It’s time to tackle the long and exciting history of Formula 1, with an off-brand arcade racer that happens to include a ton of simulation elements to it as well. This is the review for Formula Legends, which we tested on Xbox Series X!
The epic highs and lows
Italian studio 3DClouds has had their share of ups and downs, in terms of quality of output, but I always look forward to their games with a certain curiosity. While they’ve also done different things, I certainly think their true strengths lie in delivering surprisingly solid racers, usually based on some licenses. After all, it’s easy to see why they’d favour a relatively cheap studio that can push out competent 3D racers for your brand in a timely manner. Indeed, alongside licensed kid-oriented racers like Race With Ryan and Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem, they also created the surprisingly addictive Transformers: Galactic Trials – a game that even made my top 10 for last year.
Clearly, not everything they do is a banger, but one thing’s evident: their love for racing. In a country like Italy, with such a rich history of motorsports and Formula 1 in particular, it’s not a shocker to then see 3DClouds want to tackle exactly the latter, in what is an unofficial look at the history of decades of F1 – from the 60’s all the way to the 2020’s. An approach not unlike last year’s New Star GP – a game that, coincidentally, also made my 2024 top 10. But unlike that screamer of an arcade racer, Formula Legends aims for a more realistic approach to race management – with damage, tyre wear, fuel consumption and driving standards playing a much bigger role.
Serious business
Choosing from a large selection of camera angles, ranging from on the very car to others where it almost feels like a top-down view game, the player can hop onto various F1 cars from all decades of the sport, with the exception the 1950’s – thus, from the 60’s to the 2020’s. The cars and drivers are based on their real life counterparts, but with funky changes not to encounter the wrath of copyright holders. So the iconic Lotus machinery becomes… Flower. The Ferraris turn into the… Ferenzo cars. 90’s powerhouse Benetton is renamed as… Bonton. The reigning champion Max Verstappen is actually named… Mark Peerstallen. You know the drill, plenty of games circumvent the IP issues this way.
The actual gameplay is a very interesting middle-ground between arcade and simulation. The handling is snappy (on paper), cars are glued to the track, but braking zones require commitment, as finishing off the track is very easy to do and it can be extremely costly. The game’s collision management is very messy, thanks to some rather unpredictable and unprecise physics. That, however, only just kinda drives the point home further: race fair and clean, because smashing into your opponents will probably cost you dearly. Use their slipstream, outbrake them, but stay out of the side of their car, as you could get stuck and lose all valuable progress in an instant.
My race, my choices
With such an approach to racing, it’s no surprise that the game features simplified versions of what makes Formula 1 what it is. You can use qualifying to determine the grid. Fuel is consumed, tyres suffer wear during the race. Weather can change on the fly between wet and dry, forcing tough calls between pitting for a different rubber or staying on track. AI drivers don’t seem to commit too many mistakes, but they are susceptible to crashes among them, with particularly chaotic turn 1 incidents at the start of the race. Despite having a very arcade driving model, the game demands a serious approach to the race, as management is key. There’s even time penalties applied for going off the track, too, so beware!
The game’s artstyle is very pleasant, featuring cartoonishly exaggerated car shapes and sizes, but with some rather detailed tracks and good particles. Rain, in particular, looks excellent, and there’s even a very stylish optional filter that turns older races (such as the ones from the 1960’s) slightly closer to what you’d see on a TV of the times. It does come with various noticeable framerate drops, seemingly especially in corners with large elevation changes where suddenly a large part of the track suddenly has to be rendered on the fly. Speaking of tracks, they’re very well made homages to classics like the Monaco GP or the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, with different shapes but all the right vibes.
…but then it kinda falls apart
All that sounds pretty neat, and indeed, I had pretty high hopes for the game myself. Unfortunately, as of this launch, there are some very serious issues that greatly hamper the experience. I did talk about the wonky physics, the unimpressive AI and framerate drops already, but those didn’t impact my overall impressions all that much. One thing that really did are the controls. While they did already drastically improve since the demo version, it still feels… weird. Many times, I feel that the car keeps turning all the way to the right or left, even when I’m holding the left stick close to center. This had me overturn in a lot of tight corners, causing me some crashes that probably would look extremely goofy from the outside.
There’s also a tremendous AI balancing problem. I consider myself pretty good at racing games, arcade and sim-esque alike, but Formula Legends had me sweatin’. The three available difficulties, Easy, Normal and Hard, are going to be inadeguate for most players. Easy had all AI lap 5-6 slower than me on 45-50 second laps. Evidently, there was no challenge in that, so I moved up to Normal. Lo and behold, the AI is now lapping like 8-9 seconds faster than before, and I need to drive virtually perfectly to even stay with the group – let alone overtake or lead. The quality of their driving greatly depends on tracks, as on certain ones I easily beat said Normal difficulty, while on others, even Easy is relatively fairly close to my times. Such issues are normally solved by playing against real life opponents, but there’s an issue: Formula Legends does not support any form of multiplayer, be it local or online. It’s you against the AI or the clock, nothing else.
Close to greatness, but not quite there
Formula Legends is a wasted opportunity. A lovely artstyle, an interesting driving model, a lot of love for the history of Formula 1 are felt through and through, but the inconsistent physics, poorly balanced AI, various glitches and a complete lack of multiplayer end up severely hampering the experience. I feel like it’s only a handful of updates away from becoming a truly enjoyable arcade romp, but as of today, I only feel like recommending it to hardcore fans of the genre who can probably close an eye on a lot of issues.
Formula Legends
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- A heartfelt tribute to the history of F1
- A lot ot eras and different car styles
- Interesting mixture of arcade and sim
CONS
- Wonky physics
- Extremely unbalanced AI
- Complete lack of local or online multiplayer
- Various technical issues
