'F1 Race Stars is Formula One like you’ve never seen it', says John Walshe.
Ever felt like seeing a cartoon Lewis Hamilton do a loop-the-loop or fancied positioning a rain cloud directly above Michael Schumacher to slow him down? Now you can. F1 Race Stars is Formula One like you’ve never seen it. Your favourite drivers from the Grand Prix circuit, who normally take themselves so seriously, turn into bobble-headed cartoon caricatures of themselves for a karting extravaganza on the most outrageous tracks throughout the world.
There are 12 circuits to choose from, including Monaco, Japan, Singapore, Italy and Brazil. Better yet, some of them include parodies of famous sections from their real-life counterparts, such as the iconic Eau Rouge in Belgium, the Monaco chicanes and Monza’s Curva Grande. However, they also throw Harrier jump-jets at you in Britain, challenge you to race across bullet trains in Japan and have you careering through the Brazilian rain-forest: realism, it ain’t.
As is the norm for karting titles, there are also a range of power-ups and weapons to gather en route, and the examples here show a little more variety than most games in the genre, from the rain-clouds that slow down your rivals while you race ahead on wet weather tyres, to the ultimate catch-up, the safety car, which hurtles to the front of the pack and forces everyone to slow down while you make up ground.
There’s also the ability to take pit-stops to repair your kart after a particularly tough lap, as well as a KERS boost system, which lets you fill up your boost battery by pumping the R2 or right trigger when in certain cornering sections, which can then be used when you need a super-boost to overtake Jenson Button on the last bend.
Add in a few different game modes, such as 'Elimination Nation', whereby the kart in last place is removed at regular intervals, and Slalom, a way-gate based challenge, as well as the obvious delights of multi-player (with up to four players in split-screen and up to 12 in online races), and you have a solid karting title.
While it’s not going to set the world on fire, F1 Race Stars is good fun to pick up and play; realistically animated F1 drivers, lush racing environments and a wealth of weapons to unleash upon your mates and competitors.
Platform: PS3, X360, PC
Publisher: Codemasters Racing
Cert: 3
Score: 3/5
John Walshe
