Even people who hate the prequels tend to love the podracing scenes. As much crap as those movies get, I think we can all appreciate how they opened up the door for a lot of fun and exciting avenues for "EU" or, as it's known these days, "Legends" (screw you very much for that Disney) to explore in ways the OT never did. A personal favorite from my childhood, seeing this ported over to more modern hardware does my heart good and getting to revisit it after all these years allowed me to happily realize it's still the absolute banger I remember it as.
What sets Racer apart, aside from the franchise's iconic aesthetic and score (Duel of the Fates plays over the main menu. Epic!), is its unparalleled sense of speed. The game is all about managing impossibly sharp turns and split-second reactions while moving at a rate that would make a certain anthropomorphic blue hedgehog jealous. Except for that stupid endgame race where you unlock Bozzie Baranta which forces you pump the breaks hard at a couple of points to avoid falling down to some lower tracks that will basically spell the end of any chance of victory if not avoided. Buncha Bantha poodoo, that one is.
This is accompanied by some fantastic track design that really tests your ability to remain in control at such an exhilarating pace. Their variety is also seriously impressive. You'll revisit the same handful of planets over and over again, so you'll have to watch their opening cutscenes multiple times, but the courses themselves always shake things up with big alterations or entirely new elements that ensure there's no feeling of repetition despite the reused assets. There's even a lot of surprise depth here in the form of purchasing parts to upgrade your roster of vehicles and alternate modes to help you practice to improve your lap times. The sole thing missing is better competitive play as your stuck with exclusively local two-player.
It will never happen as Disney is absolutely TERRIFIED of leaving their little post-prequel, pre-sequel trilogy era safe-space they are enjoying a modicum of success in, the fact that this saw a rerelease at all is something of a minor miracle, but I would ADORE this concept being revived with full 12-player online multiplayer. There are certainly enough unique racers here with their own stats to give you an idea of what an enticing prospect that would be. Regardless, this is the rare, basically single-player only racing title that will delight you nonetheless with how well it brings even the most devout haters favorite part of The Phantom Menace to life for you to experience for yourself. With shocking fidelity to boot! Actual actors from the film such as Jake Lloyd, Lewis MacLeod, and Andy Secombe reprise their roles for authenticity. Undoubtedly among the best Star Wars games that ever has been or will be made. Nobody did it like old school LucasArts.
9/10
What sets Racer apart, aside from the franchise's iconic aesthetic and score (Duel of the Fates plays over the main menu. Epic!), is its unparalleled sense of speed. The game is all about managing impossibly sharp turns and split-second reactions while moving at a rate that would make a certain anthropomorphic blue hedgehog jealous. Except for that stupid endgame race where you unlock Bozzie Baranta which forces you pump the breaks hard at a couple of points to avoid falling down to some lower tracks that will basically spell the end of any chance of victory if not avoided. Buncha Bantha poodoo, that one is.
This is accompanied by some fantastic track design that really tests your ability to remain in control at such an exhilarating pace. Their variety is also seriously impressive. You'll revisit the same handful of planets over and over again, so you'll have to watch their opening cutscenes multiple times, but the courses themselves always shake things up with big alterations or entirely new elements that ensure there's no feeling of repetition despite the reused assets. There's even a lot of surprise depth here in the form of purchasing parts to upgrade your roster of vehicles and alternate modes to help you practice to improve your lap times. The sole thing missing is better competitive play as your stuck with exclusively local two-player.
It will never happen as Disney is absolutely TERRIFIED of leaving their little post-prequel, pre-sequel trilogy era safe-space they are enjoying a modicum of success in, the fact that this saw a rerelease at all is something of a minor miracle, but I would ADORE this concept being revived with full 12-player online multiplayer. There are certainly enough unique racers here with their own stats to give you an idea of what an enticing prospect that would be. Regardless, this is the rare, basically single-player only racing title that will delight you nonetheless with how well it brings even the most devout haters favorite part of The Phantom Menace to life for you to experience for yourself. With shocking fidelity to boot! Actual actors from the film such as Jake Lloyd, Lewis MacLeod, and Andy Secombe reprise their roles for authenticity. Undoubtedly among the best Star Wars games that ever has been or will be made. Nobody did it like old school LucasArts.
9/10
9 Comments
Release my boys Dud Bolt and Clegg Holdfast you accursed mouse! ;-;
@Vee my boys Wan Sandage and Gasgano must race again
@molochthagod What was the killing blow for you? I’m still riding with it currently. Not keeping up with all of the new EU shows and stuff, but I’ll probably turn up for another movie and will definitely be keeping my hopes up for another good game. Which reminds, I need to get to those Respawn titles at some point…
@Vee & @DJSCheddar Free my boys Mawhonic and Fud Sang
@Vee & @DJSCheddar Free my boys Mawhonic and Fud Sang
@TheQuietGamer the killing blow for me was The Force Awakens. No offense if you like it, but I think it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen and it makes an absolute mockery of the SW universe. Frankly, I've been feeling like I've gone insane and don't live in the same reality as everyone else, because even the Disney haters tend to like that one.
I would've been fine if all the spin-offs, video games and comic books were shit, as long as the movies are decent, but a movie this bad makes me unable to take anything they do now seriously. Because the movies have always served as the foundation, not just for the next movies, but for the whole EU as well. So, whatever they produce now, they must with a serious face act like the events of TFA happened and make sense, which kinda makes every product they make now stupid by proxy.
I would've been fine if all the spin-offs, video games and comic books were shit, as long as the movies are decent, but a movie this bad makes me unable to take anything they do now seriously. Because the movies have always served as the foundation, not just for the next movies, but for the whole EU as well. So, whatever they produce now, they must with a serious face act like the events of TFA happened and make sense, which kinda makes every product they make now stupid by proxy.
@molochthagod Honestly, you’ve probably saved yourself a lot of pain. The Disney trilogy was/is a disaster. If that’s how you feel about Force Awakens then Rise of Skywalker would have you ready to commit a hate crime. I’ll admit I’m a total sucker for TFA. I fell for the nostalgia bait hook, line, and sinker. I’d be curious to see what you’d think about The Last Jedi. Controversial, but genuinely great SW movie imo for reasons I won’t spoil as I believe you’d pick up on them pretty easily.
@TheQuietGamer I mean, I did enjoy the nostalgia aspect too. Just the visuals, music and sound effects alone sent me back to my childhood. But Star Was has always been so much more than that. I could probably write a small book just analyzing the story, not even talking about the filmmaking. I'm pretty sure somebody else could write an entire book on just the cinematography and editing, which are insanely deep in Lucas' films.
If you haven't seen it, I recommend to check out Rick Worley's How To Watch Star Wars videos (two and a half parts). I think they're together about 5 hours of runtime, and he only really scratches the surface there. His goal was more just a response to common criticisms of the prequels and the special editions. But they're among my favorite videos.
Anyway, my point is: I understand nostalgia, but The Force Awakens is kinda nothing but nostalgia. Its story is basically a Frankenstein monster of scenes from older episodes (or rather poor imitations of them) crudely patched together. And it turns the canon into a joke and repeatedly breaks the established laws of the universe. Then again, how could it not, when JJ Abrams doesn't understand or care to understand the SW universe? There is a video where he basically says he doesn't believe in midi-chlorians. There's another one where he is asked about Darth Plagueis, and he doesn't know who that is. His whole marketing campaign for TFA was based on dogwhistling that the prequels are bad and his movie is gonna be more like the OT. How can a man who hates half the movies in the saga understand what he's working with? In fact, even if he hates them, it was his job to research them well and write the new one in accordance with all 6 movies, but he chose (!) not to do that. In fact, there is a video out there, I think by Nerdonymous, that said he was the deciding factor in rejecting Lucas' ideas for the new trilogy. What a level of arrogance to take another artist's work and say "can do your art better than you, and I don't want you to be involved."
Sorry for the wall of text. I'm usually not this passionate about hating a movie, but my take on TFA is one of the few hills I would die on.
The Last Jedi probably IS a better movie. Simply because I can't imagine a worse movie than TFA coming from a major studio with top talent and enormous budget. I think JJ Abrams might just be one of the worst filmmakers of our time, so this other guy doing better than him is not inconceivable to me. That being said, I can still hardly imagine myself enjoying a film that has to somehow build on the story of TFA, and make it sensible and deep. Unless it begins with Luke waking up from having been hit on the head and saying it was all a bad dream.
If you haven't seen it, I recommend to check out Rick Worley's How To Watch Star Wars videos (two and a half parts). I think they're together about 5 hours of runtime, and he only really scratches the surface there. His goal was more just a response to common criticisms of the prequels and the special editions. But they're among my favorite videos.
Anyway, my point is: I understand nostalgia, but The Force Awakens is kinda nothing but nostalgia. Its story is basically a Frankenstein monster of scenes from older episodes (or rather poor imitations of them) crudely patched together. And it turns the canon into a joke and repeatedly breaks the established laws of the universe. Then again, how could it not, when JJ Abrams doesn't understand or care to understand the SW universe? There is a video where he basically says he doesn't believe in midi-chlorians. There's another one where he is asked about Darth Plagueis, and he doesn't know who that is. His whole marketing campaign for TFA was based on dogwhistling that the prequels are bad and his movie is gonna be more like the OT. How can a man who hates half the movies in the saga understand what he's working with? In fact, even if he hates them, it was his job to research them well and write the new one in accordance with all 6 movies, but he chose (!) not to do that. In fact, there is a video out there, I think by Nerdonymous, that said he was the deciding factor in rejecting Lucas' ideas for the new trilogy. What a level of arrogance to take another artist's work and say "can do your art better than you, and I don't want you to be involved."
Sorry for the wall of text. I'm usually not this passionate about hating a movie, but my take on TFA is one of the few hills I would die on.
The Last Jedi probably IS a better movie. Simply because I can't imagine a worse movie than TFA coming from a major studio with top talent and enormous budget. I think JJ Abrams might just be one of the worst filmmakers of our time, so this other guy doing better than him is not inconceivable to me. That being said, I can still hardly imagine myself enjoying a film that has to somehow build on the story of TFA, and make it sensible and deep. Unless it begins with Luke waking up from having been hit on the head and saying it was all a bad dream.
@molochthagod Lol, no worries. Honestly, you’re not saying anything I disagree with. TFA is a straight nostalgic retread that really only offered the thrill of “yay finally a new SW movie after 10 years!” and the promise of what was next (which it didn’t deliver on). JJ Abrams is also your typical so-called SW “fan” who only likes a very small portion of the franchise and nonstop complains about the rest, who as a director has only shown himself capable of nostalgia pandering. His only movie not tied to a preexisting property (Super 8) was just a Spielbergian throwback. In this case it just resulted in something I enjoy watching ¯\(ツ)/¯
Honestly, all you wrote only makes me more convinced you might actually appreciate The Last Jedi. It’s not just a superior Star Wars because Rian Johnson is a better director. It’s the superior Star Wars because he actually understands the franchise as Lucas created it. At least a whole heck of a lot better than JJ. The entire film is basically Johnson, who somehow found a way to be allowed to write the whole thing himself, doing his best to tear down as much of what TFA was setting up as Kathleen Kennedy would let him (which was surprisingly a lot) while sticking a giant middle finger right in Abram’s face. It’s super controversial with THAT portion of the fanbase because Rian basically did the cinematic equivalent of unsheathing his massive dong and slapping them all in the face with it, while pleading with anyone with a brain to course correct the brand. It’s the anti-nostalgia movie.
It’s not perfect. Johnson’s humor isn’t the best fit for SW, leading to an awful start (Poe makes a “your mom” joke, kill me) and the dude created the insufferable Porgs (kill me twice). So I’m not trying to convince you to check it outthat’s a lie, I totally am. BUT you may get a kick out of seeing something from someone who clearly shares your frustrations. Plus, it was just hilarious to watch Abrams come back with Rise of Skywalker and try to rebuild his original vision for the trilogy while flipping a bird back after Johnson smashed it to bits, resulting in what is easily the worst numbered SW to date that simultaneously reveals the absolute ineptitude of Kennedy and Disney.
Honestly, all you wrote only makes me more convinced you might actually appreciate The Last Jedi. It’s not just a superior Star Wars because Rian Johnson is a better director. It’s the superior Star Wars because he actually understands the franchise as Lucas created it. At least a whole heck of a lot better than JJ. The entire film is basically Johnson, who somehow found a way to be allowed to write the whole thing himself, doing his best to tear down as much of what TFA was setting up as Kathleen Kennedy would let him (which was surprisingly a lot) while sticking a giant middle finger right in Abram’s face. It’s super controversial with THAT portion of the fanbase because Rian basically did the cinematic equivalent of unsheathing his massive dong and slapping them all in the face with it, while pleading with anyone with a brain to course correct the brand. It’s the anti-nostalgia movie.
It’s not perfect. Johnson’s humor isn’t the best fit for SW, leading to an awful start (Poe makes a “your mom” joke, kill me) and the dude created the insufferable Porgs (kill me twice). So I’m not trying to convince you to check it out
@TheQuietGamer well, you got me intrigued. I mean, it's still sad that the supposed new SW trilogy ended up a place of battle between two filmmakers, but I would indeed get some fun out of watching someone take the piss out of TFA and Abrams. It's funny, I've heard JJ Abrams initially supported what Johnson was doing, but after the backlash backtracked his opinion lol. I might give TLJ a try afterall, I'll look into it.
molochthagod
3 months ago
Don't think we'll ever get projects like this from the franchise. Not that I'd play them if we did though, the universe is dead to me.