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Re: F1 2021 Review - One for the Ages
Some early impressions:
Pros:
- New handling model. It's great. It's not huge, but it's a big enough change to kind of force you to learn how to drive the game again. What I did last year is certainly not working this year. It's subtle, but it's huge at the same time. Certainly has brought a nice breath of fresh air in
- curbs. Theyre actually fairly punishing now. At least some of them anyways. Some you can attack and use like you should (the flatter ones obviously) but some of the more angled ones you're slip sliding away if you get on the throttle on one of those. The sausage style curbs... yikes. I went airborne at Baku over the one at the chicane similar to how Stroll and others did at Monaco this year. Frustrating to sail across the track and into the wall towards a DNF, but that's on me and in a weird way it felt good to be punished for that mistake, rather than just feeling a vibration in my controller and carrying on like in F1 2020
- Engine sounds. Nice to hear the whirring noise of the turbo charger and such but it may be a bit too powerful in the sound mix. There's also some odd deep bass sounds mixed in like when you open your DRS, it sounds more like a bomb going off. Just a big bass-full thud.
- Visually it's stunning. I think it still has room for improvement on the new gen consoles. The tracks look good, nice new trackside details added back in again, track surfaces look better, off track surfaces too. Just more details. Lighting is a nice upgrade too. It just looks good.
- New practice programs. It's nicer. Less time consuming. However still fairly simple to get all the boosts. At least we have control now over the career mode settings for how much R&D you can earn and same for the CPU. etc.
- Basically, all the things you all know and love of this series; add them to the Pro's list, because it's still solid in those departments and improved IMO although it's not a major overhaul.
Cons:
- Braking Point. Yup; I said it. Nope; I haven't played it but there's plenty of reasons why it's the #1 con on my list. See below as I speculate the creation of this mode is responsible for most of these cons as it consumed resources and time that could have been better spent.
- SAVE GAME SLOTS. This is my #1 gripe with this game & it's almost game breaking for me. Last year we only had 3 save slots for My Team mode, and 3 for Driver career. This year you have 3 save slots to use over BOTH modes combined. That's just... not enough and it's one of the worst things I've seen in a video game released in 2021. Don't start a "championship" mode either because it apparently uses the same save slots as grand prix mode does for individual races. So, you can either run single grand prix races, or a "championship" mode. Again, why? What is the logic behind this? I suspect it's because the new 2 player championship mode took up 3 slots now too and I assume braking point is consuming save slots as well. Again though, the better question is why are any of these modes limited to only 3. It's a ridiculous decision and someone needs to be held accountable. I hope it's repaired by way of a patch but given that this series has always had limited save slots, it's unlikely.
- Game menus/UI. It's not very good this year. Similar to last, but the bright white background is tough. It's not laid out well. It's just not very user friendly IMO
- Sounds - As great as they are, as I mentioned earlier there are some curious things in the mix. DRS open/close creates this loud bass filled thud sound. Driving over curbs while it has always created a little low rumble, it's even deeper and louder and more full of bass this year. Same with impacts with bumps in the track. The bass in those sound events is just too deep and loud. It feels weird and out of place. I actually had to get up and turn down the volume on my sub which i NEVER normally touch.
- R&D mode. I dont know what they were thinking here, but the new system is not an improvement over the old. I find it confusing to look at, its almost impossible to see an overview of where you are in development for a specific area, it's hard to see what you can and can't upgrade. It's just... not an easier system. I don't know why they changed it. The tree was perfectly fine.
- voice controls - They are still non-existant on the Xbox platform. Why? Who knows... in the past they blamed Microsoft/kinect. That's long gone now really, and with the Series X version it should be a non-issue since kinect was never part of that system yet here we are on Xbox as the only platform that still cant speak voice commands into their headset to interact with the pit crew/game. As a pad player for me; that's beyond frustrating.
- My Team mode - No improvements/upgrades that I could see outside of the R&D tree change, practice changes, and the few customization settings you now have. Not many new sponsors, not many good liveries to start, no additional car customization options re:liveries/sponsors, number colors etc.
- Lack of classic cars. They were removed. It's a shame.
- Lack of tracks - I know, the 3 new ones are coming in an update. However currently as it stands only having a 20 race career schedule just feels pretty short and hollow. Those 3 new ones can't come soon enough.
-Lack of current F2 2021 roster - I can't for the life of me understand why they won't do it from the start of the game, rather than waiting to release it as free DLC later in the year. It's frustrating to have to play My Team mode with the limited last year's F2 roster.
Overall:
If you liked 2020, you'll like 2021. Just beware it is fairly similar across most game modes. I suspect that will make My Team and Driver Career pretty boring fairly quickly as it's basically the exact same. The game looks great, plays great, sounds good. The game brings enough of a change in the driving to challenge you; how long it takes you to adapt will be the key.
The on track experience still will have you in love with the game IMO, but the QOL improvements that are surely lacking in the front end UI, and throughout the game itself really as noted above will still bring much frustration.
IMO the driving model, damage model, visuals are all instant upgrades. However the game still feels largely the same as F12020 which I suspect is due to the creation of Braking Point consuming time, money and resources. I feel those things could have been better spent on the QOL improvements and improving upon My Team mode rather than neglecting it completely. Braking Point may be a great addition; I don't know as I haven't tried it and it's just not my cup of tea. From what I've heard/read though it seems like a good fun story, but it's scripted and offers no real replayability. In the grand scheme of things though I feel it hurt this year's edition more than it helped but thats because I feel other area's could have been improved more if not for the development of this mode
TL;DR Edition
- A very good edition in the series that stays true to it's roots while offering a nice upgraded challenge at its core; on track racing action. Visual upgrades are a nice touch, but players familiar to the series will have a hard time separating 2021 from 2020 beyond the driving changes and addition of Braking Point & two player career modes as the rest of the game has been left as is, or given a slight face lift if at all. F1 2021 is still at the top of the genre of racing games replicating a real life racing series.
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Last edited by brandon27; 07-13-2021 at 01:57 PM.
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07-12-2021, 05:34 PM
