The actual names of the drivers are not used due to licensing arrangements. There are sixteen rounds divided in eight levels. Each level has a special rival to beat. The game structure has similarities with F-1 Race (Game Boy), but this time it requires a certain ability to control the Formula One car. Levels become more difficult because the rival becomes increasingly strong.
Reviews View More
I'm not a Formula One guy, but I did recognize some of the names of the other drivers, so I can start of by saying that those seem authentic as a whole. If you wanted to race against those F1 names from the early 90s, then well, this is one of a dozen options for you, and probably not the best one. Is it a good game regardless? Eh, it's OK.
This is the first in a series of F1 games I'll be playing as part of this challenge I'm doing. This means I don't have much to compare it to. This is also a sim racer, not an arcade one, so it's hard to compare to other racers of 1992 and others for the SNES in general, like F-Zero for example. But it can easily be compared in terms of graphics and music/sound, and in both these cateogries, F1 Pole Position is not good.
Graphically, there is little detail to environments and backgrounds, and the sprites of the cars don't look good either. Additionally, the sense of scale on the enemy cars is seemingly random. When they show up, they'll start small, then look gigantic all of a sudden, then look appropriate, then tiny, then gigantic, then appropriate in size again. It's odd.
There isn't much music here, just a few tunes to have you entertained when scrolling the menus. The sound of the engines is what you will hear mainly, and it sounds pretty bad.
What does this game offer in terms of content? Quite a few things actually. There are 16 maps total and a Grand Prix mode to go through them. You can also battle as many drivers individually as you want in singular races, and do practice runs. There is also a whole lot of customization you can do to one of many cars you can select. Choose if gear should be shifted manually or automatically, whether you need slick or rain tires, what kind of gear you want (short gear ratios mean faster accel but lower max speed and vice versa) and you can adjust your brake level from soft all the way to hard, among multiple other options. Pretty nice.
During races, there is additional strategy involved, as you need to watch 5 indicators. WIN shows if a wing is damaged, which would reduce speed. TIR is about wear on your tires. SUS is about your car suspension, which can reduce traction. BRA goes down the more you use your brakes and reduces effectiveness. GER reduces your control of the car, if your gear box gets damaged. You can reset these meters through pit stops. So careful driving and well-timed use of pit stops is pretty important to do well.
The controls are fine, you will have seen worse and better. The fact that this is a sim racer means the devs try to make controls more grounded, with which they've done an OK job. My biggest gripe was you hitting other cars or getting hit from the back yourself, which puts you, and only you, in a spinning animation, sometimes even leading you off-track. That seemed pretty annoying considering controls are not tight enough to avoid these most of the time.
All in all, I don't think many people are looking for sim racers of the early 90s to play, so this is skippable, but a serviceable game for its time. F1 fans will have had fun with it, but will be better served with later racing games than this.
(I played this as part of my challenge to go through notable video games in chronological order starting in 1990.)
This is the first in a series of F1 games I'll be playing as part of this challenge I'm doing. This means I don't have much to compare it to. This is also a sim racer, not an arcade one, so it's hard to compare to other racers of 1992 and others for the SNES in general, like F-Zero for example. But it can easily be compared in terms of graphics and music/sound, and in both these cateogries, F1 Pole Position is not good.
Graphically, there is little detail to environments and backgrounds, and the sprites of the cars don't look good either. Additionally, the sense of scale on the enemy cars is seemingly random. When they show up, they'll start small, then look gigantic all of a sudden, then look appropriate, then tiny, then gigantic, then appropriate in size again. It's odd.
There isn't much music here, just a few tunes to have you entertained when scrolling the menus. The sound of the engines is what you will hear mainly, and it sounds pretty bad.
What does this game offer in terms of content? Quite a few things actually. There are 16 maps total and a Grand Prix mode to go through them. You can also battle as many drivers individually as you want in singular races, and do practice runs. There is also a whole lot of customization you can do to one of many cars you can select. Choose if gear should be shifted manually or automatically, whether you need slick or rain tires, what kind of gear you want (short gear ratios mean faster accel but lower max speed and vice versa) and you can adjust your brake level from soft all the way to hard, among multiple other options. Pretty nice.
During races, there is additional strategy involved, as you need to watch 5 indicators. WIN shows if a wing is damaged, which would reduce speed. TIR is about wear on your tires. SUS is about your car suspension, which can reduce traction. BRA goes down the more you use your brakes and reduces effectiveness. GER reduces your control of the car, if your gear box gets damaged. You can reset these meters through pit stops. So careful driving and well-timed use of pit stops is pretty important to do well.
The controls are fine, you will have seen worse and better. The fact that this is a sim racer means the devs try to make controls more grounded, with which they've done an OK job. My biggest gripe was you hitting other cars or getting hit from the back yourself, which puts you, and only you, in a spinning animation, sometimes even leading you off-track. That seemed pretty annoying considering controls are not tight enough to avoid these most of the time.
All in all, I don't think many people are looking for sim racers of the early 90s to play, so this is skippable, but a serviceable game for its time. F1 fans will have had fun with it, but will be better served with later racing games than this.
(I played this as part of my challenge to go through notable video games in chronological order starting in 1990.)