This game is pretty good. Not fantastic, but pretty good.
First, the good:
First, the core racing mechanics are a lot of fun. It's apparent that the developers really understood what made podracing so exciting in the film, and they've translated that excitement well. The racers are fast, the boost and repair mechanics are great ideas implemented well, and while it clearly borrows a lot from the F-Zero series, it never actually feels like it's copying F-Zero.
I've also gotta give bonus points for it performing surprisingly well on N64 despite having super detailed graphics. This is one of the best-looking games I've seen on the platform, and while it doesn't get great framerates, it does manage serviceable framerates (at least by N64 standards) for the most part.
Now, the not-so-good:
The controls in this game are frankly weird. It's not entirely the game's fault, since the N64 controller simply isn't well-suited for what this game is trying to do, but it presents problems nonetheless. Chief among them, you can rotate your podracer 90 degrees with the C-left and -right buttons. This is basically required to get past some obstacles. Unfortunately, unless you're using some sort of really weird claw grip, it's basically impossible to tilt and accelerate (A) at the same time.
Worse, the game doesn't actually tell you this. Even the instruction booklet doesn't mention this in the controls section; it's tucked away in a "Tips for Success" section near the back. In fact, the game doesn't tell you much of anything at all about how to play it. Some of it can be intuited, but a lot of the controls aren't actually useful until certain points in the game (such as Z to drift), so they're very easy to miss even if you diligently test the controls when you start playing. It's a built-in handicap if you don't both have and read the instruction booklet.
The boost mechanic is really cool, but super awkward to use. You have to hold Up on the control stick while driving at top speed to charge boost, let go of A, and then immediately press and hold it again to activate boost mode. This makes it physically impossible to prepare in areas where there are a lot of curves, as steering too hard (which you will need to do) cancels your boost charge. In many cases, by the time you have a chance to fully charge it, it's not safe to activate anymore. Not the worst, but it does make it feel like maybe the track designers and the game mechanic designers weren't entirely communicating.
Some sections of tracks have a more cinematic camera, and the game plays a little more on-rails. This would be fine, but when the camera is doing a barrel roll and you still have to dodge moving obstacles, it can feel borderline unfair. The camera in a game generally shouldn't itself be an obstacle.
That's it for the not-so-good, now here's the downright baffling:
There are four shops in the game that you can visit between races, and three of them serve very similar purposes. One lets you buy parts, one lets you upgrade parts, one lets you buy used parts that are worse for cheaper, and all three are run by Watto. The last shop (possibly also Watto? I couldn't tell) is the only one that felt meaningfully distinct; it lets you buy pit droids, which help you repair your podracer faster. None of this is necessarily bad, but really, all four could've been combined into one and it would've been fine.
The shops also won't show prices (or your own current funds) until you try to buy something. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it gets really tedious if you want to be optimal about your purchases. Just picture it: You visit a shop, select each item one-by-one to see the price, leave, repeat for two more shops. It's time consuming, and really requires a notepad by your side if you wanna do it right. My recommendation is just buy the first thing you can afford and don't even bother trying to be optimal.
The menus are just all out of order. You have to select a game mode (choices are Tournament, Free Play, Time Attack, 2 Player), a racer, and a track before you can get to the options screen to control things like music and sound volume. It works just fine, but it's super weird.
So that's it. Reading this might give the impression I didn't like this game. I certainly had a lot to complain about.
But here's the thing: As I said at the start, the core racing mechanics are a lot of fun. And boy howdy do I mean that. For all of the issues I had with this game, I still recommend it. The frustrating elements get less and less frustrating the longer you play the game. I had a blast the entire time I was playing, and while I can't in good conscience give this higher than 3.5 stars, those are a very solid 3.5 stars. Despite everything, the actual racing remains fun, and for that I'm willing to cut a lot of slack for some questionable design choices peppered throughout.
First, the good:
First, the core racing mechanics are a lot of fun. It's apparent that the developers really understood what made podracing so exciting in the film, and they've translated that excitement well. The racers are fast, the boost and repair mechanics are great ideas implemented well, and while it clearly borrows a lot from the F-Zero series, it never actually feels like it's copying F-Zero.
I've also gotta give bonus points for it performing surprisingly well on N64 despite having super detailed graphics. This is one of the best-looking games I've seen on the platform, and while it doesn't get great framerates, it does manage serviceable framerates (at least by N64 standards) for the most part.
Now, the not-so-good:
The controls in this game are frankly weird. It's not entirely the game's fault, since the N64 controller simply isn't well-suited for what this game is trying to do, but it presents problems nonetheless. Chief among them, you can rotate your podracer 90 degrees with the C-left and -right buttons. This is basically required to get past some obstacles. Unfortunately, unless you're using some sort of really weird claw grip, it's basically impossible to tilt and accelerate (A) at the same time.
Worse, the game doesn't actually tell you this. Even the instruction booklet doesn't mention this in the controls section; it's tucked away in a "Tips for Success" section near the back. In fact, the game doesn't tell you much of anything at all about how to play it. Some of it can be intuited, but a lot of the controls aren't actually useful until certain points in the game (such as Z to drift), so they're very easy to miss even if you diligently test the controls when you start playing. It's a built-in handicap if you don't both have and read the instruction booklet.
The boost mechanic is really cool, but super awkward to use. You have to hold Up on the control stick while driving at top speed to charge boost, let go of A, and then immediately press and hold it again to activate boost mode. This makes it physically impossible to prepare in areas where there are a lot of curves, as steering too hard (which you will need to do) cancels your boost charge. In many cases, by the time you have a chance to fully charge it, it's not safe to activate anymore. Not the worst, but it does make it feel like maybe the track designers and the game mechanic designers weren't entirely communicating.
Some sections of tracks have a more cinematic camera, and the game plays a little more on-rails. This would be fine, but when the camera is doing a barrel roll and you still have to dodge moving obstacles, it can feel borderline unfair. The camera in a game generally shouldn't itself be an obstacle.
That's it for the not-so-good, now here's the downright baffling:
There are four shops in the game that you can visit between races, and three of them serve very similar purposes. One lets you buy parts, one lets you upgrade parts, one lets you buy used parts that are worse for cheaper, and all three are run by Watto. The last shop (possibly also Watto? I couldn't tell) is the only one that felt meaningfully distinct; it lets you buy pit droids, which help you repair your podracer faster. None of this is necessarily bad, but really, all four could've been combined into one and it would've been fine.
The shops also won't show prices (or your own current funds) until you try to buy something. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it gets really tedious if you want to be optimal about your purchases. Just picture it: You visit a shop, select each item one-by-one to see the price, leave, repeat for two more shops. It's time consuming, and really requires a notepad by your side if you wanna do it right. My recommendation is just buy the first thing you can afford and don't even bother trying to be optimal.
The menus are just all out of order. You have to select a game mode (choices are Tournament, Free Play, Time Attack, 2 Player), a racer, and a track before you can get to the options screen to control things like music and sound volume. It works just fine, but it's super weird.
So that's it. Reading this might give the impression I didn't like this game. I certainly had a lot to complain about.
But here's the thing: As I said at the start, the core racing mechanics are a lot of fun. And boy howdy do I mean that. For all of the issues I had with this game, I still recommend it. The frustrating elements get less and less frustrating the longer you play the game. I had a blast the entire time I was playing, and while I can't in good conscience give this higher than 3.5 stars, those are a very solid 3.5 stars. Despite everything, the actual racing remains fun, and for that I'm willing to cut a lot of slack for some questionable design choices peppered throughout.