Star Wars Episode I Racer is one of those games from my childhood that I kinda sucked ass at, only to come back as an adult and find that it's not nearly as painful as I remember. I think the reason I had so much difficulty when I was young was due to the weird boosting mechanic. Before reaching double digits in age, any action requiring more than one step might as well have been advanced trigonometry. Still, there's something to be said for how smooth this game is, and how much depth it has, considering its age and circumstances. The amount of control allowed is borderline unnecessary, though much appreciated, considering how fluid and speedy it all feels, and works great with a proper controller. As licensed games go, this is among the most memorable for mostly good reasons, and it holds up well. The courses obviously borrow heavily from the lore, but the game doesn't get too distracted from its purpose. I like how the increasingly complex versions of tracks borrow from their simpler variations. "That path you used to take is blocked off now, here's a detour that'll take two minutes longer and is much more likely to kill you." It's a very old-school F-Zero way of keeping level themes from feeling like they've become obsolete, while still giving a few nods to the parts where I was less experienced. The tracks can get pretty long, allowing ample room for shortcuts, and for the scale and decoration to make the places feel like believable locations. Sometimes your stage hazards are vehicles left on the path, and sometimes your shortcut doesn't even look like a shortcut. The key here though is that it all feels natural. Even when you have to slow down for a sharp turn, or speed up for a jump, or tilt to fit through a tight squeeze, it never feels like it's trying to be annoying just for the sake of being annoying. Some problems which detract from the experience are due to these track designs, though. The models and textures are pretty badly dated, and most things only look smooth because you're zipping past them at high speeds. Many objects are somewhat jagged, to the point that my almost-undamaged machine might suddenly lose one of its engines because I snagged on a pixel of a rock, or some ever-so-slightly uneven terrain, or an invisible wall next to a jump. The draw distance is also kinda selective, mostly depending on the proximity to tunnels, and this can mean that while the fuzzy map on the top right will tell me there's a sudden turn ahead, I won't know the width of said turn or any obstacles until I go through it once. It's as close as one can get to a blind turn without it explicitly being a blind turn. Even more annoying are the problems that plainly weren't intentional choices, like how I'd maybe respawn inside of a rock obstacle, or somehow get stuck inside the track itself... and sometimes I seem to hit things that aren't even there. At worst, the game would crash, often right after a lengthy match. To add insult to injury, my lap and race records would still be there, as well as the racer I just unlocked, but I'd still have to replay it to unlock the next one. However, I'm fairly certain that these issues are just due to the jank dgVoodoo emulation, which is at least built-in for this release. I've had similar problems with other games that I've had to run in this way. The unlockable stuff is pretty constant. The races are all taken one-at-a-time, so you can progress at bite-sized paces if you'd like. They're divided into several linear series that are available simultaneously, so it's often not hindering your progress to temporarily distract yourself with another course if one is annoying you. Winning every race in a series unlocks a special course, and winning select races earns you new racers. You've got the recognizable faces like Sebulba and Maggie Gyllenhaal, as well as weird extended universe characters who are as much fun to compare to celebrities as they are to use. I won't lie. The word "balance" does not come to mind. It's nice that the unlockable machines feel worthy of the effort needed to obtain them, but I need to mention a distinction often found in racing and fighting games, games that use large rosters like this. There's a difference between characters that are capable of doing exceptionally well by having access to advanced techniques, and characters that are just broken, and that's where this game kinda drops the ball. As much depth as there is, the overall gameplay loop is still so simple that you can rely on overpowered stats instead of advanced techniques. If you've got space to use your boost, you boost. If your boost is on cooldown or you need to make a bunch of turns, you take the opportunity for repairs. Beyond that, it's just reflexes, and knowing which vehicles to use for which tracks, and some machines are so consistently outclassed that they have no reason to exist. Of course, you can also buy parts to upgrade your podracer, but they're only temporary. They break after some use, and you're never really gonna have enough money to trick your ride out with everything you want, not before finishing the game, anyway. Yet, this mechanic actually ends up encouraging variety, in a small way. It's typically a better idea to just switch to a machine with the best base stats for the track you're trying to tackle. Then, if you find one that seems ideal, but the course is still giving you trouble, it's time to buy shit. There isn't going to be one vehicle that checks all of your boxes each time. There was an underwhelming sequel, with some features removed from the first, and less content overall. I know that this first game got a re-release with a few minor updates, but I think this is a decent case for an out-and-out remake. It's campy, but not so much that you can't sometimes take it seriously. There are clear balance issues between vehicles, but not so severe that they can't get equaled out a bit. Ultimately, though, the simplicity that hides under the depth of your options, and the lack of luck as a factor gives it only niche appeal. If you want an old single-player racing game that you can blast through in a day or two, Episode I Racer is a fun experience with room for improvement. It's one of the better scenarios one could hope for of a licensed title.
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