Latest news with #Codemasters
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
F1 25 Review: Play as Brad Pitt's Sonny Hayes in Video Game
Codemasters' F1 series is one of video gaming's most consistent franchises as its delivered thrilling simulation racing for well over a decade at this point. This year's release features some great under the hood upgrades graphically, additional options to the career mode, and a great crossover with the F1 movie. It all gels to create a great racing game that is filled with modes and features to keep Formula One fans busy. The core racing has always been the series' strong suit and it remains as such this year. There's a particular buzz that comes with overtaking an opponent around a turn, carefully navigating the space between success and a crash. The sense of speed is as good as ever, with some visual upgrades making the cars look better than ever as you .(hopefully) speed past them. With plenty of difficulty settings and sliders, you can make sure you're having fulfilling action on the track across the game's many modes. One of the coolest additions to F1 25 is the game's implementation of the upcoming F1 movie starring Brad Pitt. First off, both the APXGP and its drivers (Pitt and Damson Idris' characters) are available in both Driver Career and My Team modes. Additionally, there are scenarios from the film that players can relive. Currently, only one is available (more will be coming on June 30 once the film is out), where you play as Pitt's Sonny Hayes and try to match the time of Idris' Joshua Pearce, but it's presented really well as it blends movie footage to set it up before transitioning into the racing gameplay. I always love challenge modes in sports games, and I can't wait to do the rest of the challenges next month. If you enjoy the taste of off-track drama in the F1 movie mode, then you'll be glad to know that the story-based Braking Point mode returns for a third time. It picks up from last year's story — although it introduces itself well, so you won't be totally lost if you're new — and you'll have the option to race as either Callie Mayer or Aiden Jackson. I've always gotten a kick out of the mode (and wish more sports games would have narrative modes), and what's nice about this year's addition is that after you've finished the story, you can take the team into Career Mode to continue it if you wish. As a yearly release, the game is naturally iterative (as it should be with such a strong base), but there are a number of other additions. New advancements in F1 25 include five rebuilt tracks (Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka, and Imola) that look fantastic. You can also race around three tracks in reverse layouts, as well, so there's more variety than ever before. A lot of other nice touches, such as better facial animations and a much better decal editor, make it a better visual spectacle both on the track and during cutscenes as well. Codemasters has done it yet again as F1 25 is a fantastic offering with plenty of modes and gripping racing. I can't wait to see more of the F1 movie implementation as I love what's already in the game, and Braking Point is yet again a solid story mode. You can never go wrong with the F1 games, and F1 25 builds on the series' strong past to provide the best one yet. As ComingSoon's review policy explains, a score of 8.5 equates to 'Great.' While there are a few minor issues, this score means that the art succeeds at its goal and leaves a memorable impact. Disclosure: The publisher provided a PlayStation 5 copy for our F1 25 review. The post F1 25 Review: Play as Brad Pitt's Sonny Hayes in Video Game appeared first on - Movie Trailers, TV & Streaming News, and More.
Top Gear
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Top Gear
Endurance Motorsport Series preview: why hasn't anyone thought of this before?
Gaming Playing as driver and mechanic in online co-op? Brilliant Skip 5 photos in the image carousel and continue reading In this present chapter of the games industry, in which it's rare enough to play a game that hasn't been preceded by at least nine sequels or released twice already before its current remastered form, new ideas are thin on the ground. But the developers at KT Racing have evidently had their thinking caps on lately. Endurance Motorsport Series is a strikingly generic name for a strikingly bold, fresh racing game. In the simplest terms, you get to be the driver, the strategist and the race engineer all at once. Or stick to one role and play in co-op with your mates occupying the other roles. Advertisement - Page continues below It's as simple as that, and yet nobody's really tried this before. The line between motorsport management and racing sim has always been kept crisp and clear, and other than the Codemasters F1 series letting you run a team off the track and then drive the car at race weekends, no one has dared to step across it. Hypercars, LMP2 and GT vehicles are all on the roster here, as are a mix of real-world tracks like Spa with some supermarket own-brand fictional circuits inspired by the circuits who evidently wouldn't sign the license agreements. We're not talking Gran Turismo 7 -levels of encyclopaedic rigour, then, but that's not really what EMS is going for. You might like As we quickly discover on track at The Green Hell, the handling has a simcade character rather than an all-out simulation. KT Racing wants this to be equally compelling for direct drive wheel users and racers who like to sit back on the sofa with a gamepad in their hands, and that's a smart place to pitch the accessibility level considering there's a co-op element, which means selling the game hard like Jordan Belfort to your gaming buddies in Discord. Lower barrier for entry equals greater likelihood of getting friends involved. Oddly enough, though, it ends up being more compelling with a wheel than a controller. It takes some time to figure out that you can brake much later than when the reasoning gland in your brain starts yelling at you, and even a shade after the 'seriously, brake now' cortex chimes in. Advertisement - Page continues below You've got so much more stopping power and lateral agility than the cars in Assetto Corsa Competizione or iRacing give you, which means half the challenge is finding where the new limit is. And the analogue inputs of a wheel and pedal make that a bit easier to feel your way into than the sharper stick waggles and trigger squeezes of a gamepad. In third-person cam and using a controller, it's clear there's a bit of fine-tuning still to be done on the handling before EMS releases later in 2025. Specifically, the relationship between camera movement and turn-in rate – it's tricky at present to judge how much grip you've got, and the strange understeer-oversteer-understeer phases we experienced through Spa's corners (admittedly, in the wet) felt short of convincing. However: switching between driver and engineer is just as gratifying as it sounds. With one button tap, you're out of the car and watching several data readout screens from the pitwall. Here you're given all the information to analyse the best pit window, the optimum tyre compound, and where the clear air is on track when you exit the pits. It's enjoyable enough to play both roles, but the prospect of playing as a duo and having each co-op teammate committed to their role is genuinely exciting. Because it's genuinely new. We need to shout about these risk-taking games from the rooftops in 2025, because there aren't nearly enough of them. So keep doing what you're doing, EMS . Please make it an easy sales pitch when we get onto Discord and try convincing our mates to join us. Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter. Look out for your regular round-up of news, reviews and offers in your inbox. Get all the latest news, reviews and exclusives, direct to your inbox. Endurance Motorsport Series is due later in 2025.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Major Racing Series Officially on Hiatus, Future Uncertain
Electronic Arts has put one of the longest running racing game series on hold, leaving its future uncertain. , which turns 24 years in November 2025, is 'pausing' development on future titles with immediate effect. Its developer, Codemasters, has since had its official X account pulled. EA Sports became WRC publisher in 2023 following its purchase of Codemasters in 2021. Recently, the publisher announced approximately 300 job cuts across the company, but Codemasters wasn't mentioned in the announcement. Now, Codemasters X account has disappeared. The studio, which was founded in October 1986, has been in operation for 38 years. 'Every great journey eventually finds its finish line, and today, we announce that we've reached the end of the road working on WRC,' EA wrote. 'After releasing EA Sports WRC in 2023, the 2024 season, including the recently released Hard Chargers Content pack, will be our last expansion. For now, we are pausing development plans on future rally titles.' EA reassured fans that EA Sports WRC will continue to be playable for existing and new players. How long that will last is anybody's guess, however. As for Codemasters, EA hasn't said what's next for the studio. Its fate remains unclear. The post Major Racing Series Officially on Hiatus, Future Uncertain appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
EA Looking to Shut Down Long-Running Studio
It seems isn't done closing down some of its studios. A new report suggests the long-running racing developer may be next on the chopping block. Video game insider eXtas1s recently claimed the developer of games like Grid, Colin McRae Rally, Dirt, and most recently F1 25, will shut its doors. Those impacted will be put on the next F1 game or a new Need for Speed game currently in development. Additionally, the insider learned that there are about 400 'more' layoffs at EA. 'The cancellation of Black Panther will NOT be the only thing,' said eXtas1s. 'I have been able to learn that there are about 400 more layoffs coming up at EA, a total CLOSURE of the main headquarters of Codemasters and that these developers will be integrated into EA Sp (F1) and a new Need For Speed that is already in development.' EA recently closed Cliffhanger Games and cancelled its Black Panther game. According to an email from EA Entertainment president Laura Miele, this decision was to 'sharpen our focus and put our creative energy behind the most significant growth opportunities.' 'These decisions are hard,' Miele wrote. 'They affect people we've worked with, learned from, and shared real moments with. We're doing everything we can to support them — including finding opportunities within EA, where we've had success helping people land in new roles.' The status of Codemasters has been up in the air since EA paused development on future World Rally Championship titles. Around that announcement, the official Codemasters X account was pulled. While all signs are pointing to Codemasters getting shut down, EA has yet to officially confirm the closure. (Source: eXtas1s via Nintendo Life) The post EA Looking to Shut Down Long-Running Studio – Report appeared first on PlayStation LifeStyle.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Perfectly recreated FI cars gliding around perfect recreations of F1 tracks...AND Brad Pitt? Now that's what I call a formula for success!
F1 25 (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £69.99) Rating: It's not EA FC, the game formally known as Fifa. It's not the NBA series either. It's not even my beloved Rocket League. No, the best sports-simulation game is always Codemasters' latest F1 release, and that's been the case for some years now. Why? It's mostly in that word simulation. Here are perfect recreations of Formula 1 cars gliding around perfect recreations of Formula 1 tracks. If you're a disaster on four wheels, like me, you can make everything - every detail of the vehicle's handling and performance - as forgiving as you want. If you're rather more talented, you can ramp up the difficulty until the experience is practically real. There's a reason why actual F1 drivers, such as Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, play these games in their downtime. Now they - and we - have another one to play: F1 25. It is an improvement on F1 24, which basically makes it great by default. I mean, you even get to play as Brad Pitt! There's an enjoyable challenge based on the upcoming F1 movie, with more to come after that movie's release. And, of course, after a year's gap, there's the very welcome return of Braking Point, the narrative mode that builds a soap opera around the racing. The continuing story of Aidan Jackson, Callie Mayer and all our other favourite fictional drivers is surprisingly affecting. The only disappointment? As tends to happen with this sort of annual release, it can all feel more repetitive than revolutionary. It doesn't help that many of this year's improvements are micro-adjustments to car physics and track geography that only the pros will notice. Still, iterating on the best sports-simulation game there is still leaves you with the best sports-simulation game there is. Add in Brad Pitt too, and F1 25 takes the checkered flag. The Siege And The Sandfox (PC, £11.99) Rating: Let's take some familiar ingredients from the cupboard. First, the explorative, bouncy platforming from series such as Castlevania and Prince Of Persia. Then the stealthy mechanics of, say, the Thief and Commandos games. Add a dash of retro pixellated graphics. Now stir it all together, The result isn't something entirely novel, but it is quite different and kind of tasty. It's The Siege And The Sandfox, a platformer that has you sneaking through the shadows and avoiding any baddies you come across. But who are you? The Sandfox himself, a hooded assassin who has been framed for the murder of his patron, the king, in an Arabian Nights-esque realm and cast down into the depths of the capital. And who are the baddies? The city's unforgiving guards and the wicked agents of an invading power, most of whom you have to bypass on your way back up to surface — where you plan to dispense some justice. It's a shame that the game shows off almost everything it has to offer - from all the possibilities of its mechanics to its best little quests - in its opening couple of hours The setup and the setting of The Siege And The Sandfox are just two of the many things to admire about it. Its graphics are simple but gorgeous; a tremendous mix of light and dark. And speaking of light and dark, you can extinguish any lamps you come across, so the Sandfox is less visible to his would-be captors - though they can still hear his footsteps if you're not careful. So it's a shame that the game shows off almost everything it has to offer - from all the possibilities of its mechanics to its best little quests - in its opening couple of hours, leaving half a dozen hours that feel rather empty. In fact, it's much like its protagonist in that regard: now you see it... now you don't.
