Star Wars Episode 1: Racer might have been the most opportunistic game ever made. It was released in a thriving time for racing games, which were benefiting from 3D environments for the first time on the 5th generation of consoles. It was also a franchise title in an era where franchise titles were not immediately written off, and not only that, but a franchise title for one of the most beloved sci-fi series of all time, which debuted a highly anticipated film the very same day the game launched. Failure-in the market at least-was never an option, and it remains the best-selling sci-fi racing game ever made to this day. Unfortunately, the gameplay never matched the promise of the game's potential, and were it not a Star Wars related media, it would likely have been forgotten to the annals of time. Perhaps it should have been.
One thing you absolutely must give Star Wars Episode 1: Racer credit for is how well it captures speed. Racing feels very fast, and it can take a while to adjust to how quickly you'll come up on turns or breeze past obstacles. The courses are decently detailed with obstacles and objects to sail past, which helps sell the game's blazing speed. Unfortunately, the most detailed course in the world wouldn't impress much in this game; the framerate drags in even the most mundane setting, and if you're unfortunate enough to have a few racers or a couple foreground objects alongside you, performance will suffer greatly for it. SWE1:R is a game that often requires a lot of precise movements or narrow cubbies to maneuver through, and that doesn't work when the game's performance is so questionable. Of course, for most of the tournament mode it won't matter; AI is quite poor throughout, except when it comes to the final levels, where difficulty spikes immensely. It's also totally inconsistent; the same AI racer will finish two identical races dozens of seconds apart for no real reason. A lot of the time, winning the harder races just feels like racing over and over until the AI somehow screws up.
Even without the poor AI, playing through this title is a bit of an undertaking, and it doesn't do itself any favors. Graphics aren't fantastic even for the time, but what's made worse is that so many of the courses are visually dull. The Star Wars franchise has dozens of iconic locations that would be fun to race in from the original trilogy alone, so it's bizarre that so many of these courses feel like "generic mountain" or "generic jungle". Some of them are also far too long; it's not uncommon for a course to have a roughly 3-minute lap, which is far too long for an arcade style racer. And it doesn't help that there's no reliable map to go off of-the one provided is a series of unintelligible dots which convey little information. Pod racers can also be damaged (and repaired) during races, and while it's a nice idea that introduces a bit of a risk/reward factor, its inclusion often does more harm than good. It's difficult to tell when you're going to need to turn and by how much-and the N64's joystick certainly doesn't help-so you'll find your pod racer becoming very familiar with the walls of each race course.
One of the most bizarre decisions involving this title is the soundtrack. During racing, no music will play during the first 2 laps; only upon the final lap does a Star Wars song kick in. It's not the biggest detriment to the quality of the game, but it does feel emblematic of its many shortcomings; just like music only plays during a third of the race, it feels like this game is only a third of what it should be. The multiplayer can be a somewhat fun experience, but seems as the requirement to get any serious enjoyment out of this title in the modern day is to have played it 20 years ago. Currently, it doesn't offer anything to come back to, and is thoroughly outpaced by its contemporaries. In truth, with F-Zero X releasing the previous year, this game was obsolete on arrival, and only its name kept it relevant. How appropriate, then, that Star Wars Episode 1: Racer is a game whose name is just as janky and poorly thought-out as its gameplay is.
One thing you absolutely must give Star Wars Episode 1: Racer credit for is how well it captures speed. Racing feels very fast, and it can take a while to adjust to how quickly you'll come up on turns or breeze past obstacles. The courses are decently detailed with obstacles and objects to sail past, which helps sell the game's blazing speed. Unfortunately, the most detailed course in the world wouldn't impress much in this game; the framerate drags in even the most mundane setting, and if you're unfortunate enough to have a few racers or a couple foreground objects alongside you, performance will suffer greatly for it. SWE1:R is a game that often requires a lot of precise movements or narrow cubbies to maneuver through, and that doesn't work when the game's performance is so questionable. Of course, for most of the tournament mode it won't matter; AI is quite poor throughout, except when it comes to the final levels, where difficulty spikes immensely. It's also totally inconsistent; the same AI racer will finish two identical races dozens of seconds apart for no real reason. A lot of the time, winning the harder races just feels like racing over and over until the AI somehow screws up.
Even without the poor AI, playing through this title is a bit of an undertaking, and it doesn't do itself any favors. Graphics aren't fantastic even for the time, but what's made worse is that so many of the courses are visually dull. The Star Wars franchise has dozens of iconic locations that would be fun to race in from the original trilogy alone, so it's bizarre that so many of these courses feel like "generic mountain" or "generic jungle". Some of them are also far too long; it's not uncommon for a course to have a roughly 3-minute lap, which is far too long for an arcade style racer. And it doesn't help that there's no reliable map to go off of-the one provided is a series of unintelligible dots which convey little information. Pod racers can also be damaged (and repaired) during races, and while it's a nice idea that introduces a bit of a risk/reward factor, its inclusion often does more harm than good. It's difficult to tell when you're going to need to turn and by how much-and the N64's joystick certainly doesn't help-so you'll find your pod racer becoming very familiar with the walls of each race course.
One of the most bizarre decisions involving this title is the soundtrack. During racing, no music will play during the first 2 laps; only upon the final lap does a Star Wars song kick in. It's not the biggest detriment to the quality of the game, but it does feel emblematic of its many shortcomings; just like music only plays during a third of the race, it feels like this game is only a third of what it should be. The multiplayer can be a somewhat fun experience, but seems as the requirement to get any serious enjoyment out of this title in the modern day is to have played it 20 years ago. Currently, it doesn't offer anything to come back to, and is thoroughly outpaced by its contemporaries. In truth, with F-Zero X releasing the previous year, this game was obsolete on arrival, and only its name kept it relevant. How appropriate, then, that Star Wars Episode 1: Racer is a game whose name is just as janky and poorly thought-out as its gameplay is.
Reviewed on Mar 04, 2023