Star Wars Racer Revenge

"Should I play it? Yes! The question is: rent it or buy it?"

I'd just like to start off by saying that I am not rich. Therefore I only rented this game. If you are rich, don't read the rest of this review and go out and buy the game. That being said, this review will not try to entice you to play it, but rather to decide whether you will rent this game or buy it.

First off we have Graphics

The graphics are superior to almost any racing game to date, and most games in general. The racers are well detailed although the colors are a little dull and some of the designs are overly ambitious to the point of strange. The animation is extremely fluid which is important when speeding around 180 degree turns at 700 miles per hour. The real meat is found in the spectacular course designs. The races take place on several locations on a few planets. The environments range from the molten lava city of Sullust to the grand reefs of Mon Calamari to the wide open forests of Gammor. Obviously the races on Tatooine are incredibly planned as you race through giant caverns and lifeless deserts. My favorite course were the Nightlands, a track in total darkness, illuminated only by the neon plant life of the planet. Well thought out and always beautiful, the graphics deserve a 10/10.

Next up is Sound

Sound effects and music, as in any LucasArts game, are well produced. The sound effects put you inside of the race and help you feel the collisions as you KO another racer. As the announcer often says ''Who doesn't like the sound of metal on metal?'' The sound effects as a whole are incredible as the racer sounds like it's actually traveling 600 miles per hour. The music is also great. Your usual Star Wars themed orchestrals are found on every course and a modern innovation is used well in the game. That innovation is the use of background music that changes with the action. When ahead of the pack, all you hear are the sounds of your pod's humming engine and maybe the sound of a tough landing, but it's always easier to concentrate on racing well without adrenaline pumping music. But, if one is in the heat of the battle and trying to destroy a fellow pod-racer, the music heats up with the action. Trying to catch up to the leader? Entertaining and penetrating Star Wars themed racing music helps you gather the courage to take the sharp turns to save time. Overall, the music is a necessary and well used addition to the racing genre. 10/10

Time for Gameplay

The racing is where the game shines. Speeds of over 700 miles per hour are portrayed in convincing fashion yet once the controls are mastered, the speed can be controlled. The controls are set up in a way that works easily with the hands. X is accelerate, Square is brake, O and Triangle are camera controls, R2 is boost, and L2 is repair. Besides racing to win, another thing new to racing is an idea of HP(Health Points). Trying to destroy other racers by bashing into their pods is a fun distraction to the racing portion. There are three main modes of play: Arcade, VS, and Tournament. Arcade at first allows you to race on the four unlocked tracks. As you unlock more tracks throughout the tournament mode they are open for trial in Arcade of VS mode. VS allows you to go against a friend and a set amount of CPU's in split screen mode. Tournament mode is the real game. You choose a racer to go through career mode with and enter your first race. Throughout a series of screens, you learn that good old Watto has a deeper interest in the race than just spectating. His bribe is that the more pods you KO for spare parts for him, the more money he pays you off with. But what, exactly, is this money used for? Why an upgrade system of course! This is basically a shallow statistical system that allows you to upgrade several attributes of your pod. These include: Acceleration, Top Speed, Handling, Defense, Repair, and Cooling. Acceleration enhancement decreases the time it takes to get to top speed, top speed is obviously the fastest you can go, handling is the ability of your pod racer to take turns, defense is how quickly the shields on your racer deteriorate, repair is how quickly you can bring them up to full strength, and cooling is how long it take the temperature of your speed booster to get back down. It is necessary to earn the money(trugguts) in order to stay par with the other racers. This adds quite a bit of depth to the game in the long run. 10

But how is the Replayability?

Over the 5 day rental of this game, I beat it at least 6 times, and earned all of the secrets available. The secrets are challenging to attain which enhances the replay value. Unfortunately, the replay was hindered by the shallow upgrade/point system. 8/10

So, what about that thick Plot?

Hmmm... you race in a tournament, get a little history on each city. That's where the plot ends. As we all know, plot has never been an essential in racing games i.e. GT3. What would have made this game get a perfect score would be either a good plot, which Star Wars games should have easily, or a deep Gran Turismo like customization engine. The only reason this doesn't get a 0 is because of the Star Wars like ambiance. 4/10

The Bottom Line

Either way, you should play this game. The replay value and the spectacular development of the game make it worthy of a purchase but only if you can afford it. If not, make it a 5 day rental. It will be worth it, guaranteed.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/13/02, Updated 07/13/02