Formula one 99

Review by : Crazy Review

Format : Playstation

Type : Racing

Players : 1 - 2

Like the high racing thrills of F1? wish you could recreate something like it in the comfort of your own home? Well now you can, F1 99 is here! After the very disappointing F1 98, Psygnosis have sacked visual sciences and they brought in studio 33 (who also made Newmann haas racing) I'm glad to say that this is game is far better and is a massive improvement over last years attempt.

The graphics are smooth and everything looks great, with a nice touch being little flames that shoot out of the exhaut pipe. The cars look nice and not like lego cars as they did in F1 98. The game features all the tracks, teams and drivers and now includes Jaqcues Villenuve (who in previous games left his name out) Driving the car feels nice and responsive and the all the possible options to fiddle with your car are included. The poor flag option in F1 97 has been sorted out and works well.

It can be difficult ot get started with the game and if you are used to F1 97 then it can make life a little difficult as all your previous skills from F1 97 are useless in this game, you will find yourself flying of the track at most corners and with this lack of playability you can often find yourself going back to F1 97 but with a little practice you will find yourself mastering each corner. The cars will try and block you when you go to over take them which adds to realism but can get annoying if you are working your way back in to the lead after an collision.

There are however some flaws in this game, first of all the collisions are shit, it has Rage Racer style collisions where you hit another car or object and you almost come to a complete stop, then when you think you are miles out in the lead and go to break for a corner, the whole pack of cars suddenly catch up with you and nearly almost ram you off the track or over take you. It seems that only you can get damage and the other computer controlled cars get none even after a massive shunt but you can turn damage option off. Also you can choose between pit radio or commentary (by Murry Walker) if you do choose commentary you are not told wether you are running out of fuel or need a tyre change (if you decide to have the pit stop option on) , which can be very annoying. Although far better looking than F1 98 and F1 97, it does seem to lack some playability that made F1 97 so damn great.

Sound         : Great commentary by Murray Walker

9/10

Gameplay    : Quite hard at times so requires a lot of practice

7/10

Difficulty     : Good but doesn´t quite match F1 97

8/10

Graphics      : The best looking F1 sim around

9/10

8.9/10

Overall         : Great F1 sim but F1 97 is just slightly better

Review by : Crazy Review