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F1 2002 Races to GameCube
First screens of the GCN version.
March 26, 2002 - Have you ever wanted to race one
of the sexiest vehicles ever created at top speeds around a circuit? Of course
you have. Well Electronic Arts has got your back. The company recently announced
that it would deliver a version of its highly anticipated formula one racer F1
2002 to Nintendo's next-generation console. Cubists can rest easy knowing
that this incarnation will have all of the variety, options and all of the
amazing speed of the real sport when it arrives for the system this spring. Are
you ready?
Features
- The First Chance to Race the 2002 Season on Nintendo GameCube
- Featuring the new Toyota and Renault Formula One teams, the new drivers -
Mika Salo, Alan McNish, Takuma Sato, Felipe Massa, Mark Webber and the
latest driver moves - Kimi Raikonnen at McLaren, Jarno Trulli at Renault and
Giancarlo Fisichella at Jordan
- The Action and Intensity of Formula One
- Unrivaled accuracy, resolution, detail, performance and speed deliver an
F1 experience like no other
- Cutting-edge AI means your opponents are fast, bold and intelligent-and
they want to win as badly as you do
- Multiple Racing Experiences
- Jump in the cockpit for high action, high drama battles in quick race or
switch to the realism of an in-depth simulation
- Authentic Formula One Atmosphere Roaring crowds, pit crew radio, grid
girls, 22-man pit stops and real weather effects-from the pits to the
podium, EA SPORTS delivers all the speed, excitement, glamour and rivalry of
Formula One racing
Gameplay
It's racing. It's blazing racing. F1 2002 delivers a no-holds-barred speeding
experience as gamers rip through circuits in a fully licensed simulation of the
FIA Formula One World Championship. All of the cars, locales, and drivers are
featured, and it never looked better.
F1 2002 has the same package as last year's title for PS2, including both of
this season's new teams (Toyota and Renault), plus a variety of extras drawn
from elsewhere about the EA Sports map. There are EA Sports Cards this time out,
for example, just like the Madden Cards or NHL cards from EA's other franchises,
and they work the same way, as a collectible means of unlocking new game modes
and bonus features. Building on last year's Challenge Mode (and echoing the
Tiger Woods series, for that matter), there are 11 new pre-designed racing
challenges, including multi-car challenges against a grid of the sport's biggest
stars. Rounding out the new selection is Team Duel mode, presumably based on the
testing competition between a team's two drivers, where players compete in a
one-on-one race with an identical car.
On the gameplay end of things, EA boasts of the inclusion of the new
"Slingshot Bar," apparently an interface addition to make
slipstreaming easier. It's a curious feature to spotlight, though, given the
vastly less significant role drafting has in Formula 1 as compared to something
like NASCAR (note that last season, the only occasion where any teams bothered
with even a semblance of slipstreaming was to pop the crowds at the US GP). More
interesting is the promise of greater detail and differentiation in the varying
capabilities of different teams' cars, including distinctive handling
characteristics, AI behavior, and sound.
Graphics
The first GCN screens display a distinctly sharper graphical package, including
heavy replay filtering. Gameplay views show some great environment mapping
effects, too. The usual detailed damage model will be trotted out for crash
action, along with new texture suites and nice special effects for particles and
tire smoke.
Judging the graphical package will require a play test first,
but EA's Formula One sims have been gradually marching forward in terms of
feature set and realism over the past two years, so we'll look forward to good
things from F1 2002. The GCN version will be following its fellows to market
later this spring in Europe, with an American release to be announced. Look
forward to further news
Outlook
EA's F1 franchise has always been highly regarded, and this latest sequel, now
for GameCube and other next-generation consoles, looks to continue the tradition
of top-notch racing. We expect a refined experience from this one when it
arrives in Europe this spring and in the US later this year
  
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