Star Wars Episode I Racer

Genre: Futuristic Racing

Players: 1-2 Competitive (Local Splitscreen)

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Review:

(Note: There are multiple Star Wars bundles on Nintendo Switch. If you want a breakdown of which bundles contain which games, please check this page.)

Star Wars Episode I Racer was originally released in 1999 on the Nintendo 64 and PC alongside the release of the first of the Star Wars prequels, and these days it is generally remembered with more fondness than the film it’s actually based on, and even got a port to Dreamcast and a PlayStation 2 sequel based on the popularity of the game more than the film. As the title indicates, this is a racing game set in the sci-fi Star Wars universe, with players taking the role of Anakin Skywalker or one of the various other alien podracers as they compete in various venues against each other.

Before we get into the presentation, you should know that this game is not a remake, it is a port. A port of a Nintendo 64-era game. And since this is the early days of 3D polygonal graphics we’re talking about here… yeah, it looks pretty rough. Extremely low-poly characters and environments, and ugly, muddy textures dominate the visual presentation here, with some really nasty pop-in in some places that’s damn near a disgrace for such an old game running on modern hardware. On the bright side, the game has an excellent resolution and a silky-smooth framerate (as well it should, it’s running on hardware four generations after it was originally released). These visuals are paired with John Williams’ great film score, and although it sounds as excellent as ever, it does seem strangely muted here, and oddly some of the menu screens are completely silent.

Okay, so I suppose no one was really expecting this to be an audiovisual masterpiece. The real question is… how does it play?

The answer is… fine. It’s a racing game, it controls well, it has a unique damage/repair system that adds an extra element to races, as well as some interesting zero-gravity sections. There are also some good track designs here. Mostly though, the races here seem a bit too simple, and races were too often simple and even at times a bit boring. It’s not a terrible racing game, but there’s not very much to it, and if it weren’t for the Star Wars license, I can’t imagine that many people would find this game all that memorable.

However, I understand the power of nostalgia, and if you loved this game back in the day, you’ll find it better than ever here… though you may discover it may not live up to your memory of the game. This is a visually-ugly game that’s a competent racing game, but also a very simple one, and while that Star Wars magic gives it a little extra something, it’s not enough to overcome the mediocrity in the rest of the game.

tl;dr – Star Wars Episode I Racer is a port (not a remake) of the classic N64 podracing game, although taking off the nostalgia goggles reveals a racing game that’s visually ugly by today’s standards and doesn’t have too much going on in the gameplay department to set it apart. It’s decent, but not the great racing game many remember.

Grade: C+

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