1999 was a more innocent time for a Star Wars fan. Long before the fandom raged against the corporate Disney machine, everyone was more wide-eyed and excited at the prospect of new Star Wars movies. The hype surrounding The Phantom Menace was massive upon release, only for the movie, rather famously, not living up to the expectations of most fans. We still see the lingering effects of The Phantom Menace to this very day; a cycle of seething anger across many armchair experts when it comes to Star Wars fandom, though it has softened over time.
That is perhaps just maturity and hindsight, because living through that time it was nothing but a positive media blitz. Even those who didn’t like The Phantom Menace have to admit the absolute feeding frenzy of books and promotions for the movie were in full force. For Star Wars video games, it was an embarrassment of riches for players around the year 2000. The most obvious tie-in though comes from the game that captures arguably the best part of The Phantom Menace, the pod racing sequence. That is Star Wars: Episode I Racer, one of the classic LucasArts titles that fans always clamored for more of.
Thankfully, they got that now. With the recent release of Star Wars: Galactic Racer ushering in a massive wave of positive buzz and nostalgia, it's hard not to look back at this relic from a bygone age. While the game certainly has been weathered by time, it holds up as a perfect time capsule of its era; a high octane, well crafted arcade-styled racing experience that surprisingly aged well, despite some obvious wear and tear.
What makes Episode I Racer so good is the blend of twitch racing reflexes with a system of character progression. The mechanics are purposefully snug and designed to be fast-paced, and the game doesn't shy away from being challenging in that respect. This is an arcade-styled racing game in the vein of F-Zero or Wipeout, players will need to be prepared for a lot of tight corners and precision reflexes. Typical races have you rocketing on the track at over 600 to over 1,000-mph at a time across the track, some of which have their own side-paths and secrets to discover.
Some of these are also necessary to master. The sheer number of jumps, alternate routes, and sharp turns you need to navigate are the type of challenge that allows Episode I Racer to shine. Adding to this is the tight in-race controls, including a variety of options to use on the fly. Boosting, for example, overheats your pod if used for too long. So, boosting during the race needs to be done strategically to maintain a healthy pace. You can also repair your pod mid-race to give you more longevity with your boosts and any sustained damage. This is also strategic as you move slower as you self-repair. Little touches such as this offer a bit of strategy in what is otherwise a straightforward racing game.
The feel of it helps thanks in part to in-game progression. Episode I Racer sports a maintenance and upgrade system for your chosen pod in tournament mode, complete with an in-game economy. Each time you win a race, you get credits which can be used to purchase upgrades for your pod. The game's 20 plus racers each have strengths and weaknesses for their chosen pod, enhanced by these upgrades. So, if you want a high-top speed on the straight ways for a slower pod, you can buy used or new parts to boost that stat to what you need.
The progression is not perfect, as some parts and stats are more important than others. Turning, Top Speed and Cooling tend to be the priority stats to upgrade, and there is an exploit in-game where purchasing Pit Droids can repair damaged parts, which does undercut the games economy heavily. Since all of the Pod racers have unique stats, not all racers are created equally either; which may be an issue if you invest in a character who will objectively be weaker in some areas even with part upgrades.
These upgrades are necessary for success in the later levels of the game, adding a fairly smooth progression to follow. By the time you finish the final course, a re-creation of the race on Tatooine from the movies, your pod will be fully upgraded, with your skills as a player superseding the top speed or handling of the pod. It is an intricate balance that LucasArts was able to thread, though certain characters will have an easier time in the final stages of the game no matter how much you upgrade them.
Episode I Racer has a lot going on under the hood for sure, but outside of tournament mode there is not much "game" in the game itself. Outside of tournament mode, you standard racing fares of time attack and free race modes. There is a multiplayer mode, which is pure 4-person split-screen goodness for consoles for the day. The PC version used LAN and can, in theory, support up to eight players. To have it reliably do so is another story altogether. This is really a product of the genre more than anything else, as Episode I Racer is more of an arcade-style racer versus a pure simulation.
Arcade-style racers are all about improving track times and having fun in multiplayer, essentially mastering the tracks and your chosen racer to a fine-tuned machine. The lack of proper internet access for the time made it hard to capitalize on that feature in the modern day. For console players, especially on the N64, they can compensate with in-person couch multiplayer. While the PS4 and Nintendo Switch version ports allow for online multiplayer, it is harder to find players online. It's a shame; the multiplayer portion of the game is not fully lost, but it is a product of its time that is limiting the full potential of what Episode I Racer can do, and it's unlikely the re-releases fixed that aspect.
Keep in mind, the PC version of Episode I Racer is also considered an inferior version. While the PC version was first out the door in 1999, the game was ported and upgraded for the consoles of the day, fixing several bugs and tweaking some characters. Many have cited the Nintendo 64 version, with the enhancements of the Nintendo Expansion Pack, being superior in terms of bug fixes, controller use, and graphical quality. Controls-wise, the best way to play is with joystick controls, so it is best suited with a controller in mind.
One thing that is worth noting about Episode I Racer is how detailed the game tries to be. Every bit of chrome, every cable and machine part, even some background bits and sparks attempts to visually showcase the sense of a large garage working on a hot rod-type car. Using the garage, the shop, and even the character select screen in a gambling den, all give a sense of authenticity that Star Wars games are always so good at, even if they graphically are not up to par.
Details are there, but the visuals are muddled and fairly low-poly, even for 1999. The pod racers and their machines look fantastic, but everything else has lower texture quality, especially some backgrounds and some of the tracks. LucasArts tried to compensate by making tracks that can be devoid of high details, not to mention you get more than a few tracks that are just slightly different from each other, even though they use the same backdrop. There are eight worlds, with 25 tracks across them, so the limitations are already established early on in the tournament circuit.
Sound wise though you can't go wrong with the game. One of the hallmarks of Episode I Racer is having the game fully benefit from Industrial Light and Magic’s own sound mixing. The game features fully orchestrated music from Episode 1 and authentic sound effects straight from the movies. The two main racers, Anakin and Sebulba, also have their voices reprised by actors Jake Lloyd and Lewis MacLeod, respectively, adding to the authenticity of the games world. So every boost sound, every roar of an engine, is just pitch perfect and provides an aural treat that frankly should be expected from a Star Wars game.
Like many LucasArts titles, Star Wars: Episode I Racer feels like an authentic Star Wars experience when you play it. Honestly, that is good enough for many players. Star Wars: Episode I Racer is a surprisingly well crafted racing experience sporting excellent controls, top-tier sound design and for the time, a sense of realistic progress that doesn't feel like it's shoehorned in. For fans of fast-paced, arcade-styled racers, this is definitely one to pick up and try for yourself.