F1 2011 Review

Racing fans can count on Codemasters. This is a developer that knows the genre in and out. Reading back through the company's development history is like getting a "best of" list for racers over the years, with names like Dirt, Grid and the Colin McRae Rally series standing as only a few of their many hits. It was understandable, then, when the Formula One license was awarded to this same team -- and then even more understandable when F1 2011 arrived on home consoles a few months ago and was a superb adaptation of the sport. Codemasters knows racing.

But Codemasters isn't behind this 3DS version. They're still the publisher, sure, but development was passed along to Sumo Digital for handle Nintendo's handheld. The result of the change in hands is, unfortunately, less than superb.

F1 2011 makes an underwhelming first impression, as its 3DS menu icon, opening cinematic and in-game menus are all strictly 2D affairs. The 3D didn't kick in until the racing began.

I could tell from the start that something was off about the entire package. That feeling was reinforced in my very first race, when the competing cars all seemed to behave oddly. F1 is a strategic, precise kind of racing format -- with drivers cautiously taking each race one lap at a time, turn by turn, and there's generally never any individual who shoots out to a huge lead right from the start. Here in F1 2011, though, that's exactly what does happen.

The A.I. lumps the opponents into two categories -- insurmountably smart and unbelievably dumb. So rather than an entire field of believable foes, you're instead more likely to see a handful of cars jet off into the distance so far ahead that you'll never be able to catch them while a second group of easily passable laggards lulls around at the back of the pack driving at idling speeds. Something just doesn't add up here.

Looking back a couple of years helps put things into better perspective. Sumo Digital's last time handling portable F1 dev duty for Codemasters was with F1 2009 for Sony's PSP, and our reviewer for that title said the A.I. cars were "consistently idiotic and prone to sticking it up your gearbox on an all-too-regular basis." Sumo's simply not made adequate revisions to opponent behaviors that were already flawed two years ago.


What's more, the game's visuals are prone to annoying framerate drops when too many competitors are crowding the display. Luckily, those issues don't effect the whole of F1 2011. Any time you're alone on the course -- like in Time Trial mode, various single-player Challenges or qualifying sessions in the lengthy Career -- more of the design's potential shines through. There's a solid sense of speed and the 3D (once it kicks in) does add a little something extra to both the backside of your racer and the environments speeding by on both sides.

The control is also praiseworthy, with a wealth of player-assisting driver aid options available to be toggled on and off -- you can have the game display the fastest path to follow as a visible line on the racecourse, activate predictive braking to automatically and appropriately slow you down going into corners, adjust the sensitivity of the steering to your liking and more. Newcomers to this sim series will benefit greatly from these, while experts can add to the challenge by turning all assistance off.

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