F1 2015 is out, and according to our very own guides editor Brett Phipps, it's a bit of a let down. (His full review is to follow.) While the on-track action is fine – it is Codemasters, after all – one of the major issues it has is that for a game aiming to authentically replicate the excitement of an F1 season, it doesn't have a career mode. Think about that for a moment. It doesn't have a career mode. In a game about a sport most famous for featuring a glamorous and diverse series of races which constitutes, for drivers, owners, and fans, a career, this somehow doesn't feature in the officially licensed product.
Other things that are missing from F1 2015, the officially licensed game of the sport of the plaything of billionaires and human rights abusers: paddocks, online co-op, and loads of other stuff that you'd reasonably expect an officially licensed F1 game, which has the official license officially, to have. This, after the game was delayed last year. F1 2015, then, is a throwback to the bad old days when new-gen sports titles cut corners to see a release. Welcome back: we've missed you.
By bad old days, of course, we mean 'last year'. These sorts of shenanigans happen all the time. FIFA was formerly notorious for it, in the early days of both PS2 and Xbox 360. When EA wasn't chopping modes out left, right, and centre to get it out the door, it was also releasing terrible stopgap/cash-in games, like FIFA Road to the World Cup 2006, which by any standard is one of the worst football titles in a millenia. I mean, look at it. Ronaldinho looks shinier than a coke-addled T-1000 auditioning for the Apprentice.
FIFA wasn't the only offender. Madden was just as bad, if not worse. NHL 15 was hardcore in its disregard for accepted modes, gutting so much stuff (including the GM mode) that EA had to patch it back in as their executives kept on turning up with pitchforks where their heads used to be. Other publishers are also guilty. 2K's WWE 15 had no create-a-story and create-a-moveset functionality, which got the boot faster than someone going into Vince's office and calling him a vanilla midget. It also had a smaller roster, which is somehow even worse. Even the mighty PES has had its moments, especially the 360 version of PES 6, which had the all-important edit mode chopped out, much to the chagrin of everyone.
The difference between a lot of the aforementioned games and F1, however, is that those titles had to be ready at launch, or as close as humanly possible. F1 launches today, July 10th in space year 2015, as the title handily expounds. As much as I'd love it to be 2013 again, which coincidentally is when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One launched, it is not. There is simply no excuse for it to be missing something as absolutely vital as a career mode, nor to feature all of the other stuff which didn't make the cut.
Imagine, for a second, a world in which the new PES launched without Master League. Or Assassin's Creed without bugs. Or Call of Duty came out and Activision shrugged and said 'Sorry bros, no ranking system in this one. Oh well.' It wouldn't happen, and if it did, via time-travel sabotage or a Tory government, there would be justifiable outrage.
So what now for F1 and its ilk? It seems rather mean to tell people not to buy the thing, because a lot of people put a lot of very hard work into it, and as mentioned earlier it does provide at least some of the goods on the track. The question is whether you want to be the person who props up the constant and downright cynical release of sports games that are shorn of the things that make them appeal in the first place, simply because you need an upgrade, or some new kits, or some slightly better graphics. I mean, have you seen the state of the new Tiger Woods, somewhat confusingly now called Rory McIlroy PGA Tour? The thing barely has any golf courses. It wouldn't surprise me if you bought it and in the box wasn't a disc but a Dumb and Dumber-style IOU. (In fairness, it kind of is doing this, with free DLC which is apparently coming later. As you were).
People will buy F1, as they will New Bloke PGA Tour and a slew of others. That's the beauty of sports games, for fans and publishers – there's always new stuff to put in them. It's just a shame that oftentimes not all of it goes in.
