Screw the Force, where's the throttle control?

Genre: Podracing
Developed by: Lucasarts
Published by: Lucasarts

Episode One. The fabled new Star Wars movie so eagerly anticipated by all Star Wars fans and others. The movie itself is legendary, but perhaps the merchandising is even more. Costumes, action figures, novels, posters, lightsabers, but also toothbrushes and mugs. And not to forget, the infamous one-liner: “May the Force be with you”. The Star Wars universe also was the main reason why Lucasarts exists: It was George Lucas’ vision to give his creations an “interactive edge”. Star Wars games are many: X-Wing, TIE Fighter, X-Wing vs. TIE Fighter, X-Wing Alliance, Dark Forces, DFII: Jedi Knight, etc. Other games also include the traditional line of adventures like Maniac Mansion, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Full Throttle, the Monkey Island series (1, 2 and 3), the Indiana Jones series (Last Crusade, Fate of Atlantis) and most recently the fantastic Grim Fandango. All stated above are great games, and over the years there was somthing called, the “Lucasarts Standard”, meaning that everything in a game is perfect.

There comes a time though that one must let his idealistic and naïve intentions go, and realize that the computergame business is all about dough baby. Great example is Sierra, once struggled in fierce and prestigious competition with Lucasarts, but now fighting to stay alive (luckily games like Half-Life kinda saved the day). And today, it seems that the green wind of bucks and Bills (pun intended) has struck Lucasarts. Two Episode One games have been recently released, namely The Phantom Menace, a 3d action/adventure, and Racer, a podracer (And after the traditional small talk in the review, I finally found the link to the actual game itself. Damn it was hard today and... oops. Was that out loud?).
As I implied the last paragraph, I was a bit sceptical about Racer, because it was completed (like The Phantom Menace) in a record time, and that George wanted to start “collecting” in Europe even before the actual movie is introduced. Racer is a racing game (well, da) like Pod, Gnome, and Wipeout. The intention of these games is simple: Choose a track, choose a pod, and then race through insanely bended circuits at astronamical speeds. Racer is not much different.

First of all, the menu screens which guide you through Racer’s (limited) options are very neat. The background music is also great, but I expected nothing less from John Williams himself. In the main screen you can choose between Tournament, Free Play or multiplayer.
In Tournament mode you choose a podracer, like Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader), and commence a tournament. There are three of them, plus one bonus. In the easiest tournament the tracks are easy, the opposition lame (really, man) but the prize-money is also slimmer. You’ll need this money to buy parts to upgrade thrust coil (top speed) , cooling (lenghtens “boost” time), brakes, turning, etc. Oh, yeah. If you damage your pod, parts will be less “fresh”, so they will cause a gradual loss of performance. This is where the Pit Droids, which you can buy (the more, the quicker your machine is fixed) come in. Although all these things affect your pod’s performance, the options remain limited. But that I can very much live with. Besides, Racer wasn’t intended to be a Grand Prix 2 wannabee.
Free Play is pretty straight forward: Choose a pod and track and go. (Note: Courses you haven’t gotten to yet in Tournament mode, won’t be available in Free Play either. Vehicle stats are also imported of what you have in Tournament mode)

Multiplayer only supports LAN, which I find less positive. Other things such as modem, internet and serial cable are left out. For gamers with one pc and who want to have fun with split screen, I must also disappoint. A lost chance, because Racer has great multiplayer potential.

Now the game itself. The thrill of speed is just about the best I’ve ever witnessed in any racing game! The magnificent music makes the experience even better. The highest game resolution is 1280x1024, so that’s already remarkebly cool. The scenery passes by quickly, but it is of very high standard. No flat bitmaps which some developers still shamlessly use. The tracks are all very original and have great design. Certain unique things I encountered were racing in zero-gravity (while dodging huge rocks and a Space Slug!), two-story parts of a course, huge jumps, lava pits, a passing Jawa transport you can ride under between it’s two caterpillars (enormous adrenaline kick)... Anyway, you know what I’m talkin’ about. The pods themselves handle good, and are well animated.
There is one thing that disturbed me though: the AI of your computer adversaries isn’t what you could call “ thrilling”. Sometimes I am way and way in front of them, other times I have hard time qualifing myself because I crashed once and I can’t catch up. Near the end of the game, this effect begins to weaken, but I still found it a bit frustrating. Of course, I realize that we’re racing here at 400 km/h and more, but I don’t think that can be an excuse...

EP sez:

So, Racer isn’t a total ripp-off. Some features we are used of Lucasarts are there, namely great design, graphics and music. The sheer thrill of speed is also super. But there are just some things that aren’t right. Examples are the limited range of multiplayer options and the not-so exhilarating AI. All and all Lucasarts did well with its debut in racing games genre. It’s not a game that reaches the “Lucasarts Standard” though.

(c) 1999 Erwin's Pages
Erwin "Reaper" Husin

Score

Gameplay: 8

Graphics: 9,5

Sound & Music: 9,5

Addictiviness: 8

Overall: 84,5%

Links

> Official Racer Site
> Lucasarts