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Mike Bantick14 Feb 2014
FEATURE

Game Review: Formula Legend

The best things in life are free. Here's a great little game to fill those moments in between the things you should be doing

Fancy yourself as a F1 manager? Formula Legend might warrant a closer look on iOS where such fantasies can be experienced at a mild level.

Formula Legend asks you to name a driver to be taken through a F1 career that you manage.

It is all non-licensed, so instead of the usual driver and team names, there are somewhat humorous pseudonyms. Stallion, for instance, is what one assumes to be a famous Italian team with red race-cars.

The core of the game is a management simulation, and prior to race day you, as the manager, must prepare the car/team given the budget available. Money can be spent on upgrading the team engineer for example, which in turn results in better car technology.

Then the race starts, the main screen shows each car's on-track position, the current weather conditions, commentary on the race and lap count.

On this screen is also the main control as a driver manager, which allows you to influence the driver's aggression levels.  Either conserve the car, which saves tyres and fuel, or go hard to gain positions but risk an extra pit stop.
Tyre wear and fuel levels are shown, with some quick maths required on the fly to understand if you have enough fuel to complete the race.

Each lap is a couple of seconds real time, so players must make decisions fairly rapidly, adjusting driving style, selecting when to pit for tyres, and selecting the correct tyre type to adhere to race regulations and produce the best performance in the conditions.

That could be the full game right there and many motorsport and F1 enthusiasts would find it entertaining. However a number mini-games have been incorporated that test the reactions of gamers, and add a little variety beyond the sometimes monotonous management side of things.

As well as reacting to the starting lights and getting a fast getaway (no Mark Webber jokes please), there's a whack-a-mole type pit-stop game, plus some steering exercises that require players to master chicanes and hairpins via quick steering and brake events.

There's also a 'pass the back-markers’ mini-game which is a bit of fun, and keeps things entertaining mid-race.

It would have been nice to include some other aspects of modern day F1 racing, such as KERS and DRS boosts, as well as more variety in the events with breakdowns and bingles somehow incorporated.

Being a 'freemium' game, you can drop $2.99 to unlock some easy in-game cash along with wet-weather conditions to get the rewards flowing faster, but it's still fun without the investment and as a free game is well worth checking out if you're an F1 fan.

Formula Legend is a fun diversion to kill some time waiting for the train, or your prescription to be filled at the pharmacy, or waiting for the police to turn up to a dispute over a backyard fence.

Formula Legend is available now on iOS and Android devices.

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Written byMike Bantick
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