Codemasters’ spin-off of the Formula One series sees Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and others go head-to-head in a Mario Kart type game.
Chris Gray, the senior producer of the upcoming F1 Race Stars game from Codemasters, spilled the beans on the developer’s latest game and believes it will bring in more players to the popular Formula One games from the studio.
Codemasters has a rich history of delivering authentic, immersive racing experiences with their main series, DiRT and Formula One. It seems that after releasing a number of titles in the core series of both games the developer has focused its attention on titles aimed at casual gamers.
DiRT already got the casual gamer treatment and now it seems the studio has turned its attention on to the Formula One series. The result is F1 Race Stars, which sees Codemasters take full advantage of the sport’s license.
The game features cartoony likenesses of all the major racing stars such as Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel as well as the other racers who earn a living driving fast cars really fast.
Formula One All Stars follows in the tracks of the Mario Kart games and it seems to be a trend in recent years as LittleBigPlanet Karting is also in the works. The reason for the popularity of these games seems to be the fact that the developers see the casual gamers easier to attract.
When asked who the All Stars games were aimed at Gray replied, “It’s ‘Formula One for everyone’”.
He continued, “It was very much our vision from the outset to create an F1 game that everybody could enjoy, be that kids, family and friends, or mates before and after the pub.” Judging by the game’s target market and the nature of the game one could sense that the producer was leaning more towards ‘after the pub’ with the last example.
Gray went on to state that they took a serious sport and turned it into something fun and appealing for everyone. “There’s a massive part of that audience that want more entertainment than simulation. Having the opportunity to take what is a serious sport, and turn it completely on its head with a playful twist – both in the visual and gameplay” was something that the developers really enjoyed and hope that their experience transfers onto the player when he tries out the game.
No release date has been given for the game as yet but one can expect it to be out by the end of the year. At the same time the game looks perfect for the PlayStation Vita and we will have more news on the story as and when it breaks, for the time being Formula One All Stars looks promising.
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