Star Wars Episode 1 Racer

by Sega

Product Details

• ASIN: B00004S99M
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,001 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Product Description

At last! The first Star Wars game for the 128-bit Dreamcast lets you participate in the famous podrace sequence (which was the critical highlight of the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace). These lightning-quick vehicles are capable of reaching simulated speeds of up to 600 miles per hour, while skimming a mere 4 feet above the ground. You can race alone or against a friend in split-screen mode, on over more than 21 courses among eight worlds. Take the controls as Jedi-to-be Anakin Skywalker, or any one of over 20 podracers, and feel the full-force blast--while avoiding hazards such as methane lakes, meteor showers, and the unfriendly Tusken Raiders.

GameSpot Review

Adapting and expanding on the most intense scene of what's arguably the biggest film of the decade creates some big shoes for a game to fill, eh? If that draws a completely blank stare from you, know that the premise of Star Wars: Episode I Racer is this: You've entered the podrace, a tournament that is much like the Ben Hur chariot race meets... Star Wars. In Racer, each contestant drives a vehicle made of a small cockpit that's literally dragged behind two or more huge starship engines. These vehicles speed upward of six hundred miles per hour and never go much higher than a few feet off of the ground. When the LucasArts developers first read the film's script, the podrace scene must have been the unanimous choice to adapt for the introductory game of the "new franchise," and of course much has been added to the ten-minute scene. Instead of simply racing the course on the desert world of Tatooine, you have seven additional planets and more than twenty tracks in all to race, as well as more than twenty pilots besides young Anakin Skywalker to race as. The gameplay is much like that of other futuristic-style racing games out there (yes, I know it's set in a time "long, long ago," but bear with me), such as Psygnosis' Wipeout XL and Nintendo's F-Zero X, except that in this game there are no power-ups to acquire, and you can't use offensive weapons against your opponents, at least until you unlock the main boss as a playable character. You compete in a series of tournaments made up of four or more races each. If you place fourth or better, you can continue to the next race and earn money to buy upgrades to your podracer, and you'll need these upgrades to hold your own against the increasingly tough AI opponents. The main feature that Racer offers over its competition is a feeling of speed beyond any of the few games that actually meet its frame rate. You'll come upon obstacles such as boulders or large spacecraft so quickly that you'll be gasping at your skill or luck when you manage to avoid them. But what makes the speed fun is its combination of a fantastic physics engine and great controls. You use the analog pad to steer your ship - the A button acts as the gas, the B is the brake, the right trigger creates a powerslide, and the left trigger deploys the repair droids to fix damage. Incidentally, this button slows you down when in use. Leaning completely forward on the analog pad will build up a turbo boost, which is offset by the fact that leaning back and side-to-side will give you tighter turns. It's a simple and elegant setup, really. Racer's graphics are where things fall apart a bit. They look exactly like the graphics in the PC version of the game, granting this version a few eye-candy effects over the N64 edition but none of the shading effects that gave the illusion of greater speeds. The world has a flat, metallic look to it, as in its PC brother. That said, the environments are increasingly impressive and well designed. The Oovo IV and the later Mon Gazza tracks are at times so stunning that they'll invariably make you crash because you'll look away from the course for a moment to take them in. Pop-up, which occurs from time to time, won't necessarily make you wipe out, but due to the stress of the game's high speed, you'll want to see as far ahead as you can. The pop-up is not much worse in the two-player split-screen race (as it often is in other games), and the frame rate is still good. Meanwhile, the sound effects in the game are good, but the comments from the racers are very dull and repetitive. What was impressive on the N64 is far less here, because the GD-ROM format allows for so much more than a cartridge. Also worth noting is that the game starts off very easy and then suddenly gets extremely challenging, to the point where you'll want to set the prize money to "winner takes all" and restart the races until you master them completely. Without the vehicle upgrades that extra cash brings, you'll be left hopeless in the dust by the other drivers. Sound kind of underhanded? Well, since you can't go back to try to do better in completed races, it's the only way to succeed. "Cheating" or no, the game could use a few more tracks or a mirror-mode tournament to stretch it out a bit more. One nice feature that adds to its value though is the addition of up to four computer-controlled opponents in the multiplayer mode. If they're set to normal or easy AI, you'll likely not see them very often or at all, but on hard AI, they're great to play against. Racer is an incredibly fast, superfun game to play once you get a few levels into it. While it may be true that it doesn't come close to tapping the graphic and audio capabilities of the system and that it's release comes far later than it should have, the gameplay is still very solid, and it fills the futuristic racing niche for the Dreamcast nicely.--Joe Fielder--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pod Racer has Arrived on the DC, But was it Worth the Wait?, April 9, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Star Wars Episode 1 Racer (Video Game)

This game seemed to come out of nowhere. I like to think that I know what's coming out when in the game world, and the sudden release of Pod Racer on the same day as Episode One made me a little wary. To be honest, Lucas Arts hasn't been the bread and butter in the game industry. Therefore, I was skeptical. Would this be a graphical tour de force or a shoddy port? Well...to be honest..it's a shoddy port. In an entire year for its development, Lucas Arts took a watered down PC version of Racer and slapped it onto a GD ROM. So now the big question is, should you buy it? Your decision to buy it should be based on your experience with this game. If you already own a version of it either on the N64 or the PC then you can look over this title and onto something a lot more tantalizing. However, like me, if you have never gotten your grubby mits on it, and you're a Star Wars fan to boot, then you should at least give it a rent. Let me go through the good stuff first. First of all the music is fantastic. Its tracks taken directly off of the Star Wars Episode One Soundtrack. The sense of speed in this game is amazing, causing motion sickness all around. Pay no attention to the back of the box. One of my friends was going 700mph at one time! The races start off easliy and get extremely competitive, and each time you initially take first place in a race you unlock a pod. The multiplayer is also smooth and very entertaining. With roughly 20+pods and 21 tracks to choose from, this will keep you busy for awhile. Ok, now for the bad. First of all, this is one of the ugliest games ever seen on the DC. I'm sure even a PC could have better graphical displays for this game. Lucas Arts did very little to even use the tiniest fraction of the DC's capabilities, which made me cry after seeing Sega's arcade version of Pod Racer (which runs off the Naomi board and is absolutely gorgeous). The framerate is at 30fps. First of all, that's unacceptable. Every DC racing game, especially this one, should run at 60fps. A game that advertises speed as one of its main seller should be flying when you fire it up, and we all know what the DC is capable of (we've seen Code Veronica, Sonic, and Soul Calibur). Shame on Lucas Arts for not beefing this bad boy up using the DC's power. They are truly messing up royally, especially since their last great Star Wars hit seemed to be Jedi Knight a few years ago. If I were George Lucas I wouldn't let graphical crap like this out of the door. This is actually a step back in visuals for the DC. It hovers in the "good enough" category. For my DC, that's unacceptable. Whew! So after all of that, am I going to keep this game? Hell Yeah! Hey, asside from its graphical flaws, I realized that it was good enough, and frankly the game's fun to play. I recommend it to anyone who likes racers, star wars, or is searching for a new experience. However, I seriously recommend that we write Sega and beg them for not only a version of THEIR PODRACER, but STAR WARS ARCADE as well. Lucas Arts has shown me that they can't handle the Star Wars License anymore. Lets leave it to a company that knows how to make great video games.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Little More to Offer Than the N64 Version., April 6, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Star Wars Episode 1 Racer (Video Game)

If you already own Pod Racer for the N64, or have played it for an excessive amount of time on the Nintendo, you may want to pass on purchasing this title. However, if you haven't played this game in the past, or have played it only a little, then this is one racer that you might want to consider!

Compared to the N64 version, the Dreamcast shows advancements in 3 major areas: Higher resolution, better graphic display (smoother, sharper, and faster images), and the online component which allows gamers to upload their high scores on the Sega Dreamcast Network.

In my opinion, the most noticeable improvement with this version is the incredibly smooth frame rate. After having played a few hours already, I have yet to see any slowdown (this includes traffic situations as well!). The two player split screen mode holds steady at what appears to be 30 frames per second with very minimal (if any) slowdown in traffic. Quite impressive considering the detail of the landscape while traveling at 400-600mph! The detail of the backgrounds are pretty good but what makes them more impressive is that there is no noticeable pop-up or drawing of the landscapes as you fast approach them. I have yet to see a home console racing game that has been able to achieve this!

The musical score is top notch and better than any previous Star Wars game. It sounds as if it was pulled directly from the original motion picture. I can almost see John Williams and his orchestra performing as I crank it through my sound system during gameplay. The actual game sounds are decent, although I would have liked to have heard more of the various "engine sounds" from other pod racers. There really is no distinction between the various racers (such as Sebulba's unique pod engine sounds) as well as when one accelerates and decelerates. Everything basically sounds the same in this area. This was a major dissappointment area for me.

Controls are very precise and are quite frankly, excellent. No gripes from me here.

While I haven't spent numerous days playing this game yet, I have a feeling that the replay value of this game will span about two to three months depending on how much game play is involved. I could be wrong - but that is the general feeling I have at this point.

The AI of the game is probably what you would expect from a racer - about average, although on occassion a pod racer may try to ram you into a wall, and Sebulba may try to "fire flash" you if you pull up along side. Generally speaking, the competition is fairly easy for the most part.

There are 20+ racers in all, 8 worlds, and 20 tracks to compete on. Jake Lloyd does the voice for Anakin (although he really doesn't say much other than "HEY!" and "Yippee!"). Some race course obstacles offer a challenge to the game - some of which are Tuskan Raiders firing off rounds at you, rocks, caves, meteor showers, and methane lakes.

All in all, I enjoy this game. But this is coming from a person who hasn't played the N64 version very much. I would highly recommend this game to Star Wars fans and first time players of SW Episode 1: Racer, HOWEVER I would give caution to those who have played it on the N64 for considerable amounts of time - rent it first. LucasArts should have spent a little more time with the DreamCast version in order to offer some new value other than a graphically spruced up version.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kickarse Game, April 26, 2002

By 

"sponger" (Never Never Land, England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Star Wars Episode 1 Racer (Video Game)

This is probably the best game ive ever played of star wars mostly cause I mean hey Its on the dreamcast and thats all u need! Graphics, Sound, and All the best In game graphics and Cinema Graphics combined! So if u add Star Wars to it! You know ye gonna love it! If you dont buy this ye a fool! FOR ALL THOSE NEGATIVE VIEWERS FLAMING THIS!! Your all nothin but a bunch of Sad Sad Star Wars hating Munchkins... 'Tis a pity.

-A figment of ye Imagination