''Formula One 04'' is a racing video game developed by Studio Liverpool and published by Sony Computer Entertainment exclusively for

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

. It is a sequel to the

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

'' Formula One 2003'' and was based on the

2004 Formula One World Championship The 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 58th season of FIA Formula One motor racing. It was the 55th FIA Formula One World Championship, and was contested over eighteen races from 7 March to 24 October 2004. The championship was d ...

Gameplay

The game features all ten teams and twenty drivers competing in the 2004 Formula One World Championship (except for mid-season changes), as well as the eighteen circuits and Grands Prix that formed the championship, including the new Bahrain International Circuit and Shanghai International Circuit. It is the first Formula One game developed by Studio Liverpool to contain a 'Career Mode', which allowed players to work their way through the

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

teams over the course of a fixed number of seasons (albeit a repeat version of the 2004 Formula One World Championship each time). Players would start out testing in a generic Formula One car, and if they did well enough in the test they would be offered a contract by a small team such as

Minardi Minardi was an Italian automobile racing team and constructor founded in Faenza in 1979 by Giancarlo Minardi. It competed in the Formula One World Championship from 1985 until 2005 with little success, nevertheless acquiring a loyal followin ...

. Players would then work their way up the grid throughout their '

career The career is an individual's metaphorical "journey" through learning, work and other aspects of life. There are a number of ways to define career and the term is used in a variety of ways. Definitions The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defin ...

' through a mixture of good tests and impressive race performances. This game also had Net Play available. This is the only F1 game in the series to be changed in terms of gameplay after the original release. In the original version, there was a bug which during the timing of AI pitstops all the field crawled at pit lane speed, then they sped up once a few of the AI cars had made their stop, and it was very common to be following a car which suddenly came to a halt and the player would end up hitting their rear and ending their race. Studio Liverpool responded to the fans' concerns about this issue and fixed this bug upon the release of the Platinum version. ''Formula One 04'' was released in Europe ( PAL) and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

(

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

). The game features all the drivers and tracks from the 2004 Formula One World Championship, but does not represent the replacement drivers that featured in the real

, therefore

Timo Glock Timo Glock (born 18 March 1982) is a German professional racing driver, and BMW Motorsport works driver. He raced in Formula One for the Jordan, Toyota, Virgin Racing and Marussia F1 teams. He finished 10th in the Drivers' Championship in both ...

Marc Gené Marc Gené i Guerrero (born 29 March 1974) is a Spanish professional racing driver. He is best known as a tester for Williams and Ferrari in Formula One, Minardi Formula One driver and factory driver for Peugeot's Le Mans team, with which he w ...

Antônio Pizzonia Antônio Reginaldo Pizzonia Júnior (born 11 September 1980) is a Brazilian professional racing driver who has raced in Formula One and the Champ Car World Series. Born in Manaus, he started his car racing career in the Formula Vauxhall Junior s ...

Jacques Villeneuve Jacques Joseph Charles Villeneuve ( born 9 April 1971) is a Canadian professional racing driver and amateur musician who won the 1997 Formula One World Championship with Williams. In addition to Formula One (F1) he has competed in various ot ...

and Ricardo Zonta are not featured.

Development

''Formula One 04'' was announced in April 2004 by Sony Computer Entertainment, and was the second game in the exclusive deal between Sony Computer Entertainment and

Formula One Administration The Formula One Group is a group of companies responsible for the Promotion (marketing), promotion of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, FIA Formula One World Championship, and the exercising of the sport's commercial rights. The ...

, following '' Formula One 2003''. The game was officially launched in London ahead of the

2004 British Grand Prix The 2004 British Grand Prix (formally the 2004 Formula 1 Foster's British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit on 11 July 2004. It was Race 11 of 18 in the 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship. Background ...

with model Emma B acting as the face of the game.

Alcohol and tobacco-related sponsors

All alcohol and tobacco sponsors are censored: * Ferrari's Marlboro is completely censored. * McLaren's

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

is replaced by "David", "Kimi", and "Team" (in career mode) (like in real life). * Renault's

Mild Seven , previously called , is a Japanese brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Japan Tobacco. History Mevius was launched in 1977 under the name Mild Seven. It was intended to be a mild version of the Seven Stars (cigarette), Seve ...

is replaced by the car numbers and the drivers’ full names (like in real life). * Jaguar's Beck's is replaced by "Best's". * BAR's Lucky Strike is replaced by "Look Left", "Look Right", and "Don’t Walk", with a barcode and Formula One cars. * Williams's Budweiser is replaced by the normal colour of the car. * Jordan's Benson & Hedges is replaced by "Be on Edge".

Reception

''Formula One 04'' received "generally favorable reviews" according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

. Steve Boxer of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' praised the graphics, the car handling, and the inclusion of all eighteen tracks but criticised the difficulty of the career mode and the lack of help in the car setup, stating that "it is impossible to do anything other than tool around at the back of the field without tinkering with your car's setup - which is boring and hopelessly hit-or-miss without a virtual mechanic to assist you". In Japan, ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 30 out of 40.

References

External links