Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a downright classic. Launching on the N64 and PC nearly 20 years ago, the game was a brilliant realisation of one of the most compelling scenes from the deservedly lambasted The Phantom Menace. That doesn’t necessarily mean it would stand the test of the time, but luckily -- and with the help of some more contemporary ideas -- the game has made a triumphant return on PS4.
Unless you're an octopus, the N64 didn’t have the most comfortable controller. So it’s with relief that the biggest change made to Racer is its control scheme. The new controls bring the title up to speed with what games can offer now, and it works a treat. The bones of the game were already solid and these new controls make everything shine just that much brighter. Allowing for precision and responsiveness, the new controls are so wizard.
What’s not wizard is just how short the title is. As kids, we remember playing through this game for hours, but we were probably just really bad at the game; the entire tournament mode can be beaten in about two hours. Comprising three seven-race tournaments, and one “invitational” with the four hardest tracks, there’s just not much here. Once you power through those, all that’s left is free racing, local multiplayer -- no online multiplayer, sadly -- and time attack.
We'll never in a million years grow tired of hearing the announcer's ecstatic “IT’S A NEW LAP RECORD”, but the main draw after finishing off the tournament mode is the tracks themselves. The tournaments start you off on relatively simple circuits, but each time you revisit the planet, new elements are introduced. It's a brilliant approach to level design that allows to you carry forward your knowledge of a track while adding new things to ensure you’re not just on autopilot. Throw in the ludicrous number of shortcuts on each track, and it’s possible to have an almost entirely different experience on each lap. More than anything, this game being both 20 years old and incredibly fun is a clear sign that a modern Podracing title should absolutely be a thing.
Comments 33
You didn't ackowledge the guy doing his little jingle on the results screen or the fact that Anakin has no legs whilst in his pod racer... this is a poor review./s
Seriously though, would of been nice with new content, but I am just happy it could be played again.
It was great fun while it lasted. A couple of hours and the Platinum is yours. No online multiplayer meant I was done with it as soon as the Platinum popped.
This is why Xbox playing old games at higher resolutions and frame rates holds zero appeal to me... you're just stretching decades-old low-res textures to resolutions they were never intended for, and it looks absolutely hideous.
Aw I loved this game when it first hit PC. There was nothing as fast or adrenalin kicking as this back then. Here's hoping for a brand new remake! 40 players on track! Rage and speed pro fest!
I think they should have given it a bit of fresh paint, like higher detail meshes and better textures. That would already make a huge difference. Either that or sell it at half the price it is now
Yeah, I saw this on Switch, looks more fun with Joy Cons, just controlling each side individually with motion. Cosmetically I wondered why a bit of a remaster job wasn't done.
What? No mention of the bug where this game's trophies can't be synced with PSN? And then afterward, your PS4 will not be able to sync ANY trophies with PSN, until this is fixed?
I've read more than one thread on Reddit about it, and the devs have acknowledged the trophy issue on Twitter.
In case you're wondering, the Switch version has several of its own problems. Aspyr really screwed the pooch on this one.
Who at Aspyr can I kick straight in the balls, for the sloppy way in which this game was released?
Even after several delays they couldn't get it right. This game deserves better.
@Loki7T1 My Pod Racer trophies won’t sync, but all other games are still syncing fine.
@SoulChimera When I go to the trophies section in the PS4 UI, it never syncs with PSN, just stays at 0%. This started after my first trophy for this game popped.
I still see the trophies at the local level, but they're not showing up at the PSN level because I can't get the sync to progress past 0%.
Another symptom is that If I press the guide button right when a trophy notification is on-screen, I get an error (because that is trying to bring up the PSN listing for that trophy). Normally this always works for me, but not since my first trophy for this game.
So annoying!
No online multiplayer...? Pfft.
I'm so happy that this game is back. I remember playing it on the N64 and playing it again is going to be amazing.
What's all this 'wizard' nonsense about?
@Loki7T1 How long are you leaving it? Mine pauses (while it’s trying to work out what the hell is going on) but still syncs afterwards. Usually takes about 20-30 seconds.
It seems to be a problem with the trophies not being live on the PlayStation servers. Hopefully it gets fixed soon.
@SoulChimera I just turned on my PS4, and lo and behold, there was an update for this game - I certainly didn't expect a patch this quickly!
Afterward, my PSN trophies now sync successfully, including the ones for this game. The issue would appear to be fixed.
The patch notes (under Update History on the PS4) sneakily don't even mention a trophy fix, though, just "Improved rendering of pods". The pods look the same to me, heh.
Oh well. At least the trophies work correctly now. This game could still benefit from a raft of improvements, though, like custom button mapping, d-pad support in the menus, and more.
@Loki7T1 Interesting, mine hasn’t updated but the trophies have now synced. Maybe that hadn’t paid their bills to Sony haha.
@BrettAwesome Yeah compared to the other ports, this definitely hasn't aged as gracefully as the Jedi Knight games haha
@Paranoimia The core gameplay is at least fun still! I can deal with an ugly game if it's really fun, although agreed. These textures were never intended to be viewed in this resolution haha.
@MS7000 That man has a name!!!! His name is Watto. How dare you!
@SoulChimera @Loki7T1 That's not a bug. Well I guess it's sort of a bug. The trophies are still stored on the Playstation and you still have them, they're just not showing up yet because they don't technically exist in the Playstation database yet. It's usually a bigger problem on games that have different release dates across regions though. I think this one was all at once? I can think of a couple of other games it happened with. I distinctly remember it happening with the PS4 port of Va-11 Hall-A as well!
@Miiamoto Someone needs to watch The Phantom Menace again!
@Bartig Definitely a missed opportunity in my opinion. I'd play that in a heartbeat!
@gbanas92 I wasn't sure if that was Watto or not, he sounded different to me, but Watto has plenty of gems of his own in this game.
@MS7000 I'm almost positive it's the voice actor form the movies too. Same with the race announcers!
It had it's time... Not nowadays...
@Miiamoto yep was thinking the same - it really detracts from the rest of the article.
@gbanas92 That'll never happen as long as I have my strength ;P
@Miiamoto Ah well, in that case, it's a thing from the movie and is related to the podracing
Phantom Menace, my favourite Star Wars movie and I’m not even ashamed.
This game looks sooo wizard...wtf
Loved this game as a kid on the 64 and it was going to be a day 1 but after seeing the lazy textures compared to the work that went in to the pods im waiting on a deep discount. Shouldnt be long.
@Loki7T1 yeah ok sounds like a minor thing which can be patched.
Props to @gbanas92 for using wizard not once but thrice in this review 👊🏻
@HUMPERDOO 👊🏻
For anyone who's more familiar with this game...
Was there anything exclusive to the PS2 version SW Racers Revenge?
Back in the day, I had the DC version which came out a year earlier.
EDIT: Racers Revenge is actually a sequel, I totally forgot that.
@GamerDad66 Yeah Racer's Revenge is a sequel with more content, but it loses something along the way. It doesn't quite have the charm to it that the original does. I don't think so at least!
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