Star Wars: Galactic Racer Preview – Podracing Goes Way Harder Than You’d Expect

Two decades ago, Star Wars fans experienced the prequel trilogy in several ways: some controversial new movies, some solid books, a spectacular TV show, and even several new games. A handful of those happened to be racing games, back when racing games were all the rage on new consoles like Xbox and PlayStation 2. Starting with Star Wars Episode 1: Racer, which was released alongside The Phantom Menace, LucasArts aimed to bring the excitement of podracing on Tatooine to people’s homes. It worked, for a time. Then they stopped making racing games altogether.

After Star Wars Racer Revenge came out in 2002, podracing was largely forgotten among Star Wars games, except for random races in various RPGs over the years. Then not long ago, Fuse Games partnered with Secret Mode to bring a brand-new, modern racer to PC and consoles with Star Wars: Galactic Racer – a story-driven arcade racer that takes place in the gap between the original and sequel Star Wars trilogies, following the collapse of the Galactic Empire. In the game, players take on the role of Shade, a new racer who helps the owner of the Galactic League, Darius Pax, prevent the Outer Rim racing competition from being taken over by the villainous racer Kester Bool and the Bool family.

My initial concern with Star Wars: Galactic Racer was that it would be the racing equivalent of Star Wars Squadrons, a simplistic take on something that could be great with the proper resources. We’ve seen it happen time and again: a terrific mechanic in a AAA game gets spun out into a subpar release that confuses everyone who plays it – but aside from Squadrons, the most notable example is perhaps Skull and Bones, which aimed to create a dedicated experience based on the ship combat from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. Thankfully, Galactic Racer doesn’t fall into that category of disappointing releases, at least not from what I played at Summer Game Fest earlier this month.

Everything from the planets to the races, to the vehicles, the upgrade stats, and various tools at your disposal in the races themselves has been well thought out. There’s so much available to tinker with that you can create a speeder that befits your playstyle, whether that’s by drifting better, taking off at higher speeds on straightaways, boosting to overtake an opponent, or by attacking the other racers whenever the opportunity arises. Speaking with the team, I was told that there are seemingly endless permutations of podracers and speederbikes in the game, based on what you upgrade, how you design your vehicle, and so much more. In the end, virtually everyone’s setup will be different. They were hesitant to give an exact number, but that may be more due to the fact that they simply don’t know rather than they won’t share.

Simply put, there’s more to Galactic Racer than accelerating and decelerating. You also have two options to boost: one with the Afterburner, which recharges over time, and a secondary boost with the Ramjet, which must be used cautiously lest you pass the Redline and cause your vehicle to explode. It’s not an ideal situation, and one you may easily find yourself in. And because of the Afterburner and Ramjet, it’s almost necessary to play with a claw grip on a controller, or make use of backpaddles if you have a third-party “pro” controller from, say, SCUF or Razer, in order to effectively boost your podracer; otherwise, if you forego speed accelerators, you’ll undoubtedly lose each and every time. There’s that much to focus on.

Beyond the races themselves, there’s quite a lot in the base game here. You have a single-player campaign that seeks to take part in the larger Star Wars universe, much like an RPG would, as well as a multiplayer mode. It’s all broken down into the story-driven experience, an Arcade mode, and a unique Scenarios mode that focuses on story challenges. I didn’t get a chance to check out the multiplayer mode but did spend some time perusing through the campaign and Arcade mode, which includes a couple of fun timed trials. From there, fans will be treated to several planets from the core franchise, such as Jakku and Lantaana, and a big one that we can’t share yet.

Although it’s easily accessible to casual players, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is equally brutal and unforgiving. I’ve played several racing games in my life, but I’m no expert. Still, I definitely know how to boost, drift, and corner when it comes to most games, but for example, the Drift and Cornering mechanics in this game are far tougher to master. Yet, when you do hit the right groove in your race, you can overtake anyone in a matter of seconds by using everything at your disposal to knock them out like it’s Burnout. Star Wars fans should be happy with this game, if it lives up to its promises.