My Diaries

A Lurid Tale of Obsession, Depravity, Wits and Attempted Wit

Mon Jan 18, 1999

PSX game reviews

(Based on mail to empire)

"Formula 1" (Psygnosis) "Andretti Racing" (Electronic Arts)

My wife&I rented PSX games "Formula 1" (original; 1994-1995), and "Andretti Racing" over the weekend.

Formula 1 is very playable in easy arcade mode (damage off , and I like the depiction of Monaco. Murray Walker, OBE's excited commentary about you hitting the barrier all the time is quite fun too. Normal arcade mode was still winnable, and hard seemed very hard the once I tried it. I never tried the simulation "Grand Prix" mode.

My wife doesn't like the Formula 1 graphics (compared to Gran Turismo), but I thought they were adequate. Some details of perspective and view were better in Formula 1 than Gran Turismo. One big problem in Gran Turismo is that any corner more than 90 degrees does not look that long until you begin going around it. You need to look at the map or learn how the corner acts to compensate. Formula 1 did not have this problem. TrU still had some of those old Formula 1 games for $29.95 yesterday. We might have bought it to share with you and your son, but my wife does not like the graphics. But I think they're fine. Perhaps you can check for yourself. See below.

Andretti Racing was a litle worse. The stock cars look like cockroaches. But one fun thing was that it had a Toronto track complete with Prince's gates, Coliseum, bridges over the Lakeshore, and a few other Ex buildings. We couldn't spot the CN tower, though. Perspective was quite bad. As you approached a corner you basically saw just the wall ahead of you. Though that is a function of the track having wall all around. Some other tracks were a little different. It also has video interviews with Mario, Michael and Jeff Andretti. Oh yes, it was quite hard to do well on a twisty track, although easy to do well on the Australian high-banked oval.

I recorded a demo of these two games on the VCR. My wife might bring you the tape when she comes. I recorded Monaco and Montreal from Formula 1; thought you might recognize some Montreal scenery. From Andretti I recorded Toronto and the high-banked oval.

Unfortunately, neither of the games recognize dual shocks. Andretti is very good as far as controller configuration goes, allows user to map any button to any function. Formula 1 restricts you to a choice of 8 pre-configured set ups. They steer reasonably naturally with the directional pad, and playing them didn't seem to mess up my feel for Gran Turismo. The steering model is almost like variable ratio. If you're going full speed down the straight, a lot of directional presses changes you very little. But actually, I think directional response may vary with track position in addition to speed. I.e. it knows where the corners are and "helps" you around them.