F1 2021 Game Review.

So today I will review F1 2021! Since F1 2021 the new game came out on July 13th I for one was looking forward to playing it however the more I got to know the new game the more and more disappointed it became and today I’m gonna give my honest opinion and review to what I think about F1 2021 Game! 

I will break my review down into 5 categories (Breaking Point, Online, Handling Model/Physics, Career Mode and Customization!) in each of the sub categories the will be a maximum of 5 points and scores can range from 0 to 5, with 5 of being the highest and 0 being the lowest! 

Breaking Point! 

So our first category is Breaking Point. Codemasters newest feature to the F1 games was Breaking Point! And to put it long story cut short it delivered on my expectations because it was a very nice introductory story to the game that you’re about to play and I think it was a very good beginners guide for younger generation players of the game to experience. The cut scenes where very good CGI and I wouldn’t say on the same level as maybe Call of duty cut scenes; but up there with certainly maybe GTA level of cut scenes in terms of the quality. I do feel however despite the game mode delivered in the sense it was a new immersive experience for players to play but I do feel they could’ve done some elements a bit better! For instance maybe make Aiden Jackson a bit more standing up for himself rather then letting him take things on the chin. And whilst the ending is satisfying ending ultimately but it does leave the door open for more. 

Ultimately a lot of attention in my opinion has been thrown into Breaking Point! Was it like the Journey that we saw back in FIFA? Ultimately yes it was, did that deliver? Ultimately yes! And did this deliver? Yes, it did. So for me Breaking Point gets a 4 out of 5! 

Online. 

Our second category is online! Online gameplay for sporting games has huge demand! I certainly know I love a bit of online whether that be league racing or just ranked or even unranked play. So online has a huge appeal and this is very true in the F1 gaming community! However the been reported lots of issues! Now whilst I may of not of seen all these issues to effect me however people have been reporting lots of game crashes, been kicked for unknown reasons, freezing and much more! And if you do make beyond that point the other issue facing the new game is bugs within the game for instance drivers being advised to overtake cars ahead unnecessarily, cars driving the wrong way down the pit lane and furthermore grids messing up starting you in the wrong order in which you may have qualified! To put it bluntly it seems they only focused on single player experience and if that because ultimately it seems only Breaking Point to be new game feature grabbed the developers attention. 

So online for me gets a very disappointing rating of 2 out of 5! 

Handling Model/Physics! 

Where do I begin with this? Honestly from what I’ve experienced with the handling model it\"s basically a downgraded version of previous years games. Cars are uncontrollable, touch any kerb or slightly miss an apex and you\"ll spin out. AI drivers will constantly crash into you and force you off track. Now before you It\"s basically a downgraded version of previous years games. Cars are uncontrollable, touch any kerb or slightly miss an apex and you\"ll spin out. AI drivers will constantly crash into you and force you off track. Now before you criticize my criticisms of course I want hard AI and of course I want to see the cars and tracks be as close to life like as possible but also things should be consistent! Down at T1 in Barcelona, Catalonia the seems to be reported a inconsistent bump in which the esport drivers have discovered! And a link to any videos will be left down below! But this random bump seems to change lap to lap and not just lap to lap but seems also dependent on setup! I’ve experienced it once or twice and it does unsettle the car significantly! Furthermore the bumps at Bahrain and Spa Francorchamps are so violent that they effectively break your car! This isn’t even the kerbs I’m talking about! I’m talking about the nature of the track! Overall the handling model isn’t too bad in my opinion however it is very understeering and brakes in the game are just non existent! This handling model in which we’ve been given is probably the worst since F1 2015/14 even! It’s bad and in fact Codemasters know this! Otherwise why would they bring out a entirely new handling model! Let’s not forget that would’ve taken months and months of development! So codemasters rushed it and did bodge job! Personally I think they should be offering all games upto 50% of the money 💴 back due to how dire the handling mode is….

so the physics/handling model for me is getting a 0 out of 5.  

Career Mode! 

Next up we have career mode and if I’m realistically speaking here what has been added? The is no new to cut scenes in career mode, the is no new interview questions realistically and it still questions asked by Claire! Now ultimately it’s been this since F1 2018 and the been nothing added since! Yes you have MyTeam mode but even that is the same as last years game and realistically nothing new for players to experience! Yes I like career mode soon but after 2 or 3 seasons it becomes the same old same old! 

Ultimately career mode in 2021 has been untouched. But that’s also part of the problem because they should’ve touched it! Okay don’t fix what isn’t broken but If you stand still you get caught out and I feel codemasters have stood still now for long enough. So career mode cause it’s the same old same again I can’t score it highly. But I’ll be generous and give it a 3 out of 5. 

Customization! 

Now deer oh deer 🦌! What a colossal joke! What customization! The about 4 or 5 different helmets, 4 or 5 different race suits and 4 or 5 different car liveries! Since customization came to the game is actually been one of my favourite game features believe it or not but they really have trimmed customization down to the bare bone. All that’s left of customization is a sprinkle of what we have had in the past! And that’s good enough if you ask me! The should at least be a number of different helmet design, a number of different car designs and a number of different race suit designs on offer for FREE! But where are they? That’s what I’d like to know. Where has all the customization gone too? It can’t go vanishing can it???? Seems to of done so ultimately I’m let down. 

This is getting a 1 out of 5! A joke. 

So if we total up the score! F1 2021 from me gets a miserable 10 out of 25! Now under my rating system F1 2021 therefore only gets a C grade! 

A - 25 to 20, B - 19 to 15, C - 14 to 10, D - 9

to 5 and E 4 to 0!  

So a C is the middle grade a game can get. To finish off I would recommend this game for anyone to buy however wait till Codemasters fix the game first! I wouldn’t rush out in buying it with the number of bugs and not just bugs but problems this game has! On Google review this game has 110 reviews and a fairly substantial proportion of these are 1 star ⭐️! The game overall score on google is 3.2 which in comparison it’s predecessor achieved 4.2! Now yes 2020 does have more reviews but if trends kept going the way they’re going well that could be below even 2.5 rating for codemasters! That would be significantly low! 

Now as promised here’s a few links to videos I’ll refer you to in reference to the physics of the game. A few by non other than Alex Gillon. 

Now small update: 

Since I wrote this post back in August the has been a number of patches to the game! And these patches have made the game far more enjoyable to play and patches have included track updates, handling model update and sponsorship/livery/car updates. With these improvements in mind I’ve therefore still believe what I originally said is true. The day 1 game score is reflective to my experience but since the updates the game has improved vastly.

And so will it’s score. 

For each of the categories I’ve redone the scores to match the updates.

Breaking Point:

Breaking point score will stay the same. As I originally said it delivered on my expectations and che cut scenes where very good CGI so score remains as it originally was. 4 out of 5.

Online!

Now the online gaming experience has improved massively, a number of reported bugs and glitches within the game has been addressed and whilst the still areas for Codemasters to fix but it’s certainly far better then before. So the original score here was 2 out of 5. I’m going to be a bit more generous and give it now a 3 out of 5. 

Handling/Physics.

So the handling was one of the worst features on launch day of this game! But since the updates in September the has been far better physics and handling car by car. Ultimately it’s still isn’t perfect and still I believe areas of this that could be vastly improved but having said that the progression that Codemasters have made here is large. So for that reason I’m bumping the score now up to 2.5 out of 5! Still lots of work could be done but at least some work has been done.

Career Mode! 

And for this area I’m not going to improve the score as again not much has changed or evolved. So the original score of 3 out of 5 which I think was very reasonable will still stand. 

Customizaton!

Well the has been a few new brought to the game but again I’m not going to change my original score here as I believe it’s still to basic of a feature to warrant a higher mark/grade so with this is in mind it’ll stay at 1 out of 5! 

So with these updates in mind the game now scores a total of 13.5 points! It’s almost into the grade B category! That’s a improvement of 3.5 points and is a significant step for the game. I’m glad to rate it a tad higher but would like to rate even higher in the future. With more updates scheduled for this month November I look forward now in good anticipation of seeing more areas fixed. But this game originally failed to meet the mark. And shouldn’t ever of been launched until it was truly ready! 

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