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If you like Formula 1 and manager type games this game maybe something that you allways dreamed. You will be stepping into big shoes of General Manager of Formula 1 team (do names like Ron Dennis, Eddie Jordan and so on ring a bell?). Okey, there has been games like this before (F-1 Manager, Grand Prix World...) but is this any better you may ask. Shortly said, answer is yes. I just have played two races so far but most of the game looks pretty nice, offcourse there are some downsides. I have allways liked to play manager type games (especially Championship Manager) but frankly those older Formula 1 manager games are more or less crap. Dudes on EA Sports prolly have played lot of those old games because there is much same in this game than older ones, but big difference is Racing part. I think this is the first game with 3D Race view. Attleast Grand Prix World had only 2D overlay from the track where cars were racing, but in F1 Manager 2000 you have proper 3D Race view to play with. It is allmost like watching races from telly (well in this game you can order your driver to drive faster ;)). Alltought this is named as F1 Manager 2000 all drivers/teams are from 1999 (well maybe next year we have 2001 drivers/teams). There is also some "weird" things on the game, like I noticed on my first race that the race is not stopping properly, In real F1 race stops on to the lap when first passes finish line but in not on this game. Everyone is driving same amount of laps (not, off course, those who are retired). There is only one practice hour whilst in real life there is two. But those are only small bugs and I have not found any big ones (at least not yet). Also there is not tobacco company logos around, like McLaren's sponsor West is Team in the game and so on. One nice thing was to see that every drivers is driving with different setup's even with same car. I was manager in McLaren and Hakkinen and Coulthard were allways driving with totally different setup's like brake balance was only thing that both drivers liked to be same. Hopefully EA Sports keeps doing newer versions from this game and at least they should fix that race ending/practice hour with an humble patch.
Controlling this game is pretty easy to learn. There arent so many choices in one windows that you would get lost ;) At least for me it was like 5 mins and after that everything was just fine. And if you dont know what some icon means, the game will tell you that, just keep your mouse pointer over icon for while.
Well...what can I say... I did not like the music, so I choosed to have not any music in the game (Allthough you can run Winamp in background and play your favorite MP3 tracks). Also there is not an huge amount of sounds, most noticeable were motor sounds and also there was some radio traffic between pit people and driver.
3D Race view graphics arent so good but I think that they are just as good as they need to be in this game-genre. Menu graphics are very nice and clear (Even some chicks on those background pictures... yummy!).
Like I said in beginning of this review this game is for you if you like Formula 1 and manager type games. I felt it is funny to try to do a better job than real life managers like Jean Todt and Ron Dennis. If you did like Grand Prix World then run to the shop to get this game. It is better than any of those old games. And if you are not familiar with Formula 1 management games but you have intrest on the motor area then try this one. Don't hope to find any arcade action in here.
