We have repeatedly mentioned the sports video game franchises which, year after year, have a contractual obligation to offer fans a new edition of a title. It happens with football, with FIFA, basketball with NBA 2K, American football with Madden, and even in sports that aren’t as popular around the world as cricket or cycling. Motorsport is no stranger to this trend, especially Formula 1, the highest representative of this discipline since time immemorial.
Initially, Codemasters held the rights to Formula 1, but since 2021 deliveries have been released with the joint label of Electronic Arts and the English studio after the latter was taken over by the former.
F1 23 is the latest installment in the saga, and an evolution from the edition that precedes it with many new features, game modes and even various gameplay adjustments. The lights go out, the engines roar from the starting gate. The Formula 1 circus begins a new function, although within our Xbox. Prepare your pit strategy and your reflexes, because in this analysis we are going to go all out to reach the first position. DRS connected.
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technical part
The new edition of the official F1 game continues to have an absolutely amazing graphic sectionwith impeccable detail in the recreation of real drivers, vehicles and tracks, as well as in the cutscenes of Braking Point, the podium and in the before and after competitions, however, some faces of mechanics and others continue to needing more work, an ailment that is a common denominator among AAA motorsport titles, such as MotoGP 23 or TT Isle of Man.
The game, even on Xbox Series S, where I performed the analysis, has an exceptional performance that makes you feel the speed in every straight line, in every curve, without losing any graphical detail.
As for the sound, the radios, the engines, the very presence of people on the tracks make the experience incredibly immersive, plus even the stories and voices can be customized by language, with different variants of Spanish, by example, as well as the rest of the in-game menus and dialogue captioning in cutscenes and Braking Point. I loved the level of depth that was created with all of these variations.
gameplay
With F1 23 Braking Point returns, the story mode that accompanied the 2021 version and continues with the history left by this episode, with two of its protagonists of the time and many new faces. If you didn’t play the previous episode or have better things to remember than this story, the mode does a kind of recap in the form of a documentary that shows Aiden Jackson’s journey to becoming a number one in Formula 1 and his rivalry with veteran Casper. Akkerman and Devon Butler who in the 2019 version were already positioning themselves as a hateful rival/enemy.
In F1 23 Devon and Aiden are teammates in the Konnersport F1 Team whose sponsor is none other than Davidoff Butler, Devon’s father. Although the story seems to focus on Aiden and his conflicts and adventures with the Butler family (we will also have the presence of Devon’s sister, a Formula 2 driver), the mode tells the story of the Konner team at a general level and does so with a good narrative for a game of these characteristics.
Each story chapter has different protagonists with a total of 17 chapters that will take the player to different categories and positions, and can even become managers for quite a while. You have to take into account that the team aspires to finish fifth in the constructors’ championship, so don’t wait here to have a tie fight with Red Bull or Ferrari, because it won’t happen, maybe in a next episode? Who knows.
One of the a very interesting news is the F1 World modebasically the hub main game that works as a link to everything, maybe too much. For comparison, this mode is a kind of FIFA Ultimate Team but instead of players for a team, we will get different mechanisms and parts for the car that not only improve the performance of the vehicle, but also add almost science-based improvements. fiction, such as more traction on certain tracks or increased DRS capability.
The good thing about this aspect, unlike what happens in FIFA, is that microtransactions are not involved at least here. The “pitcoin” says present but especially for cosmetic items and XP.
The mode also includes licenses that range from A to D and which allow you to compete against other players with the same or lower skills. Completing different objectives will allow you to unlock various things in the HUB such as stickers, deliveredetc
For the nostalgic, the career mode is still there with My Team, the latter a sequel almost plotted from last year with the only variant of the 2023 calendar and the new configurations in the teams. If this section was where you spent the most hours last year, you’ll probably feel at home here, but maybe too much.
One of the main complaints F1 22 received was with the control of the cars, something that has improved here and notably. An oversight in 2022 meant a crash landing on a wall and a subsequent abandonment of the race, in 2023 although this continues to happen, with latent difficulty, but you can always salvage your reputation when you feel you are already losing control , welcome the car in a less disruptive way.
Still enjoying the game with a simple controller on my Xbox Series S, the control experience with Precision Drive technology was excellent, as was the effect of the force feedback passing through the small pianos of different layouts.
If we talk about circuits, we will be able to race on each of the tracks of the official calendar, with the novelty of Las Vegas, the new configuration of Barcelona and the return of Losail, as well as the healthy incorporation of some routes that are no longer in the category like Portimão, Shanghai and Paul Ricard.
Duration
For someone who loves this sport, you can spend a lot of very entertaining time in the game. Not only because of the new modes, the regular career mode schedule offers us a lot of time per weekend, with a training, three qualifying bodies, the sprint and racing, all, of course, customizable to be omitted or enjoyed in part or in whole.
The online experience, with a wide range of options, will undoubtedly also help retain the most competitive players for a long time.
conclusion
F1 2023 isn’t reinventing the wheel, that’s for sure, but the additions it has made as well as the controller fixes it has made make the title worthwhile for any high-flying motorsport fan.
With Braking Point, even if you don’t want to pursue a career or want to take a break from your life as a professional pilot, you can access a break that will continue to leave you competing but with a fresh perspective.
The new installment from Codemasters and EA may not dazzle with its novelties, but it shines with its own light due to the changes that have been made and the new modes. If you vibrate every weekend of competition, do not hesitate to add it to your library.
*Thanks to EA for providing us with the analysis material.
Gabriel Ignacio Fuentes
Good
- Excellent level of customization in all options
- F1 World Mode
- The graphic and sound aspect is always impeccable
The bad
- Few new features compared to the 2022 version
- Some minor graphical details could have been done more
- Braking point could have more weight
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