Star Wars Episode 1 Racer - Review
Back on the Nintendo 64, there were a few games that I really loved playing and one of the was Episode 1 Racer, it not only scratched the Star Wars itch, but it was also a fun racing game, just set in space. Now that the game has been brought to Switch, does this still feel as good as I remember, or has the coupling come loose on this one?
There is no story in the game, instead you are given a series of cups, four to be exact and while three contain a solid seven tracks, the last one and by far the most challenging, only contains four. While you might think the lack of tracks in the last cup, means it will be simple, you could not be more wrong as the game, by that point ramps up the difficulty, quite a bit. Racing in these cups is straight forward, you select your pod racing personality, then the cup you want, with that done, you can start to upgrade your pod, if you have the credits and then jump into the race. This is a game about racing and there are very few barriers between you and that, which is something I enjoy, plus with almost instant load times, you are in quickly.
When Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was released, the pod racing sequence captured the attention of everyone and with the game, it does its best to replicate that experience. Most of the time, you can just hold down the accelerator and go for it, but in the later cups and some of the more complex tracks, there are some times when you need to slow down, or make use of the games many options. Something that not many games offered at the time, though it is a staple now is drifting, or sliding as they call it, simply hold the left trigger down and turn in the direction you want, while you can hold a lot of your speed, it is not something you should do that often. When you combine that, with the ability to flip onto your side, perfect for squeezing through tight gaps and of course, boosting, you can get some serious moves going, which is a good thing.
I say a good thing as some of the tracks can have some narrow paths and some very tight turns, making sure, that by the end at least, that you start to take advantage of all the options you have at your disposal. The tracks take place on a number of worlds, with Tattooine being the one people will likely notice the most, but other locations like Malastare, which is mentioned in the movies, will be new for most. While you won’t see a lot of each planet, due to moving at high speeds, each world does have its own look and feel, like Oovo IV, which is more prison in nature, but also contains a wicked anti-gravity section. While the tracks do contain the occasional tight turn, most of the time it is sweeping turns and long straights, something you can see on the map screen before each race. While there are only 8 planets, there is enough variety on each, that the tracks all feel different, even if they don’t look it at times.
The other big system in play here is that of the upgrading of pods, because at the end of each race, if you place high enough, you earn money or Truguts, because Republic Credits are no-good in the outer rim. If you have the cash to spend, you can head into Watto’s shop and purchase new parts for your pod, to increase top speed, grip to the tracks, cooling, repair speed and more. If you are on the poorer side of things, you can head to the junkyard and see what second hand parts are available, the good news is that Watto will take your old parts from you and depending on the level they are, give you more of a discount on whatever part you are buying in its place. The upgrades are only per pod, so if you swap over to another pod after two cups, you have to upgrade that one from scratch, so make sure you have the money to spend, of course, there is no requirement to change to a different pod, you just have the option.
There are a few issues with the game though, namely with the freeplay option and how it is not free, not that it costs Truguts to play or anything, but that nothing is unlocked there, until you have unlocked it first. Given that this is a port of a game that first released over 21 years ago, having to go through the motions of unlocking course, no matter how simple the tasks are, is just a pain. The other issue is with the controls, or the lack of explanation on the controls, you see the game offers up two different control modes, classic, like the original release or racing a more modern style. While the racing style is a lot better than classic, the game does not give you any indication of the controls are, so if you jump into a race, you might not realise that break is not on the trigger, which might cause you to crash in a giant fireball. If you want to discover the controls, you have to navigate back to the main menu, then into options, the controls, just to see what they are, plus it is on the main menu where you can change them, so if you are halfway through a race and you want to swap, you are out of luck.
Now with regards to the presentation, this needs to be said here, this is not a remaster, nor a remake, it is a port, meaning almost no work has been done to the visuals, save from touch ups. So while things look cleaner than they did on any of the other releases, including the Dreamcast and PC versions, they are still the same textures, just cleaned up. This is evident when you notice that almost all the tracks have some level of fog on the course and it always remains a set distance from your pod, moving as you do. This would not be so bad, if the game were using the fog to load in the background assets, but the fog often moves faster than the asset loading, which gives you a lot of pop in. Now the good news is that this is never on the track, only the background elements, the downside is that sometimes the pops are so noticeable, you can easily lose attention on the race, to see what just popped in, which can easily result in a crash. The first screens that were released showed a lot of pixilation in the textures, which I am glad to say is not here, just a lot of pop in effects, even the games pre-rendered visuals, which introduce the planets look good, though they are very dated.
The audio side of things is a little harder to explain, as one of the biggest appeals in the movie was that there was no score, until the final lap when things started to heat up. Now when some tracks can take almost 2 minutes to get around, this is not a good thing, the problem is that a lot of the score is taken from other films, not created for the game. 21 years ago, this might not have been a problem, as Duel of the Fates, the big piece from Episode 1, was a very popular song, since then though, hearing a song that is about duelling sides, when you are taking sweeping turns in dark and hearing a grand score, just doesn’t match. The other issue is that the voice work, which is still solid, is stuck on the sound effects track, meaning if you want to raise that up, so you can hear the commentary by returning movie actors Greg Proops and Scott Capurro, you are out luck. As long as you lower the music volume though, you will get to hear some nice sounds, just a shame they are still stuck together.
Overall, those who have played the game before knowing exactly what they are getting and if you are new to the series, welcome and enjoy. Star Wars Episode 1 Racer is a solid racing game, that sadly never got a proper sequel (yes, I am ignoring the one that was released). It offers grand tracks that are meaty enough to take more than 2 minutes to complete multiple laps, but also short enough that it does not take an hour to complete them. The cups you enter are filled with tracks that will test your skills and as long as you keep your pod upgraded with new parts, you shouldn’t have an issue staving off the opposing racers. The biggest letdown is the fact that very little was done to improve things across the board, the text in races is very pixelated, racer faces are more triangle than anything else and there is a lot of pop in. What is here is a solid racer, with some rough edges and while still fun to play, I just wish they took the time to do more with it.
The Score
8.0
The Pros
+Plays just as smooth, if not more so, than it did on the original Nintendo 64 release
+Plenty of characters to unlock and upgrades to buy, means plenty of reasons to come back
The Cons
+Visuals are clean, but have lots of issues and only serve to highlight the port
+Not all the tracks are unlocked from the outset, which is odd given the games age
