It’s impossible to talk about F1 Race Stars without mentioning Mario
Kart (more people should mention Diddy Kong Racing but that’s beside the
point). Mario Kart is iconic and has long had the monopoly on the
primary-coloured power-up fuelled cartoon racing game. This has happened
for a reason: Mario Kart is very, very good at what it does, and
anything that wants to enter into that space – even on outliers such as
Blur – is destined to be measured by it.
Out of context, Race Stars actually measures quite well. It ticks all
of the relevant boxes of having pretty graphics, nice chunky art and
decent enough sound work. Before I continue, though, I have to admit
that I’m not an expert on casual cart racing, so I’ve employed a 5 year
old into an advisory position to answer some questions.
How it works is that tighter corners tend to have a “KERS boost” strip on them, where you charge the cars battery unit by “pumping” the throttle up to three times for maximum charge. The energy is then released on corner exit, launching you ahead. It’s pretty neat and serves to keep speeds up around what would otherwise be slow sections of track, which is basically a “don’t do” for the genre.
Pitlanes are dotted around the circuit – each track has at least 2 – which serve to fix up any damage on your car. It happens on the fly and at full speed so there’s no stop-start, but if you have any damage you go slower and if you miss the pits you’ll – obviously – be going slower for longer. Try telling a 5 year old that they need to avoid going over a flashy bit of circuit because they need to go into the pits instead.
The thing with shells is that the make cars crash and jump around. It’s slapstick and silly. Getting trapped in a bubble though? It’s just… it’s tedious. As is going slower because you’ve taken damage – going slower because of something that happened 20 seconds ago.
Racing the tracks, too, has more depth that the usual Kart counterparts – actual braking is essential to make the tighter corners, and you can see the benefits of employing a racing line for faster corner releases, which is a big difference to just sliding around them.
It’s around here, though, that the problem of ridiculous DLC turns up. At launch there are several addon packs (69p each) for cars to give them different noises and little aesthetic things, but more annoyingly, if you want to race Valencia, you need to cough up £3.59 for it, and when there are only eleven tracks included from the get go, I feel disgusted.
The very serious names tie in with a weird overtone throughout and
lead me to my final point: who actually wants F1 Mario Kart? I mean,
people who like F1 like proper racing, right? Is there a crossover here
at all? Super Mario works because it’s characters are called Mario,
Peach and Boo and they drive around on silly cars and drop items from
the normal Mario games that kids (and adults) know. In F1 you drive as
Jenson Button or Narain Karthikeyan, and you drive a Vodaphone McLaren
Mercedes, or a RedBull Renault around tracks with Santander banners.
It’s weird.
Among all of this there’s a forced “comedy” like drivers hilariously breakdancing on the podium and helmets acting like dogs. It’s contrived, and the corporate stuff just doesn’t fit with the funny, moment-to-moment stupidness that games like this tend to push for. It’s a useless veneer of false “fun”. It’s the accounting department being “wacky”.
It’s like Casual Friday at work. You go in your jeans and t-shirt! It’s fun! Hey relax, it’s casual friday! It’s fun! Hey seriously though Pete I need that report by 5 otherwise we’re going to be in all weekend because we have that phone conference on Monday! Yaaay! It’s a “fun” facade on a very serious, corporate business. And don’t get me wrong, this is a nice game and I absolutely adore F1 and racing cars, but this is positively weird.
All in all, then, it’s ok. It’s decent. It does Mario Kart racing quite well, with enough changes to the standard formula to feel like something a bit different rather than just a clone. Who would actually want to buy it though I’m not sure, especially for the generally-solitary PC. As a console game I can sort-of see it – four player split screen in your living room with your mates and a few drinks? Maybe. Maybe. I’d probably rather play something that can produce a few more laughs though.
Which is better, this or Mario Kart?As you blast around you pick up the fairly standard powerups – Green Shells are yellow bubbles, Red Shells are red bubbles, Banana Skins are blue bubbles, Super Star is steel wheels, Bullet Bill is a… rocket (I think?), Mushrooms are speed boosts, and the Blue Shell is a rain cloud. Most of these powerups cause your car can take damage and become slower, forcing you into a drive through pitlane to get fixed up before everything explodes. There’s also additions of a safety car and occasional rain, but other than that it’s very much F1 Mario Kart.
This
Oh. Why?
Because you get different powers and they’re really good and they boost you up
But you get powers in Mario Kart too
Because you get green bullet and it’s even speedier
So which would you like to play next, more of this or Mario Kart?I’m not sure what to make of this. He liked it, but he couldn’t really do it. He was getting frustrated with crashing and was constantly behind because of not being able to figure out how to work the KERS and pit lane. 5 is probably younger than what Codies are aiming for in all honesty, but this still seems problematic for younger players.
Mario Kart
But you said this was better?
I just want to, err, try it out and see if I can win
Because you can’t win at this but you can win at Mario Kart?
Yeah, I can win at Mario Kart
So do you think that this one is too difficult?
Yes
But you still think it’s better than Mario Kart?
Yes.
How it works is that tighter corners tend to have a “KERS boost” strip on them, where you charge the cars battery unit by “pumping” the throttle up to three times for maximum charge. The energy is then released on corner exit, launching you ahead. It’s pretty neat and serves to keep speeds up around what would otherwise be slow sections of track, which is basically a “don’t do” for the genre.
Pitlanes are dotted around the circuit – each track has at least 2 – which serve to fix up any damage on your car. It happens on the fly and at full speed so there’s no stop-start, but if you have any damage you go slower and if you miss the pits you’ll – obviously – be going slower for longer. Try telling a 5 year old that they need to avoid going over a flashy bit of circuit because they need to go into the pits instead.
So tell me some more of why you want to play Mario Kart next if this is better?Something is nagging me here. Take Mario Karts shells to F1s Bubbles. They are functionally the same – both stop you from moving forwards for a couple of seconds, but hitting someone with a shell is funny (he genuinely laughs when we play Mario Kart yet F1 was played in close to silence).
Because in Mario Kart you get a black bullet and black is my favourite colour.
Hmm. How do you think they could make this easier so you could play it?
By making it just two cars and making boost powers and giant mushrooms to squash
So you want this one to be just like Mario Kart?
Yes.
What’s better in this one than Mario Kart?
When you get into the red bubbles because it’s funny.
The thing with shells is that the make cars crash and jump around. It’s slapstick and silly. Getting trapped in a bubble though? It’s just… it’s tedious. As is going slower because you’ve taken damage – going slower because of something that happened 20 seconds ago.
Do you like the tracks?The included tracks are lovely – heavily inspired by the places and circuits from the actual F1 calendar. You can recognise Eau Rouge in Spa or the hairpin and subsequent tunnel of Monaco, but then it will happily launch you onto a busy road or through a castle or on a 90 degree incline.
Yep.
What’s good about the tracks?
Sometimes there’s jumps and cliffs
Racing the tracks, too, has more depth that the usual Kart counterparts – actual braking is essential to make the tighter corners, and you can see the benefits of employing a racing line for faster corner releases, which is a big difference to just sliding around them.
It’s around here, though, that the problem of ridiculous DLC turns up. At launch there are several addon packs (69p each) for cars to give them different noises and little aesthetic things, but more annoyingly, if you want to race Valencia, you need to cough up £3.59 for it, and when there are only eleven tracks included from the get go, I feel disgusted.
Do you like the people you play as?
Yep
Why do you like them?
Because I like their names
Which names?
I saw some of their names like Super Zoomer… or maybe it was just Zoomer.
There isn’t anyone with that name
Yeah, the person I first played as
Paul DiResta?
(excited) YES PAUL DIRESTA!
Among all of this there’s a forced “comedy” like drivers hilariously breakdancing on the podium and helmets acting like dogs. It’s contrived, and the corporate stuff just doesn’t fit with the funny, moment-to-moment stupidness that games like this tend to push for. It’s a useless veneer of false “fun”. It’s the accounting department being “wacky”.
It’s like Casual Friday at work. You go in your jeans and t-shirt! It’s fun! Hey relax, it’s casual friday! It’s fun! Hey seriously though Pete I need that report by 5 otherwise we’re going to be in all weekend because we have that phone conference on Monday! Yaaay! It’s a “fun” facade on a very serious, corporate business. And don’t get me wrong, this is a nice game and I absolutely adore F1 and racing cars, but this is positively weird.
All in all, then, it’s ok. It’s decent. It does Mario Kart racing quite well, with enough changes to the standard formula to feel like something a bit different rather than just a clone. Who would actually want to buy it though I’m not sure, especially for the generally-solitary PC. As a console game I can sort-of see it – four player split screen in your living room with your mates and a few drinks? Maybe. Maybe. I’d probably rather play something that can produce a few more laughs though.
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