F1 2002 (Gameboy Advance) (Pre-Played - Game Only)

One thing that I need to say first; this game is NOT 3D. It's a 2.5D racer, and it plays like one. Think something like Mario Lart Super Circut, completely flat and mostly featurless tracks, and the somewhat odd feeling of just being a 2D dot moving along a series of frames that move you left/right. Now, that mentioned, this game is one of the most complete racing game on any mobile device, with fuel and tires being a factor. Because the lap counter can't go over 10, the need to pit has been greatly exaggerated. You can get in some pretty decent battles if you make the AI aggressive, details are good, but the draw distance is absolutely dreadful. You can only see 50 yards in front of you, but with an indicator and the use of the map, it is non-issue. I can't say anything about multiplayer.

This is a very solid title, and I have almost zero complaint with it. The graphics are fast, clean, smooth, and clear. The sound (considering the modest GBA speaker) is excellent: The engines sound very real, and are very loud (Stereo headphones make this even better). It has wet tracks, with falling rain, dry races, 17 circuits (all real-life), 11 Teams, 22 drivers (all real) and 4 modes of play (Quick Race, 2002 Season, Custom Season, and Multiplayer.) Battery backup in the game keeps track of Season standings, and fastest lap times. You can use an automatic transmission, or a more challenging manual transmission. It also has a basic and expert mode of racing. Basic gives the opponents a bit less speed on the track, and also gives you a red ! mark at the top of the screen when you approach a turn too fast. The expert mode ups the difficulty by not only making the opponents faster, but by taking away the ! sign for turns, thus making it importnant to know the layout of each track. Control is smooth and easy as well. You have a choice of either 3, 5, or 10 laps. Ten laps is for those who want a long-feeling race, with a feel of realism to it. For a video game (as opposed to a PC game) 10 laps actually takes quite a period of time. I've never actually played a video game that has races as long as this! (The PC version of this game has the FULL laps of the real courses available, meaning races can literally take hours. For a handheld, 10 laps is very impressive!) The only cons I can think of would be that the mode 7 graphics used to render the tracks - while excellent overall - tend to render each track as flat as a board. Real tracks have up and downhill sections, and bumpy sections as well. The only thing simulated here is some bumpiness that you can see. The other negative would be a lack of more track-side objects. Grandstands, trees, and buildings ARE there, but very sparsely placed, and frequently repetitive. Some tracks, which are thickly forested in real life, have maybe 12 trees total in this game. This hardly detracts from the real fun, however, and is merely a technical complaint. Overall, if you want a F1 title with modest realism, and superb play value, this is it - especially with the current price mark of it!

I gave this game 2 stars. It would have been 1 or zero but for the graphics and sound which are very good (GBA standards) and track maps which are excellent (very close to Autosport quality -speed and gear indications for corners). But, the big downside is the gameplay which is terrible. The tracks are flat and featureless. I'm a lifelong veteran of F1 simulations on every console platform and PC version imaginable and I cannot keep any car in this game(even with max downforce) on the track for very long. The tires wear out at an astounding rate (the second lap in shorter races) and it is like driving on ice. I've actually spun out at under 25 mph in a hairpin! I find it hard to believe this game was actually play-tested by gamers of varying skill levels. It could have been a great portable F1 experience if they put in some reasonable driving capability.