Product Description
-------------------
At last! The first Star Wars game for the 128-bit
Dreamcast lets you participate in the famous podrace sequence
(which was the critical highlight of the 1999 film Star Wars:
Episode I, The Phantom Menace). These lightning-quick vehicles
are capable of reaching simulated speeds of up to 600 miles per
hour, while skimming a mere 4 feet above the ground. You can race
alone or against a friend in split-screen mode, on over more than
21 courses among eight worlds. Take the controls as Jedi-to-be
Anakin Skywalker, or any one of over 20 podracers, and feel the
full-force blast--while avoiding hazards such as methane lakes,
meteor showers, and the unfriendly Tusken Raiders.
Review
------
Adapting and expanding on the most intense scene of
what's arguably the biggest film of the decade creates some big
shoes for a game to fill, eh? If that draws a completely blank
stare from you, know that the premise of Star Wars: Episode I
Racer is this: You've entered the podrace, a tournament that is
much like the Ben Hur chariot race meets... Star Wars. In Racer,
each contestant drives a vehicle made of a small cockpit that's
literally dragged behind two or more huge starship engines. These
vehicles speed upward of six hundred miles per hour and never go
much higher than a few feet off of the ground. When the LucasArts
developers first read the film's script, the podrace scene must
have been the unanimous choice to adapt for the introductory game
of the "new franchise," and of course much has been added to the
ten-minute scene. Instead of simply racing the course on the
desert world of Tatooine, you have seven additional planets and
more than twenty tracks in all to race, as well as more than
twenty pilots besides young Anakin Skywalker to race as. The
gameplay is much like that of other futuristic-style racing games
out there (yes, I know it's set in a time "long, long ago," but
bear with me), such as Psygnosis' Wipeout XL and Nintendo's
F-Zero X, except that in this game there are no power-ups to
acquire, and you can't use offensive weapons against your
nents, at least until you unlock the main boss as a playable
character. You compete in a series of tournaments made up of four
or more races each. If you place fourth or better, you can
continue to the next race and earn money to buy upgrades to your
podracer, and you'll need these upgrades to hold your own against
the increasingly tough AI nents. The main feature that Racer
offers over its competition is a feeling of speed beyond any of
the few games that actually meet its frame rate. You'll come upon
obstacles such as boulders or large spacecraft so quickly that
you'll be ping at your skill or luck when you manage to avoid
them. But what makes the speed fun is its combination of a
fantastic physics engine and great controls. You use the analog
pad to steer your ship - the A button acts as the , the B is
the brake, the right trigger creates a powerslide, and the left
trigger deploys the repair droids to fix damage. Incidentally,
this button slows you down when in use. Leaning completely
forward on the analog pad will build up a turbo boost, which is
offset by the fact that leaning back and side-to-side will give
you tighter turns. It's a simple and elegant setup, really.
Racer's graphics are where things fall apart a bit. They look
exactly like the graphics in the PC version of the game, granting
this version a few eye-candy effects over the N64 edition but
none of the shading effects that gave the illusion of greater
speeds. The world has a flat, metallic look to it, as in its PC
brother. That said, the environments are increasingly impressive
and well designed. The Oovo IV and the later Mon Gazza tracks are
at times so stunning that they'll invariably make you c
because you'll look away from the course for a moment to take
them in. Pop-up, which occurs from time to time, won't
necessarily make you wipe out, but due to the stress of the
game's high speed, you'll want to see as far ahead as you can.
The pop-up is not much worse in the two-player split-screen race
(as it often is in other games), and the frame rate is still
good. Meanwhile, the sound effects in the game are good, but the
comments from the racers are very dull and repetitive. What was
impressive on the N64 is far less here, because the GD-ROM format
allows for so much more than a cartridge. Also worth noting is
that the game starts off very easy and then suddenly gets
extremely challenging, to the point where you'll want to set the
prize money to "winner takes all" and restart the races until you
master them completely. Without the vehicle upgrades that extra
cash brings, you'll be left hopeless in the dust by the other
drivers. Sound kind of underhanded? Well, since you can't go back
to try to do better in completed races, it's the only way to
succeed. "Cheating" or no, the game could use a few more tracks
or a mirror-mode tournament to stretch it out a bit more. One
nice feature that adds to its value though is the addition of up
to four computer-controlled nents in the multiplayer mode. If
they're set to normal or easy AI, you'll likely not see them very
often or at all, but on hard AI, they're great to play against.
Racer is an incredibly fast, superfun game to play once you get a
few levels into it. While it may be true that it doesn't come
close to tapping the graphic and audio capabilities of the system
and that it's release comes far later than it should have, the
gameplay is still very solid, and it fills the futuristic racing
niche for the Dreamcast nicely.--Joe Fielder--Copyright © 1998
GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in
part in any form or medium without express written permission of
GameSpot is prohibited. -- GameSpot Review
