"Arcade racers, fell down, went boom!" - My favourite game genre seemed to die a horribly early death with the loss of several of the greatest development studios on the planet (Evolution, Black Rock Studios, Studio Liverpool, Criterion being slaved to Battlefield games etc etc, the list goes on). But a bunch of ex-Burnout developers have joined together under the umbrella of Fuse, and have somehow got themselves the dream gig of producing a Star Wars-themed racing game.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking about Episode 1: Pod Racer or Super Bombad Racing, and you're making that face I make when I drink my daily shot of cider vinegar, but rest assured, this is a bunch of ex-Burnout folk, and if they know one thing, it's how to put together a solid racing experience.
"Star Wars Galactic Racer" puts you in the substantial boots of Shade, a kind of "Mandalorian-esque" mystery dude / lady / alien weirdo that dons a helmet and cape, and enters the Galactic Racing League, to establish themselves as one fast muthafukka, and also to get revenge on the current league champion, winning fortune and glory along the way.
The game uses three main craft types including big weighty landspeeders, zippy little speeder bikes, and some weird in-between hybrid thing that can flip on its side and blast through the landscape like a gigantic blade.
You start off the game looking for a sponsor, and find one in the ballsack-chinned mentor that becomes your main source of funding, as well as a sage advisor. All you have to do is win some races. Simple, right?
With the aid of a weird multi-armed simian scouser (I kid you not), you begin your assault on the Galactic Racing League, starting off with a bunch of clunkbucket racing machines and eventually honing them into fine-tuned racing craft. The more you win, the more you've got to spend on improvements and upgrades, in the style of many other racers that have gone before. Starting out with one vehicle, you soon add others to the 'garage' and also get to take part in timed challenges in a wide variety of other vehicle types - including (eventually) challenges that take arguably the best bit of Star Wars Episode 1 (Pod racing) and put you right in the pilot seat of those amazing and dangerous craft, on the very track (replicated right down to the tiniest detail) from the movie itself. Blimey!
As you'd expect from a modern game, the track details are sumptuous, the craft look amazing, and props to the sound designer for including all those stupendous sound effects you'll be familiar with from the movies (the howling "Whoooooo!" noise that you'll remember from the speeder bikes in Return of the Jedi for example, are gloriously replicated here).
Various folk have described the game as a "Roguelike" and I guess there are elements of that, as you begin to build your career and follow each set of races across familiar Star Wars planetary landscapes (including Jakku, a harsh and forbidding desert planet covered in busted-up Imperial junk as you'll remember from "The Force Awakens").
The game has a really nice and intuitive control system, with the normal 'racing' controls complimented by afterburners and special functionality unlocked via the crosspad. Never at any time do you feel overwhelmed by the controls but again if you remember "Pure" (Disney / Black Rock) you'll understand that there's more to the game than just steering and keeping your finger firmly pressed on the accelerator to progress. Those additional functions (for example being able to 'drift' round tight corners, or flip your craft on its side for more manoeuvrability) are vital in the game, as are the two stages of afterburner that can mean the difference between victory and defeat right at the finish line.
I loved all the in-between bits too, where you get to wander around the pit area before a race. Interacting with other characters, and conversing with weird aliens feels like a nice addition and there are tons of Star Wars easter eggs nested within those scenes to look out for them (Spoiler: Go pet a Loth Cat!)
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is good solid stuff, and I've played around 10 hours of it so far, feeling like I'm only scratching the surface. There are tons of different challenges and modes from a straight-laced set of arcade challenges, to a proper career / league mode, and of course other individual challenges, multiplayer and - sadly - stuff that's locked away behind the premium edition add-on for the game (which sucks but not exactly unsurprising for modern games, what a shame).
That said, even with the standard edition there is a LOT of game in here, and it will keep you coming back for more again and again, as you race to beat the final race (and fail many times before you eventually get there). This is a fresh, surprisingly solid and excellent game that'll serve as a nice distraction until "you know what" arrives in November.
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