Star Wars Episode I: Racer
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| Released on May 18, 1999 for the Nintendo 64 by LucasArts, Star Wars Episode 1: Racer features incredibly fast podracing action through 64-bit 3D worlds |
While I am very good at the platformer video game genre and pretty good at video games overall, the fighting genre and particularly the racing genre are huge weaknesses of mine. Give me the hardest Hollow Knight level imaginable, send me into Castle Dracula, shoot me out of a barrel into any Donkey Kong Country level, pipe me into world eight in Super Mario Bros. and I'll get you to the end credits in no time. Ask me to complete any racing or fighting game on any difficulty above medium though, and you better invest in a dozen new controllers and the best earplugs you can find. I am just not good at those types of games, and thus, despite my great interest in the 1999 film, Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, I never even thought about giving Star Wars Episode 1: Racer the time of day...until now. For the 25th anniversary, I've given Episode 1: Racer my grandest attempt...and to no surprise, I am not very good at it. However, I can still give an objective opinion.
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| How about a menu? That's a good trick! |
Thankfully, this game conjures the movie's vibes immediately, with a slick opening cutscene and a glorious 64-bit version of John Williams' "Duel of the Fates." The opening menu offer several game modes, but the obvious selection is TOURNAMENT. Once the player clicks this mode, the immersion begins, as classic Star Wars camera tricks lead the way to the interior of Watto's shop, following one of the film's adorable pit droids. At this point, the player can start their game, selecting from essentially all of the racers from the film, including Anakin Skywalker, but not including Sebulba, who must be earned. This whole section of the game looks great and already felt nostalgic when the game was released, even more so now. Then, the racing begins.
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| I feel the need... |
The podracers in George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace are fast, and it's immediately clear after just a few seconds of gameplay that speed is the main feeling that Lucasarts is going for here. The tracks, from deserts, to icy plains, to rolling hills, to alien cityscapes, are graphically simplistic and feature fog far off in the distance. The reason for this is clear: Lucasarts wants this game to run as smoothly and quickly as possible...and it does.
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| "Tunnel of Love" by Dire Straits is a very underrated song |
Think F-Zero X in Star Wars, and you're on the right trail, however, instead of 30 low-detailed racers, there are a dozen or so highly-detailed ones. The pods look great here, just like in the film, and while, as stated, the tracks don't feature the same level of detail, they certainly don't look bad. The most important facet of this game, though, is that incredible speed, and in this department, the game succeeds best. It really does feel as if the player is driving 700 MPH through an alien landscape, and the framerate never even hiccups. Star Wars Episode 1: Racer, as the developers intended, does indeed run as smoothly and quickly as possible.
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| Again, the detail on the pods themselves is great...and I love the magenta glow of the power coupling! |
But what about the gameplay? The pods here control well, though some pods control better than others (and how a pod controls can later be upgraded). Due to the high speed, players need catlike reflexes not to crash, and the controls are responsive enough to ensure that doesn't happen often, unless you're awful at racing games like I am. Thankfully, a crash (and an exploded podracer) just results in the player being placed back onto the track, though precious seconds are lost in the process...so don't crash. Like most well-designed racing games, turns get tighter and spaces get narrower as the player gets to the more difficult tracks. Generally, a player has to place in the top four of a race to advance in a tournament, and thankfully, there are several tournaments, featuring many races, even if certain planets are repeated, and some of the tracks aren't incredibly distinct.
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| Probably better that the tracks aren't more distinctive. Don't want to get distracted WHEN YOU'RE GOING THIS FAST! |
Racer features several distinct elements. For instance, when the player has built up speed on a track, they can fire off their afterburner and reach incredible speeds, though using the afterburner for too long will cause the engines to overheat. The player can also repair their pod mid-race, though doing so will cause the pod to slow down. There aren't any items to pick up on the tracks for assistance, and while one would think this game would veer more into an arcade playing style given the fact that it eventually became an arcade game, for better or worse, this feels far more like a simulation style racing game.
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| I wish I could simulate being good at racing games |
For "better" means that between tracks, the player can take money that they've earned from placing in a race and use it to upgrade their podracer, either at Watto's expensive shop, or at Watto's less expensive, but also less reliable junkyard. This is an incredibly cool feature. It's like Star Wars Gran Turismo, as there are many facets of the podracer that can be upgraded. Unfortunately, there's a "worse" here, one that makes the latter portions of the game less accessible. First of all, beating the more difficult races takes incredible skill, and you'll want to upgrade your pod as much as possible.
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| Nothing like a rainy day at the beach |
Unfortunately, if you haven't optimized your upgrading and have run out of money, you're essentially stuck, as money can't be earned by winning previous races. You can only earn cash to upgrade by winning a race you haven't yet won, and unfortunately, it will likely be incredibly difficult to win that particular race you're stuck on when you can't upgrade. It's a maddening catch-22, that will likely either have the player completely starting their game over, or just giving up in frustration. I personally hit a few walls, but after much effort was generally able to progress through these situations...until I wasn't.
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| Hey Watto, can't you just give me this junk for free?! |
Up until that breaking point (I guess if you're really good at racing games, you'll never hit that point), Racer is great fun. The sound design is wonderful, as the pods and the racers' voices sound exactly like they do in the film. The thrum of engines and foes' frantic yelling when you ram or pass them enhance the game's thrilling sense of speed. Music is fairly minimal outside of the menus, but this matches the podrace scene in the film, as music doesn't appear until the final lap of a race, just like in The Phantom Menace. The previously mentioned immersion factor is very good, at least until the frustration begins, though thankfully, even for this lousy racer, that wasn't until many hours into the game. So while Star Wars Episode 1: Racer isn't perfect, it is a worthy entry in the Nintendo 64's brilliant Star Wars catalogue, and a great piece of movie tie-in memorabilia that has stood the test of time.
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| (Heavy-handed sands of time metaphor) |
I'll also mention in this near postscript that there is a split-screen multiplayer mode. This isn't as exciting as the single-player tournament, unless you need a good laugh, and decide to race against me. The game also features free play and time attack modes, but finishing races in those modes doesn't give the player any money (and in tournament mode, the player can retry a race as many times as they please, anyway).
SCORE BREAKDOWN
Music and Sound: 8.0/10 -- Sound effects get the blood pumping, and music, while minimal, is straight from the film and effective.
Gameplay: 8.0/10 -- Blazing fast and fun racing, with excellent pod customization options, but eventually crashes into a wall of high difficulty.
Lasting Value: 8.0/10 -- Many tracks to master and racers to customize, though the frustrating difficulty sets an end date on replay value.
Final Score (Not an Average): 8.0/10
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