Formula Legends Review – Appearances Aren’t Everything

Formula Legends was a game I was mildly intrigued by, to say the least. I try to follow F1 as closely as I can, despite the time differences, and the F1 games, despite my not buying every single one, do rank among the most fun in racing, at least in my mind, when you want to split the difference between a sim and arcade racing on a circuit track. Last year, there were also a few cute indie racers that kept my attention as well, like Chase Horizon 2, which I finally got around to. In this vein, I think I should preface this review by stating it’s probably my fault that I was so let down by it.

The first thing that hits when playing the game is its art style, which is non-traditional. Games like JDM have come into the indie space with some focus on a realistic element to the display, so the fact that the characters and cars have a chibi form, and the stages are charming and playful, so of course, the first thought is a Formula 1 game that is accessible to all, and a break from intense game I might have been playing. Oh, how wrong I was to think that. This is a sim racer at heart, but even the marketing doesn’t let on just how much.

The game is basically a tour through the eras of F1, starting back in the 1960’s. Each stage of the title puts you behind the wheel of a car from that period, with the aesthetics of on-screen elements such as the lap number and gears, and a racer to fit into that period as well. A multitude of these elements are open from the start, but some eras, like the 90s or the 2010s, require completing certain requirements to actually unlock, but you have a lot of freedom to pick your poison, which is a good thing.

All of these eras have tours associated with them, which require completing several races in a row and getting a score that puts you in your final ranking. Before even racing, you need to complete a pre-race time attack from the placement you start the race. One of the better safety nets in the game does allow you to easily restart both the race or the placement lap, so you can fix your current situation, and trust me… TRUST ME… You will end up doing this a lot, even if you bump down gameplay to the easiest.

The problem is, if there was ever a game that really needed a rewind feature, this is it. Not even hitting the wall, but hitting the apex at a slightly off angle, can cause your car to spin out for no reason, and the game heavily punishes traditional driving game cheats like skipping a corner or riding a wall, putting the emphasis on learning how to take courses the exact right way is key. Since actually practicing these courses semi-requires doing it in a race, rather than the alternative modes, since they will not give the same results. This means finding yourself in the loop of retrying a racer or placement over and over again until you get it.

There is a pleasure in nailing a perfect turn, though; they do get that right. The right amount of break leading into an acceleration along a straightaway. Chef Kiss. You still need to maintain this for typically 11 laps, though. On top of that, your car has a health gauge encouraging you to not hit anything, which, given how aggressively the AI plays, can be very hard to actually do. There is also a gas gauge and wheel health, which are more impactful as they drain over time and need to be maintained. These are solved by jumping into the pit stop, which on the lengthy races, is a given.

This also ties into the weather system, which is also a cool function that Formula Legends brings to the table. The weather is dynamic and shifts between clear to raining, with noticeable dark clouds forming in the sky as a storm approaches. Rain does not really ‘impact’ you like other games might, making the road slick, which I admit feels weird given how heavily the other mechanics affect you in that way. Instead, these shifts require you to switch between two sets of tires, with the wrong pair getting drained by the conditions in two or three laps, rather than the six laps that the right pair can last. Of course, trying to time out your pit stops can be tricky.

The reason for that, and almost everything else that drained my last nerves throughout, is the fact that the game has near-perfect AI, making even a minor mistake costly. Getting hit from behind by a car, for instance, even lightly, can cause you to spin straight out, and the same for hitting a wall. For the cars, not so much. They can, it’s not impossible, but watching the AI cars get hit the same way, only to drive out in a perfect apex and drive away as if nothing happened. In a race where each lap can take over a minute, and a 10th lap mishap ruins the entirety of your progress, forcing another retry, it starts to breed some resentment.

Because of this, leaders can not be affected by their stats a lot longer, which balances out, but can be hard to gauge. Thankfully, the frontrunners can ship a lot, making consistent 3rd or even 4th winning placements, rather than requiring first. A bad spin-out, though, cannot be reset and even with a substantial lead might not be escapable until you are in last place with every hit your vehicle takes not really destroying it or the racer that last no momentum hitting you, but kinda locks you in place. The games are almost selective sim mechanics, with some being hyper, others being light, and others still feeling non-existent, which feels more off-putting.

The game is light on other ways to experience the game as well, so you will be mostly running through eras. There are a few other features, such as time attack or a custom race, which are to be expected, but that’s about it. The biggest omission is the lack of a multiplayer mode, which, while not needed per se, is usually a good inclusion for a racing title, especially a sim racer. One of the aspects I really loved was playing through stages in different timeframes and seeing them shift, which feels like something that would have been cool to share with friends.

Verdict

There is a lot in Formula Legends that I could see why it is appealing. The reason I was interested in it is that it didn’t look like your typical racing experience. For the most part thats kinda true, though not in the way that was desired on my end. The game is extremely punishing, even on its easiest setting, and it can be weirdly selective on when it wants to really force you into a sim experience and when it doesn’t. The AI then becomes so punishingly perfect that you need to be close to it to even compete, which often feels like being left in the dust. There will definitely be fans of this kind of hybrid that will sink hundreds of hours to set a time just a few milliseconds faster than their last; sadly, I am not one of them.

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