I love reviewing EA games. Here's why: F1 2002 is gorgeous where it needs to be. Every major car manufacturer is represented in splendid detail, from Ferrari to the new Toyota. Even the super sweet gold color of the American Honda team is here. All pretty, all shiny, all the time. You're thinking to yourself, 'I wonder if any of the tracks are represented well?' All 17 F1-sanctioned tracks are here, including the rip-roaring Indianapolis track. The grass outlining the track is so lush, it's inviting. Of course, running into the grass at 200 mph is not a good thing. If by chance you do hit the grass, you will leave a perfect rut. Something to, let's say, plant flowers in. There are also parts of the tracks (like in real life) that have gravel and hard, pebbly stuff. If your wheels happen to touch the gravel, kiss your tires goodbye. They shred beautifully, and the best you can do is limp in the pit stop. The pit stop is wonderfully done, with crews frantically trying to shave seconds off of your overall stop. The cars are easy to tell apart, and I can appreciate that when I need to locate my teammate. The damage to the F1 cars is absolutely great with your nose flying off, steering going out, dents the size of Texas in your body. All in all, great attention was paid to the racing, and to the cars. Perhaps the only complaint I have is that the crowds were lame looking; a myriad of monotony as colors are repeated, and they look more like LEGO people than rabid race fans. I don't mind LEGOS that much, because I used to build big castles and mean spaceships out of them.

The sound is as good as you're going to get. Music is perfect; sound effects are perfect, even that woman yelling is perfect - wait that's my wife. The music is absolutely brilliant for a racing game. With artists like Apollo Four Forty and Toy, you get a soundtrack with wonderful techno artists. The beats are thick and provide ample ground to take off from. Layered on top of the venerable music are the different sounds of each maker's engines. Just like the real F1 stuff, you can bet your bananas that you'll be able to distinguish Ferrari's sound from anything. Also, the new Renault team had some brutal sounding engines. The crowd roar is appropriate, and adds the 'r' in realism. Overall, F1 2002 is a real treat for the senses, especially since EA Sports really tried to make the game 'prettier' than last year.

I would like to add a part that maybe should have gone in the graphics section. There are four different camera angles in F1 2002. The best one by far is the cockpit view. Your driver reacts to whatever is happening on the track which enhances gameplay through the roof! He shakes his fist when someone passes him, or throws his arms in the air when he spins out. It's a small, but pivotal thing that makes F1 2002 that much more fun to play. All your racing modes are here. Quick Race Mode will let you jump right into a race. Challenge Mode has you trying different challenges, which will gain you an EA Sports Card for the team that you won Challenge Mode with. There is also the crme de la crme in Grand Prix Mode. This is where you drive for a whole season, and you have to win the F1 championship. Hint: pick any Ferrari car, and it's in the bag. Things like Race Length, Difficulty, Fuel Use, etc can be tweaked. To be honest, anything associated with F1 racing, under the Formula One sun can be tweaked or turned on and off. There is also a Custom Championship Mode that lets you pick all the circuits and race laps for a particular 'championship.' This is good fun, if you think 17 tracks are too long, or anything along those lines. There is also a team duel you can do in Grand Prix that has you pitted against your teammate. You don't work together on team duel, but actually try to beat your teammate. Mulitplayer gives you a split screen, and lets you do things like the Time Challenge Mode. Are you better than your friend? Only time will tell! There is a Tag Team Mode that has individual team members racing against other individual team members. Finally there's Full Season Mode (multiplayer) that had you and a friend gunning for a championship, against each other. Unless you're on the same team, then someone will have to be the demolisher, while the other teammate speeds through the freshly made path. Yes, I tried this, and yes it was fun.

F1 2002 can be extremely difficult if you want it to be. Before each race, you have the opportunity to define how Easy, Medium or Hard you want it. There is also a braking assistant that will help you slow down if you're not too good at all this F1 hoopla. You can choose whether you want an assisted pit stop (set this to 'yes' for the first hundred times you race) and how much fuel and tire wear exist. The difficulty all depends on what manufacturer and driver you choose as well. For instance, if you pick Ferrari, and put the game on Easy, then chances are you'll beat it in a day. If you pick a different manufacturer, and put the game on all its hardest settings, then you'll probably want to pull your hair out and become a fashion designer. So all the difficulty range is here. I tried to find a happy balance to where I could win the race, but not without a lot of effort and minimal mistakes. The controls are very good for F1 2002 especially since you need tight controls for such a quick-paced game. They are very responsive and don't add to the difficulty.

The load times are really short, especially for an EA game. EA puts so much detail into a game that sometimes the load times suffer. The manual is a breeze to read and answers a lot of questions seeing that racing games with this much detail generate more than a few inquiries with car setup, etc. The controls are top notch, and help keep things from getting frustrating.

Riot Rundown: I really like racing, and I believe this is a great game. I do think that it might be geared towards F1 or strictly racing fans, though. There's not a lot here for casual gamers to get into. There's no 'create-a-car,' or 'create-a-driver' for that matter. It really is a game of skill as any mistake will put you out of the race, just like a real F1 race. So I would buy this game if I were a huge fan of F1 or a hard-core racing fan. If not, I would rent it first. It may or may not be your speed.