Before I start, this is a game review for a competition I'm in for.. you guessed it - FormulaWan. I know this is can be thought of as advertising but hopefully it is still acceptable to post this here. If there's any coments or anything about the review, just reply below I suppose.. I should only need this thread up for a couple of days - the competition closes today. :/
Game Name: FormulaWan
Game URL: http://www.formulawan.com
Genre: Sports (Motorsport)
Publisher: Motion Twin
Publisher URL: http://www.motion-twin.com/english
Producer/Creator: CarpeLudem
Cost: Free/Pay for in-game advantage
System Requirements: Computer capable of running a web browser with up-to-date flash plugin.
With the progresses in computer technology, more powerful and complicated games have been developed and released by predominantly the large game producers – Blizzard, EA, Microsoft Gaming Studios..
However, the more the proverbial bar is placed higher and higher from these companys’ competition with each other, the more complex, long and demanding these games are for the player and the computers they are played on. Users without the ability to frequently purchase new computer hardware and software often cannot play new releases, and titles with open-ended storylines are more recently being criticized due to an increase in deaths from game addiction. Those that cannot afford the constant updating, are apprehensive of the affects game addiction or simply don’t have the time to play extended storylines have now formed a new market for developers to access – a market that prefers short, simple games that take up only a few minutes in the day before options are exhausted and needs to be shut down until actions or turns are recharged. This type of game was found to be best played over a common web browser platform and, due to sheer simplicity and accessibility, the market is now full of large and small-time developers, each with their own lineup to appease a growing consumer base.
FormulaWan is a web-based sports racing game, produced by CarpeLudem and published as one of a line of games of Motion Twin. This partnership has provided success to both parties, giving a steady stream of new members and profit and supplying another sturdy foothold in an already strong position in the browser games market. FormulaWan utilizes a mix of html, php and flash to make a bright and fun turn-based racer typical to other Motion Twin games such as MyBrute, but with less emphasis on luck and more of a focus on user customizability for equipment and training.
In FormulaWan the goal is to run and win races with your drivers, earning bolts from your sponsors every time you race to manage your drivers’ progression towards the Elite Team – the highest league possible for racers. After registering, you receive 4000 bolts (the game’s form of money) to buy your first car, a driver and a staff member. More bolts either have to be earned through races or bought via credit card or PayPal payment. One can play the game entirely free, however the beginning stages will be slow and arduous until better sponsors and more drivers are procured.
Navigating through the game pages to play is pretty easy and straightforward. The main menu comprises of three main options that lead to their respective subcategories; Team, which brings you to a menu to help manage and hire drivers and staff, as well as use their “actions” to improve your team. Mechanics, which lets you repair damaged cars, buy and sell parts, and even research and develop your own. And finally Competition, which brings you to three forms of races a player can partake in – single race, championship and friendly race. Many more options are available to the player, including being able to upload pictures and descriptions of their cars, drivers and team banners, allocate player sponsorees and review past race results. All of these options are navigated and selected with the mouse, and while using a keyboard is possible it can be mind-numbingly frustrating to do so continuously.
After setting up your team with the starting bolts, there is little to do and can be boring for a new player unless they join a new race. Races are played every hour and are against other human player teams, with AI drivers filling up the remaining slots should there be not enough players to fill the grid. Every race holds a grid of six racers. Only the elite team differs in the terms of AI cars, where a race is simply postponed until enough human drivers are available to start off.
After joining a race you get to see your driver fly around one of the many tracks for a qualifying lap. The time taken will determine your position on the grid with other players, and with the case of championships, help add points to you overall competition score at the end of the week. On the hour you can check back to watch your driver race against all the other players on the grid, where a podium finish earns you extra bolts to spend on your team.
Gameplay is mainly on a click and watch basis, with drivers drifting around the track 1960s/70s F1-style towards the finishing line. This is good for those that do not have the time or do not like constant involvement in the game they are playing, like when you are on a 5min teabreak at work or are still in the middle of a boring yet important university lecture. All races are automatic and positions are determined by the FormulaWan servers, so there is an element of luck to the game. However, it is a lot more customizable and management-based than that of similar Motion Twin games like MyBrute. Cars need to be repaired to stop the risk of getting hit by other racers and crashing, drivers need to be trained and performance parts need to be installed to drive faster, all in order to win the race. Better sponsors also have to be found using commercial assistants to earn more bolts per race and engineers and researchers are required to develop awe inspiring parts unavailable in equipment shops. What choices you make first, whether it is to procure parts immediately or train up your driver to choosing singles races over championships, will affect your speed of progress in the game at certain stages. There is no “best way” of doing things, though there are a few recommended paths for new players to take.
The AI players of FormulaWan vary and range from slow, inept drivers to ones that are surprisingly hard to beat. It is known that even the best of players with highly tuned cars can have pole position stripped away from them by an AI car, getting beaten by whole seconds instead of tenths or hundredths. This can be a major gripe if your player happens to be leading, but also a sadistic hoot if you are coming dead last. Other interesting game mechanics involve the damage system, where small bumps between cars deal small amounts of damage while large, full speed collisions create debris and propel the car in front forward. Inexperienced drivers can also lose control of their cars, accidently taking corners too wide, missing gears or even going off the road. All of this can make races a seat of your pants experience, coming second place in a race right behind the leader, hoping that he might accidentally run off the road while at the same time hoping you won’t hit him, as your driver’s car has taken a lot of damage in previous laps..
The FormulaWan parts system is simple and straightforward. A player can either buy parts for their cars at two different stores or develop their own, should they have the bolts and conducted the research to do so. The two stores to buy parts from are the standard shop, where average racing parts can be bought, or from Pally Max, where the comparatively good but expensive parts are sold. Developing your own parts is available through the development centre in the mechanics menu, which has to be constructed first for a reasonable amount of bolts. This allows an overall spread of options for players in various stages of progression. Newer players generally buy parts from the standard shop with intermediate players procure from Pally Max. Only the more advanced teams develop their own parts as researching the required technologies can be very expensive to conduct. Mechanics are required to install parts to a car, and uses up their “action” for the day.
For those that wish to do more than what is offered in the game itself, a visit to the FormulaWan forum may be in order. There you can find discussions on FormulaWan as well as on current Formula One drivers and the 2009 racing season. Also available is a special roleplay area specifically for those who wish to tell a little more about their team, cars and drivers, the history behind them. Even driver to driver conversations from different teams are possible in a “watering hole” style of interaction. This is very well thought out by the game's developing team, as even the roleplaying side of the gaming community is welcome and catered to for maximum market appeal.
In comparison to other flash games currently available, FormulaWan is pretty average on the graphics-side of things. Cars are rather simply drawn and are somewhat cartoonish, but not pixilated. Menu graphics follow the same theme while user uploaded pictures of drivers and cars are as detailed or realistic as they desire. This may seem like a disaster waiting to happen, particularly if a user upload picture of real life or hand drawn cars, but the system actually meshes surprisingly well. The game features a lot of bright colours, but not blindingly so. More variety colour options for car paintjobs in the flash movies would be desirable though, with there being only a maximum of two colours to choose for each car, of which one type of blue, one red, yellow, etc. is available in the colour palette.
Aside from graphics, the flash animation is very smooth and flowing. No complex lighting techniques are used and no shadows can be seen, but there is some use of sprites during races. Wheels can be seen turning as the cars move, bits and pieces fly off when two racers bump each other and crashed players spiral off in a huge fireball. I also swear I once saw tiny stars be very subtly “emitted” from my car once when I sent it out to race with 3/100 hit points. It came back after the race with 5/100 hit points – did my driver hop in with a spanner or something and fix something while racing? I wish I had that kind of multi-tasking ability..
Unfortunately, no sort of sound effects are available in the game, although music can be played and bought by buying and installing a radio to your racing cars. This does not affect the performance of the car itself, but at least allows you to get rid of a sometimes dreadful silence. This is no substitute though for car collisions, tyre squeals and explosions, so hopefully some sound effects will be added to the racing animations in the near future.
Overall, FormulaWan is a very good and interesting game to sink a few minutes of each day into. One can call it a jack of all trades game, as while it caters to all parts and factors of the browser gaming community it does not excel at any one given part. The FormulaWan team have made a very good start in comparison to other developers though, and with a few minor additions and tweaks I can definitely see them coming across the finish line in pole position.
![[Image: 2h7jsztlb8.png]](http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/4268/2h7jsztlb8.png)