Codies Blog

[#1]

Ever wanted to Bottle Rocket past Button, call out the Safety car on Vettel or send Kimi some balloons to cheer him up? Well that day is almost here and we are pleased to announce that a demo for F1 Race Stars will be available this week.



You’ll be able to select from one of four playable characters; Jenson Button from McLaren, Fernando Alonso from Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel from Red Bull and Lotus‘ Kimi Räikkönen.

Racing on our German track you’ll start off at Hockenheim, making your way through the winding roads of the Black Forest, into our Bavarian Castle, joining the AutoBahn and then joining back onto Hockenheim for the final few corners.

You'll be able to try out a whole host of power-ups as you attempt to finish on the podium but if you do get stuck at the back of the pack don't worry, we’ve got some handy tips just for you.

Demo Tips
Build up your KERS - Pump up your KERS battery on the corners and let fly as soon as your back on the straight, all you need to do is let go of the accelerator then quickly put it back on, you’ll notice your battery will fill up by one section. Pull this off three times in a row on a corner for maximum KERS boost!

Boost Jump - Release the accelerator as soon as you leave the ground then put it back on as soon as you land, get your timing right and you’ll trigger a boost just as you land.

Keep an eye out for shortcuts - You’ll notice a few of them around the track but can you find them all?

Visit the pits - Been getting knocked about a bit by the other drivers? Noticed sparks and smoke coming from the back of your car? Make sure you visit one of the many pit stops to patch yourself up. You’ll find one on the autobahn, one in the castle and one alongside the starting grid.

The demo will be available on Xbox Live and Steam from Tuesday 6th November, while the PSN versions will be available starting from Wednesday the 7th. We’ll update this post with links to where you can download the demo as soon as they become available but to hear it first, follow F1 Race Stars on Twitter and Facebook.

Download from Steam here.

To keep up to date with F1 RACE STARS check out F1RaceStars.com, follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook and Subscribe on YouTube.

[#2]

Sweet. Giving it a download now on Steam; hope it is as awesome as CTR was back in the day

[#3]

WHY WOULD I BUY ANOTHER GAME FROM YOU GUYS ITS BEEN A COUPLE OF WEEKS SINCE YOU FIXED THE LAST ONE I BOUGHT.... IN EUROPE , BUT NEGLECTED TO MAKE SURE IT WAS FIXED IN NORTH AMERICA I AM MISSING ALL KINDS OF EVENTS.IF I RELEASED A FLAWED PRODUCT I WOULD AT LEAST MAKE IT PUBLIC WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH IT , YOUR ARROGANCE IS APPALING .

[#4]

Already downloaded on the 360, lots of fun.  Can't wait to try it out with the wife after she gets home from work!

[#5]

I'll try it on ps3 tomorrow, but by god that trailer was annoying!

[#6]

No 1920x1080 resolution on PC and no graphics options. So good try Codemasters...

[#7]

Bruno Senna in F1 Race Stars looks like more with Ayrton Senna.

[#8]

YAY!!!!

[#9]

Played the demo a bit today. The areas where the team has put the work in is quite obvious. The AI is very good and the effort put into it shows (at this stage). The developing AI is a very interesting concept. I'm also pleased to report I am yet to find a single bug within the hour I played. The same cannot be said for f1 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, all of which I found at least three bugs within that time frame.

Few 'concerns' I have though. Keep in mind I haven't played for long and obviously only vs the AI on 3,000 CC a bit as well as watching videos since the game was announced so take any of this feedback with a grain of salt. It's meant to be first impressions.

Warning: It's a tad long .

Some/most of the power ups feel rather bland, not only in application but in design as well

It's mostly bubbles and such. I can't help but feel more F1 theme could have been applied. Oil patches instead of blue bubbles and maybe rogue tyres out of nowhere instead of red bubbles. Some are also a little boring in the sense of gameplay as well. The Static item also completely destroys item strategy as well as not being a lot of fun to actually use because the player who uses it effectively is 'denied' an item too.

Mario Kart Wii went seriously overboard with the disarming mechanic and it's not a lot of fun let alone something that does it without any way of defending against it or knowing its coming. Some items are also borderline useless in a few situations, not like 'mediocre or bad' but near useless.

One minor thing on the subject, the triple yellow bubble fires three times (or two if you've only got two) if you are firing it forwards but only once if you fire it backwards. It should probably only fire once either way you shoot because throwing it forwards sees a lot of players get hit by it themselves, I saw it a bit in videos for instance.

The leader has a very easy time of it usually due to the game mechanics leading to midfield squabbling

As much as people might hate the blue shell its regrettably a necessary evil because the leader has to deal with only the guy behind them, everyone else except the guy coming last has to deal with 2 people. The blue shell is a too heavy handed solution sure, but one is necessary. Sonic and Sega All stars (the first one of course) doesn't have at all and the leader just runs away almost every time.

Granted the safety car and rain cloud are meant to reel in the leader but combined with key shortcuts, they just don't do anywhere near enough. Obviously the reel in cannot be overkill but I'm finding the race is usually decided largely by who gets the gate keys.

Gate keys
This is probably my biggest concern by far. At least on the Hockenheim circuit getting the key easily nets at least a 15 second advantage and that's before the item scaling takes affect (getting better items from the rear). I was running 10th, got the wet weather item and the key, pulled out in first, used the wet weather, gained a 30 second lead and was completely untouchable all race. Nobody got close.

It's not only the fact the person who gets the gate gets a significant shortcut, it’s also the fact they don't have to deal with surrounding cars and receiving damage and going into the pitlane and all the rest of it. All of this stuff costs time and therefore gives the leader an extra advantage. The pulse item is almost geared up to cause midfield squabbling considering the area of impact and the rest of it.

Lack of interface or information

When somebody teleports in front of you and/or uses a gate shortcut to get by you, it’s somewhat difficult to know how exactly they got ahead of you. Furthermore you don't know when someone is under attack or under the effects of the rain cloud. Snowboard Kids 1 and 2 had the players face icon turn blue when they became ghosted (same as the rain cloud really) and Mario kart Wii had players faces on the mini map spin around as well as fairly audible sounds. There was a quick way to be aware of what was happening all over the track and that might influence your decisions, F1 race stars doesn't have any of this. There is a key icon, but once it’s used, it’s difficult to know what just happened.

Is there any difference aside unique abilities between the cars?

I remember hearing that rather than giving each car different stats (turning/speed/acceleration etc.) they were given unique abilities. Even already some of these just feel mediocre and not as good as others though time will really tell.

Personally I think McLaren’s is probably the best out of the four because some items are just frickin terrible in certain situations. Red bull’s feels bad considering that you want to be in the lead and make a clean getaway that means not being behind people thus not slipstreaming though I guess it can be used to get there but keys or good item use do a lot of that normally.

Lotus's feels pretty okay, great for holding leads. Ferrari's I'm unsure about but it doesn't seem good. Red balloons seem uncommon in higher placings and you'd usually only fire them backwards to either defend from an attack or if you were in front, else you'd be firing them forwards anyway however like I said, early days, I might change my mind.

Racing feels a little flat
I know the KERS mechanic is there to keep things interesting and you didn't want power sliding because F1 cars don't slide but I feel that racing at least on Hockenheim is a bit flat. There many shortcuts in the sense of cutting corners with a boost (Mushroom in Mario kart) but KERS is only in set positions and it can be easily interrupted if you get hit during it which is really annoying and dodging red balloons is practically non-existent (aside using another item and far fewer can actually do that job in F1 Race stars than Mario kart) another thing that's a bit annoying.

While you can be hit mid powerslide in Mario kart, it’s not a big deal there's plenty of corners where as KERS is only where the game says so, just doesn't feel anywhere near as fun. Also I can't help but say I was a bit disappointed that there were only 11 circuits. Mario Kart Wii and DS have 32.

Sorry if it sounds negative

I'm only giving honest feedback so maybe if a few people start saying similar things improvements can be made .  It still looks great and I'll definitely be picking it up. I guess I was a little surprised at how few people were talking about it on forums and other areas so the demo is very welcome .