F1 23 is on Game Pass now, so play one of the best sports game story modes

18.01.2024 - 21:49 / polygon.com

Story modes in sports games have had a long-standing problem. Scripted narratives clash with the “anything can happen” nature of sports, which means what happens in the actual games can be in direct opposition to what happens in the narrative.

Maybe you’re a rookie in NBA 2K24 scoring 60 points a game, breaking all expectations for what a first-year player can achieve, but the cutscenes between games are still about you looking to make a name for yourself (or trying to carve out a second career as a DJ, for some reason). Maybe you’re a quarterback in over your head in Madden NFL 24, throwing an unprecedented 20 interceptions a game — there won’t be a peep about that mortifying record from the talking heads or from your coach (beyond a rote “Don’t do that or you might be benched”).

This conflict, between the abundant possibilities in sports games and the limits of their scripted narratives, has been neatly sidestepped by EA Sports’ and Codemasters’ F1 series through the Braking Point game mode. Braking Point, which appeared in F1 21, broke new ground for story modes in sports games, and F1 23’s Braking Point 2 took that even further. F1 23 is now available for Game Pass Ultimate subscribers through EA Play, and if you’re a fan of sports games, racing games, or real-life F1, you owe it to yourself to give Braking Point 2 a spin. Both Braking Point campaigns excel by being character-driven, and by giving you scenarios to complete rather than an open road on which anything is possible.

Most story modes in sports games allow you to create and fully customize your own player. Sure, this allows you to see yourself in the game, which can be quite fun, but it limits the storytelling potential, since the game can’t possibly account for the stats or traits of every single player’s avatar. Braking Point instead adds a small roster of characters to the real-life world of Formula 1 and gives them goals, dreams, and personality quirks.

In the first Braking Point, you start as Aiden Jackson, an ambitious young British driver paired on a team with Casper Akkerman, a stoic veteran Dutch driver nearing the end of his career. The two clash as they vie for supremacy within the team rather than working with each other — and the game smartly switches perspectives halfway through, as you see Akkerman’s side of things after becoming fully embedded in Jackson’s point of view. Meanwhile, the smarmy Devon Butler hangs over the proceedings as the game’s antagonist, starting rumors in the paddock and generally being punchable. (It’s a real rarity for a sports game’s story mode to have an actual villain.)

The second Braking Point continues where the first one left off, with (spoilers) Akkerman retired and Jackson looking to