way up. And if you would lose a race under the Ferrari flag the press would come to you and ask all kinds of questions, the answers you decide to give affect things like team morale, if you tell the press it was the team’s fault you lost they won’t like you for it and help you less or work less hard which could result in pit stops taking just a bit longer for example.

The game really tries to make you feel like you’ re part of a team, instead of just you racing on your own.

One of the main selling points for F1 2010 is the dynamic weather system and track evolution system. It can be any kind of weather, from sunny to heavy rain; that doesn’t mean it’s dependent on the race itself, during a race the weather can flip 180 degrees and you will have to change your driving style in that same race. Next to that, you have the track evolution system which will make the track react to all kinds of things and update your grip on the road every 30 centimeters. If it’s raining, it’s not like the whole track is equally wet; instead, there will be puddles and lower places and it will be dry under an over hanging tree. Next to that, the tracks also remember how much cars have been racing on it; when the track is brand new it will have less grip compared to the same track a little further in the season that had a thin coating from the rubber of the tires.

This will really force the player to focus on the road and every turn will be different depending on the conditions; if it’s raining you’ll have to try to stay on the dry spots but also keep the shortest route.

The art looks very nice and sleek; some of the cars were low detail enough that there were visible polygonal edges, but when you were actually in the race it wasn’t very noticeable. Weather effects and effects on the tires looked extremely cool and the fact that your screen gets blurry when someone drives in front of you was a nice touch. Everything looks very polished and runs very smoothly.

Their plan for the future is to make more online options and they will release downloadable content a couple of months after the game hits the shelves.

If you’re a fan of racing games, you should definitely check out this one when it gets released on the 22 September for the US and 24 September in Europe.

Alex McLean takes over Codemasters Birmingham

Develop reports that former Pivotal man is promoted to replace Trevor Williams.

Trevor Williams

The co-founder of Pivotal became technical director at Codemasters earlier in the year following a stint at Engine Room Games. He helped open Pivotal, known for its Conflict series, which ran for eight years until it was shutdown by Eidos. McLean has been promoted to replace Trevor Williams, who we this morning confirmed had left Codemasters.

Alex McLean

Gavin Cheshire, VP of Codemasters Studios told us: “Moving forward, Technical Director Alex McLean will take up a new post as studio head, Codemasters Birmingham. “Having formed and managed studios in the past, most notably Pivotal Games, he’ll be a great asset as the Birmingham studio ramps up for the delivery of new titles next year.”

DIRT and GRID exec producer leaves Codemasters

Gavin Raeburn has left the UK studio Codemasters to pursue personal projects.

Codemasters has today confirmed the departure of DIRT and GRID producer Gavin Raeburn.
A 20-year games development veteran, Raeburn has left the UK games firm to pursue personal projects.

At Codemasters he has been instrumental in spearheading a re-envisioning of the Colin McRae and Race Driver racing game franchises into DIRT and GRID. Raeburn leaves with both established franchises in great shape – DIRT 2 launched in September to great reviews and sales; GRID won a BAFTA earlier in the year for best sporting game; and in July the Codemasters Studios operation took home the Develop Awards Grand Prix for the team’s combined efforts over the last few years and, indeed, its entire history. He’s also been supervising the work on Codemasters’ third racing game franchise, its take on the Formula One licence.

“After successfully rebooting two of Codemasters’ heritage franchises as DiRT and GRID, Executive Producer Gavin Raeburn has moved on to pastures new,” Said Gavin Cheshire, VP of Codemasters Development.

“Following the recent success of the award winning DiRT 2, it’s positive for any individual to move when they feel they’re at the top. “He leaves having built an incredibly talented team that’s led by key players who will drive our racing portfolio forward. He has my best wishes and our thanks for all the successes enjoyed during his time at Codemasters.”

FUEL by codemasters for the xbox360 and the playstation3

This was a race game that I thought I was going to pass on. It did not help the store I went to had more than thirty copies of the xbox360 version on the shelf. The reason my mind was changed I played a demo version at the store and there where a few kids wanting to play. When I went back to where the games where there was only five copies left. So it made me think is this a better game than I thought it would be.

The first thing to say about this game is the map is huge and there are lots of roads and trail to drive on, but you can also drive any where. Like across a field or through a tree covered forest. This includes in to buildings and trailers if they have a door that is open and under ramps I could not find any invisible walls this was something I like about the game. The vehicles have what I would call a MAD MAX look to them just make sure to pick the best vehicle for the race or challenge you are doing.

So it made me think is this a better game than I thought it would be?

I would say I do not like how they did the vehicles wrecks some what disappointing they just respawn. I would say the graphics look very good considering the size of the map. I did not have anything suddenly appear no mater how fast I was going or freezes to load more of the map. The music for the game is a big disappointment it is basic and almost nonexistent so you will need a good playlist to drive with so you will go VRoemmmm (check the forum under music).

Next there is the racing it is easy especially on rookie I won every race the first time, but you can not complete the game at this level you must move up to expert and ledged to win enough stars you also get fuel. Getting stars opens up the map to more races and challenges. You can take short cuts in the race just don’t miss a check point. There is a gps witch does help but not there for all races and challenges. Doing challenges are not that and will help you get fuel witch you spend on vehicles.

By far the most boring and time consuming is getting the vista points and liveries, and the Doppler trucks, fortunately you do not have to do these to get stars. The hours you spend driving around getting them, look out for the drums of fuel they will help you buy vehicles. Watch out for the weather it does add interesting character to the game.

The part of the game that needs the most improvement is the online. The free roam is just driving around the map with other people nothing special. The online racing good luck finding a race a lot of times I got no race to be found, you also can’t select type or anything about the race just totally random. When hosting a race you can select a race you have a star in and you can not change any thing else like vehicles or laps. You can create your own race with more choices. Then if you want to race your friend in a ranked room they will have a hard time finding you.

Watch out for the weather it does add interesting character to the game.

What I liked

No invisible walls
The vehicles
The weather
The realistic terrain
Full freedom

What I did not care for

The music
Getting vista points and liveries
Could not set time in game (so the sun was always up it was dark at night)
Online all of it

So here is my verdict

Hours of gameplay per $: 10/10 NiSuTe’s Value System
Gameplay: 8/10
Quality: 7/10
Replay: 5/10

Over I give the game a 7.5