All in all, this is a game that Star Wars freaks will play no matter what the reviews say, but it's also a game casual racing fans should definitely check out. Players can even upload their top scores to the Sega Web site. The two-player mode suffers a little in the frame-rate department, but it's still fast and furious racing. Couple that with the fact that you can buy Pod upgrades with your winnings and you have a seriously customizable racing game on your hands. Playing through the championship mode allows you to unlock dozens of tracks, new podracers and drivers. The frame-rate is fast and smooth, creating an awesome sensation of speed. Even so, Episode I Racer won't disappoint any Star Wars fan who craves to relive the speed and excitement of the racing sequence from the movie.
The simple craft and level models make the DC version feel like it was made for low-end Pentium computers. While the game is a beautiful, fast and exciting experience, it's a shame that LucasArts didn't take the time to optimize it a little for the Dreamcast. Still, it does succumb to the same problem that plagues almost every PC-to-DC port: quick and dirty conversion. Racer on the Dreamcast is a direct port of the PC version, which results in a far better game than the N64 cartridge. Now this is podracing! It seems fitting that the most exciting sequence in Episode I has spawned the best game based on the movie. That situation could change, but there's a danger than some may put off buying, waiting for the film's release before committing to the game.
What is surprising is that the games will be released over here well before the actual film. Based on the Pod racing scene that crops up early on in the film, the game puts you in the shoes of the young Anakin Skywalker as he scoots around eight worlds in a choice of 20 Podracers.Ĭonsidering both games are to be released simultaneously on PC and PlayStation at the end of May, the decision to create a racer isn't all that surprising -racing is about all the ageing PlayStation can handle, after all. The title Racer gives the game away somewhat. The former you can read about on Star Wars: Episode I - Racer you can find out about right here. Shock horror, the first in what will undoubtedly be a long line of new games are to be a third-person action adventure and a simple racer. You'd have thought that LucasArts' first game to be based on the new Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace, might have been a space combat sim, or perhaps a Quake-style shoot 'em up.
LucasArts signal a change in direction for new Star Wars games