![]() For instance, there’s certainly nothing here as fiery as Grosjean’s heartstopping Bahrain crash, or as metaphorically fiery as Guenther Steiner’s door getting ‘fok smashed’. The obvious need to keep Braking Point all-ages appropriate also makes it feel a little blunted, especially when compared to Netflix’s infamously candid F1 docuseries Drive to Survive. If this is the launchpad for further stories tracking Jackson’s journey, and it definitely feels like it is, it’d be nice to know more about his backstory. I was particularly surprised that I ultimately knew very little about Jackson by the end. It’s also cute seeing real F1 superstars popping up on the periphery of Jackson and Akkerman’s story.īraking Point does take quite a while to build to any real crescendo, though, and once it does it wraps up rather rapidly. The cutscenes are well done, particularly considering they’re really unlike anything Codemasters’ F1 team have attempted before, and there’s a decent authenticity to the performances overall. All of these racing scenarios are weaved into the needs of the story itself, which plays out via both cutscenes and a series of phone calls. You may be salvaging positions after some earlier misfortune, catching a certain car within a specific number of laps, or finishing ahead of a nominated team. The races in Braking Point vary from lights to flag events to mid-race situations, each with different challenges to achieve. The discord between the two is only exacerbated by Akkerman’s general saltiness at what he perceives as preferential treatment for Jackson, much to the chagrin of likable team liaison Brian Doyle (and much to the delight of the devious Devon Butler). The smiling face of a man who has not been punched enough.īeginning in F2 in 2019, Braking Point sees Jackson graduate to F, where he immediately clashes with old dog Akkerman after a careless on-track incident. Another driver from one of the four remaining selectable teams will be replaced with Codemasters’ resident F1 reptile, Devon Butler, who returns from his brief appearance as the antagonist at the beginning of F1 2019 for a slightly bigger role this time around. These fictional drivers will unseat the real-life drivers in your choice of team, but the rest of the grid will be made up of actual F1 stars from the 20 seasons – except for one. Depending on your choice, Jackson and Akkerman will race for one of five selectable teams – Williams, Haas, Alfa Romeo, Alpha Tauri, and Racing Point (which becomes Aston Martin during the story). Get to the Pointĭubbed Braking Point, F1 2021’s story focuses on a pair of very different drivers: rookie Aiden Jackson, a talented Brit who still has some key things to learn about the F1 paddock, and Casper Akkerman, a Dutch journeyman with an illustrious career that’s mostly behind him. ![]() In F1 2021 the story is a standalone mode akin to The Journey from FIFA 17 to 19, or Fight Night Champion’s titular Champion Mode – although it’s never quite as sentimental as the former or as rousing as the latter. There, however, it was simply a short sequence of events bolted onto the beginning of the standard career experience. It’s the same whether you’re using a controller or a Fanatec steering wheel.Codemasters flirted with the concept of a story mode two years ago in F1 2019 with its brief, F2-themed intro and its curated set of late-race scenarios and first-person cutscenes. ![]() It’s possible there’s less downforce than before, but the braking and traction (as well as the feeling when you lose grip) gives us déjà vu. The driving feels very similar to the previous game. ![]() Pick a Red Bull, Silverstone and you’ll hardly feel the difference between this game and the last. That’s because F1 2021 is the seventh game to use Codemasters’ Ego engine. Shadows might be darker, there may be a touch more detail – and all the cars, teams and tracks are updated for the 2021 season – but it looks very familiar, even on PC. And why are we talking about this? Because the 2021 version of F1 also feels like a slightly cut-down version of what came before.īefore you even dive into the game, it’s evident from the trailers and the gameplay clips. In order to improve safety, efficiency and the overall spectacle, F1 cars this year are essentially adapted racers from 2020, with cuts to the floor and diffuser designed to slash downforce. ![]() The F1 2021 season has been a close one, and part of it is down to new, last-minute stop-gap regulations introduced by the FIA. ![]()
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