Future Publishing


Formula One Grand Prix
By Microprose
Amiga 500

 
Published in Ace #055: April 1992

Formula One Grand Prix

Believe you me, you've never seen a racing game like this. Lotus 2? Out Run Europa? Indianapolis 500? Pah! They are but children's toys compared to the complete and utter excellence of Formula One Grand Prix, the latest and greatest game from the programming genius that is Geoff "Stunt Car Racer" Crammond. The graphics are truly amazing, with highly-detailed cars (complete with driver's helmet poking out of the cockpit) literally zooming around tracks lined with stands, trees, fences and cranes. The sound matches the visuals with good use of throaty samples for the engines.

But it's not just the quality of the graphics or the sounds that makes Formula One Grand Prix so special, it's the meticulous attention to detail that generates an authentic and involving Grand Prix atmosphere. Everything you'd expect to find on a Grand Prix circuit - stands, bridges, tunnels, etc - is there (and in the identical position they'd be found in real life), even extending right down to stewards pushing crippled cars off the track and engineer crews waiting in the pits.

The wonderful control over the car is the essential icing on the cake, with plenty of difficult modifiers to make the game easy enough for Granny Smith to play or tough enough to bring Sterling Moss out in beats of sweat. Indeed, Formula One Grand Prix is so good that it earned itself an ACE Trailblazer and the honour of becoming the new Racing Simulation Benchmark. Good enough for you?