
A long time ago in, erm, this galaxy, a game called Star Wars Episode I: Racer was a smash hit, leading to dozens of enthusiastic magazine reviews with the byline "now this is podracing!" Unfortunately, the intervening years have been unkind to the Star Wars prequels, but does that hindsight extend to this thoroughly literally-named racing tie-in? Thankfully, not quite.
Back in the N64 days, Episode 1: Racer was a clean, simple experience, largely elevated by its sense of speed. That hasn't changed. The major difference in Star Wars Episode I: Racer on Switch is that the game runs at an unbroken 60fps, meaning that the already smooth gameplay is even smoother. This is pretty much the definitive way to race pods, with pin-sharp graphics compared to what you'll remember – although the textures are still as blurry as they were all those years ago.

The song remains the same. Literally, with the astonishing John Williams score pounding through every race. And those races are gloriously arcadey, with wide courses full of obstacles, shortcuts and elevated alternate routes. It's speedy, it's exhilarating, it's very Star Wars. There's a little flavour of F-Zero about the proceedings, though nowhere near the level of challenge you'd get from Captain Falcon and crew. While we're on the topic of it being evocative of classic Nintendo franchises, there's even a tiny bit of Star Fox in the way you can rotate your craft to fit through narrow gaps.
There are two flavours of control; a modernised scheme utilising the ZR button to accelerate, and an old-school one that'll be much like you remember the game from the N64, but with the analogue stick in a slightly more sensible place. Unfortunately, neither is really ideal. To go at full speed you need to tilt the left stick forwards until a bar on the right of the HUD is filled, then hit the A button. This is awkward, but completely necessary to win all but the first few races. Over-acceleration, though, will overheat and damage your pod racer, so you'll need to hit the R button to repair it where necessary. Sadly, the controls are only available in these two configurations and not remappable (besides at the system level, of course).

Between tournament races, you can spend your winnings in cheerful stereotype Watto's little store to buy parts for your racer, from thrust coils to air brakes and everything in-between, allowing you to improve your stats. You can also buy busted parts from the junkyard at a discount, using your Pit Droids mid-race to repair them back to working order. These parts are also part-exchanged when you buy new ones, so there's an economy to fixing up broken components for resale, adding depth to the game – though it's pretty easy to exploit and quickly ramp up your abilities, simply by exiting and re-entering the menu with different characters until you find the part you need for a price you can afford. Shh!
One somewhat troublesome system is the way the prizes actually work; you can wager the outcome of each race based on your performance – for example, winner takes all, or a prize pool goes to the first four racers. However, you can't win money a second time by replaying races, so if you find yourself lagging behind it's best to restart than to place in a low-winning position. This is a little counter-intuitive, and we found it dragged us out of the game a little bit.
There are plenty of unlockable racers to choose from after the initial eight, though the only one we recognised was the cheating Sebulba. The characters are generally very unbalanced, which means an online mode would require extensive effort to make viable – there's no such multiplayer here. Only local is present and, to be frank, it's not the most enticing prospect when Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is right there.

Besides the single-player tournament mode (which can be beaten in a couple of hours), we found there's not a whole lot of replay value here; while the base game is good and the tracks are varied (with plenty of shortcut potential), without an online mode there's little incentive to get really good. The local play works fine but doesn't hold a great amount of appeal compared with more contemporary titles, and the single-races and time trials are going to be an acquired taste. It's not particularly difficult to unlock all the characters, either; you're going to get them naturally as you place first in races.
Conclusion
The central loop of 'race, win, upgrade, race' is certainly compelling while it lasts, and if you have fond memories of Star Wars Episode I: Racer from your childhood this is as good a way to relive them as possible – just don't expect any huge overhauls from the original game. Star Wars Episode I: Racer sets itself apart from the likes of Wipeout with its earnest take on the popular licence, and it's still fun to relive one of the best scenes in the prequel trilogy, but it's a long way from being one of the best racers on Switch.
Comments 150
Jar Jar is never enough Jar Jar.
"Jar Jar is still present"
I don't really get the hate Jar-Jar Binks gets. He's by far one of the best characters in that movie.
Also Jar-Jar is better than any of the characters in the latest trilogy.
Lol i will skip this one, they should have done a total remake.
@Olmectron @sanderev Poor Jar-Jar. He even got made fun of in the Mandalorian.
Lucas should have stuck with Jar-Jar as a hidden Sith.
Slightly unfair to mark it down so much, it is what it is, didn't think anyone was expecting it to look amazing it's an old game running on new systems, with a few small improvements, was never meant to be more
Also leave Jar Jar alone
Why does the UI look so much worse in Handheld mode? Like it wasn't updated at all.
I'm the only one who have been begging for the wireless local originally announced
@Tandy255 I stopped watching Star Wars after The Last Jedi. It went from bad to worse very quickly. Maybe if they ever make a full reboot of the series, or a complete new series (yeah, not going to happen) I'll try it again.
I'd give it a solid 8 or more, to be honest. There's nothing else like it. The track design is brilliant, full of little worldbuilding touches, shortcuts, and excellent art design. It's an element of exploration I've only seen in another N64 title, Beetle Adventure Racing. (Which, however, isn't as fun in terms of handling.) And although the blurry textures are, well, certainly blurry, the overall art design and atmosphere definitely hold up, and frankly not too many racers, futuristic or otherwise, even try to achieve this same vibe.
@MisterWhen Agreed! I would rate the game higher. For digital release, it is reasonably priced. As a license game, it would probably never make it to NSO. Having this available now is great!
Honestly, the trailer was pretty indicative of what the product was going to look like.
Good review
@Beaucine Agreed! I forgot how much I don’t blink while playing this game. The racing is intense.
@Incarna Rise of Skywalker is better than The Last Jedi, and that means a lot.
It was a long time ago I played, but isn’t Jar Jar barely in this? I recall him just standing there in Watto’s shop as a background character?
@BigBluePanda Yeah, the only way Jar Jar become annoying in this game is by having his mere presence in Watto's shop. I thought that was a cool detail, back in the day.
The reason review scores are bad.
@sanderev My counter-argument is NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love the Jar Jar is a con, lmao!!
Stuart, this cut, it's deep. I can not forgive you for the sins from above.
I'll be picking this up soon, but too engrossed in YugiOh Legacy of the Duelist and Runner 3 I got the last few weeks.
All future reviews by Stuart will now be taken lightly. This game deserves an 9/10 or at least an 8.
What's with the first 2 screenshots? They look like they're taken from the PS1 version.
Looking at the textures, is this one of those games that actually benefitted from the N64 smear filter?
Unlike CTR, it doesn't have microtransactions.
I thought I heard this was going to re-do the graphics when they announced this, the Sega arcade game has better looking graphics and that came out 20 years ago!
Have to agree with the review, those textures look ugly.
@thejuice027 I mean, he was coming from the argument that it's a great game that basically hasn't aged well. I think that's fair. You are also fair to rate the game as high as you want! The reviewer's score does not undermine or undo your personal score!
and sooooo overpriced
@FargusPelagius
Eh, frankly, it looks fine in motion. Textures look bad in still pictures, no doubt, but you're never static for long in this game. Everything is whizzing by you constantly.
@Beaucine oh I know, same with the older Burnout games, textures aren't much cop, but at 100 mph in heavy traffic the feel of the game breaks through the visuals. May check this out in a sale as I had found memories of the game. The movie however was the beginning of the end for Star Wars for me, a piece of me died watching that at the cinema.
Now this is pod racing.
@FargusPelagius
I agree with the good people over at Rock Paper Shotgun: it could be that Star Wars has, in aggregate, made for better videogames than movies. I mean, the original films are still great, especially the first two, but then in the 90s and onward, it's in the world of videogames where the best Star Wars content poured in. I started out Dark Forces last night and, while the 1995 graphics make Star Wars Racer look like it's running on Unreal 5, it's given me more warm, fuzzy Star Wars-y feelings in an hour than whatever the latest trilogy was trying to do.
@Beaucine I beat Dark Forces the start of the year and I have to agree, it’s really brilliant even being a bit of a Doom clone. Jedi Knight unfortunately deleted my save file near the end so I never did get to finish that one!
@sanderev I actually agree with your comment about Jar-Jar! He has loads more personality.
Slightly harsh score for me but good review.
To add to my earlier post:
I'd love to see a collection of Sega's Star Wars Arcade games with M2 at the helm.
@Toy_Link
Definitely. That Sega Model 3 pod racer game looks infinity better than this crusty old N64 effort. That the Dreamcast got a port of this N64 thing and not the arcade game was a stick joke.
@sanderev I don't get the hate Jar Jar gets either. Specially when C3PO is far, far more annoying and is in practically every movie for no real reason. And at this point I think a lot of younger kids just pile on the "jar jar bad!" meme with no real knowledge of the franchise.
I love the game. I hate the anti-Last Jedi posts in the comments section.
So much love for Jar Jar! I don't care for him, but I agree that The Phantom Menace's biggest flaws were elsewhere.
Why didn't they port the Dreamcast or PC version with cleaned up textures. Ugh
@CasePB Too bad! Best Star Wars film since Empire. Check it out!
I differ greatly for the first time from Nintendolife..Perhaps it's nostalgia for me, but I have put in 10+ hours already with another 6-8 more ahead... So possibly 18 hours for £12... It's a solid 8.5/10 for me..
@Krambo42 angry empire strikes back noises
@Beaucine absolutely right. A pure, fun, arcade racing game which gets to extreme speeds. It was brilliant then and it’s still brilliant now.
6/10 huh? Funny after giving it weeks of coverage. Also, no replay value? It’s called playing with friends. Locally. As God intended.
@Sean161 I watched a video recently were someone made an argument that the Pod Race is a great example of visual storytelling that shows that George Lucas is actually a pretty decent director. The real issue with the prequels is that he isn't a very good script writer.
All this Star Wars talk is making me want to watch Star Wars again xx
@Menardi
The problem is that, in general, videogame graphics are analyzed from the point of view of technology, not aesthetics. So when reviewers judge the graphics in an old game, they end up stating the obvious: the old graphics are old. A little bit like pointing out that Casablanca lacks color because it was shot in black-and-white. That'd be preposterous in film criticism, but when it comes to videogames, it's how things are done. Of course, from an aesthetic standpoint, it doesn't matter how blurry or low-poly the graphics are. You'd instead look at meaning, emotion, composition, etc. But that's an unusual approach. Only a few mainstream reviewers — like John Walker at Rock Paper Shotgun or the people at Digital Foundry Retro — seem to do it.
@CasePB I know you were. I couldn’t disagree more with your opinion though.
@Beaucine agreed I have enjoyed alot of Star wars games much more than the newer movies. I liked the books in the 90s as well, got my expectations really high for the prequels and then....disaster. The games draw alot more from the books and comics than the film's ever did. Film makers don't actually realise what made Star Wars so popular, light sabers and Jedi are a fraction of that universes awesome. Give me E wings , V wings, Tie defenders and a tactical genius dammit.
@Beaucine Yes, I agree with all you said, the fact you mentioned Beatle Adventure Racing, 😂😂...
@Krambo42 love the sarcasm, but making someone sit through The Last Jedi is just cruel 😜
2 things that ruined The Phantom Menace for me was Jar Jar, and the boy could not act. But Darth Maul rocked. I actually preferred Phantom over Clone Wars. Phantom and Clone Wars should have been 1 film, with all the crap taken out, Revenge of Sith should have been Episode 2, with the excellent Rogue One being Episode 3
I had a lot of fun playing this again. I don’t have this on my N64 anymore. It’s worth buying all Star Wars games on Switch in the hope that Rogue Squadron trilogy & Super Starwars Trilogy get ports.
100% agree with the score and review. Not bad, but will be collecting dust in the near future.
@Gerald I am being very serious.
@Krambo42 Nice One 😂
Review means nothing to me... I think it was reviewed low for debate...
I'm loving it just for the nostalgia value!
My nickname is Jarv and when that film came out it destroyed me for years- ”jarv Jarv binks” all the time 🙈😂
As for the ”second three films” ie 1, 2 and 3 the are absolutely bloody awful films. Episode one had the pod racing to save face but my God they were bad films no matter what you compare them with. Marginally better than Avatar.
Never managed to get this game back in the N64 days and it does appeal to me so sticking it on the old wishlist.
Jar Jar is still present
This is really a con from a professional review?
Jar Jar isn't a deal breaker anymore nintendolife...we got used to him. Was the PC the ultimate version of this game? Sometimes PC's got crappy console ports as well (see Dino Crisis)
@Crono1973 Why not? Most people found Jar Jar absolutely insufferable. And it's kind of funny how they included that.
Little replay value? Is this guy serious? I have already got more out of this game than most racing games I have played on the Switch, including many that were highly praised around here.
This site is pretty worthless when it comes to reviews.
I remember renting this game and enjoying it quite a bit. For nostalgia purposes, I will buy it as it bring good memories.
And to add to the discussion, Jarjar is a terrible character that marked a huge change in the quality of the franchise. He is and will remain terrible and no amount of revisionist history can change that. The prequels are total crap, with poor scripts, terrible humor, stale and boring lines, and really look and act more like Star Trek (very boring) than Star Wars, and yes, the last 3 that just came out are much better.
@sanderev YESSSSS! Serve that truth! Lol
I am confused. The N64 game had almost no music. It had to be removed and only piped up occasionally (start of last lap maybe?). Is that still the case?
Also, other versions (non-N64) had more robust cut scene of the track and planet they were on. Does this version have those cut scenes?
@JayJ The review represents someone else's experience with the game. It does not negate your experience or opinion of the game. It definitely doesn't make the site useless! I'm thinking that some things just don't age as well as others to some people. Maybe Pod Racer was so good back then because it came at the right time, or wasn't overshadowed by something better?
I think the biggest risk with porting some of these older games is that some of them have been out-dated by better experiences. As an example, I don't know why anyone that enjoys Metal Gear would play the NES version if they had access to say, the PS1 or PS3 ones. The later games are clearly better experiences.
@Crono1973 Why is mentioning something annoying in a game review not professional?
Hating Jar Jar has just became a sheep mentality thing.
Most people don't actually hate Jar Jar they are just not strong enough to look into their own mind and realise their own thoughts on the matter - and so borrow a view from outside themselves.
Sure may people DO hate Jar Jar - sometimes for clear reasons, but far far more people (like this reviewer I suspect) think they hate Jar Jar because of some mindless and unchecked adherence to the mass view of countless others - other sheep, or wolves pushing an agenda view. Most have no idea why they hate him.
It's the same nonsense with The Last Jedi. Personally I don't much like Jar Jar, but it's not because of the B.S. reasons that have been handed to us through subtle social pressures. And I loved The Last Jedi. Every damn scene in it.
Finally, in agreement with a few other comments here – C3PO was always a ****
The second pic is a joke right? Why the sudden difference in quality in the HUD, timer and numbers when in handheld?
I mean... look at the evident difference between docked and portable!!! Its a N64 game FFS!!!!
Something tells me you took that pic out of the internet, an emulator.... and that is not cool. Even the ship looks wider than the other pics.
(Pics keep changing in the article... huh?)
@countzero The real problem with the prequels is that they are ham-fisted and over-the-top when they try to be emotional.
This was a fun game on the N64, but I remember it got kind of repetitive after a while. I think I'll probably skip it on the Switch.
I did pick up and beat Jedi Outcast recently. If you can get past the slog that is the beginning of the game (and it's one hell of a slog), you get to participate in some of the best light saber combat still available in video games.
So for that game, I'd say the beginning is like a 2 out of 10 and the rest of the game is like a 9 out of 10.
@brunojenso "And I loved The Last Jedi. Every damn scene in it."... everyone is entitled to their own opinion... but after that line I stopped taking you seriously.
You say people have a sheep mentality.... but look at yourself.... Just because something is STAR WARS doesn't make it automatically good, i.e The Last Jedi.
So stop complaining about others' opinions when you're clearly doing the "sheep mentality" too.
@kingbk true. A true gem of the good old times - still. 10/10 for me just because we got an almost 1:1 re-release. Absolutely love it. Memories are the best we have from the past. Only thing better than this is the possibility to witness them again if you don't have good old time hardware.
User review score much closer to actual score. Great game. Classic.
Old always seems to mean worse in video games but in music and movies not.
This is a classic and I’m glad it’s been left alone and not ruined by making it modern.
@fafonio People like Last Jedi for reasons other than “it’s Star Wars and everything Star Wars is good”. I’m a huge Star Wars fan but I have plenty of complaints/criticisms about Star Wars-related things. I happen to think Last Jedi is fantastic, though. Believe me, if I didn’t like it, I’d be quick to criticize it.
Good--from everything I saw this half-***** port didn't deserve any higher.
@Krambo42 did you like EVERY SINGLE SCENE in it? Because I can think of quite a few that are an obvious joke and have no valid argument for their existence.
@fafonio Hi there, I just want to clarify something; the pics with the clean HUD are the ones I took myself from my own console. There are a few PR pics in the set too which, for some reason, have the blurrier, less impressive HUD.
@StuartGipp thanks for clarifying .... even though... what are they thinking about releasing PR pics like that.....?
I just want to know.... does it really look like that in handheld mode? Because there's no reason for such a decrease in quality like that for a N64 game. Maybe you could add that to the review if its true. I mean... what's happening with the textures in the floor in handheld mode? ...... And thanks
@fafonio I suppose not. But I also don’t like every single scene of episodes 6, 1, 2, 3, 7 or 9. Or Rogue One or Solo. Who cares?
@Krambo42 exactly my point.
Brunojenso: "And I loved The Last Jedi. Every damn scene in it."...
Fafonio: "Just because something is STAR WARS doesn't make it automatically good,"
I'm sorry but did you really put down, "Jar Jar is still present' as a con as reason to mark the score down? You realize this nitpick is no different than the "Too much water" in the AS IGN review, right? I thought you guys were better than this
@fafonio Sorry but you're completely wrong.
There is nothing in my comment to suggest I've based my opinion of The Last Jedi on a sheep mentality; nothing to suggest I'd like something just because of the Star Wars name – that all came entirely from you – so I'd ask you please not to put words in my mouth. What you did here is a classic example of what they call a 'straw man argument'. Google it.
In fact I specifically mentioned The Last Jedi because it is another example where many people irrationally hate it. Maybe you have good reasons - but for most it's unchecked. I know I have a clear and individually view on that film – and that is that I like it a lot. It drives my best mate mad, as he can barely mention the film without becoming visibly upset – and he tries to make me adopt his view.
But why should I when I genuinely like the movie. Your 'issue' with my comment started as soon as you read something you didn't agree with – and that's on you.
So let's be very clear – I've no problem at all with you hating that movie, Jar Jar Binks, or anything else – just as long as you don't expect me to bend to your view. You say 'everyone is entitled to their own opinion' but clearly you don't believe that right now.
@SeantheDon29 they don't detract points from the score with the section of pros and cons.
And its obviously something tongue-in-cheek.
@brunojenso No, what I don't agree with is you complaining about other's peoples' opinions ... calling them sheep... and then saying "I loved every single scene of TLJ"
They are entitled to their own opinion just as you do, so you don't have any right to call them sheep, just because you don't agree with them, because it also applies to you.
And leave it like that because we are stuck in an infinite loop.
@The-Chosen-one I will buy it at $7.99.
@fafonio I certainly do have a right to call people sheep (what is this 1984?), but Ok - maybe I can concede I was a bit heavy handed/unskillful with the word sheep. But seriously were's the harm if it's true? Do you completely disagree with the idea that there is an influenced mass opinion on Jar Jar? Do you think I've entirely fantasised that? So why not call it out into the world - so people reflect on it a bit? To call out a sheep mentally isn't to be hurtful - it's to try to address it going unnoticed. I KNOW I can develop such a mentally myself on some subjects – and I absolutely appreciate people pointing it out – so I can improve. If you find that too much to handle then I don't know what to say.
Anyway, as I said above whatever your view is, if it IS you view, then cool. And I'm sorry if I went too far.
@brunojenso I'm in a in-between line. I agree with you that Jar-Jar isn't THAT bad. But I also disagree that TLJ is perfect (to be honest I really hated it, but can respect that people liked it... but lets be honest, I can think of flying leia and a certain 30-minute casino sequence that make the movie far from perfect, among other things)
Also I understood that the Jar-Jar Binks thing was a tongue-in-cheek argument from the reviewer. They don't detract points from their pros and cons sections. Let's just have a bit of humour among fans.
This game should have had a remake long time ago with modern textures.
Here is a remake in unreal engine 4.
https://youtu.be/TfgC89vX0hA
Mesa tinkin dis game is da bombad bestest, okay day?
@brunojenso And don't worry, you didn't take it too far, but I wanted to make a point, not trying to insult or anything.
I honestly prefer to meet halfway than having a 40 post discussion with someone on the internet and just ruining our day and wasting our time.
Have an amazing day man.
@fafonio Can't say fairer than all that It's seems we really have met in the middle. And even though I was serious about liking every scene I'm well aware the movie was flawed - and understand some of the genuine hate - like my friend's. But sometimes even flaws, bonkers moments and bad jokes can be enjoyed. Maybe one day I'll watch it again and be like 'What is this @$#!' Anyway, thanks again for helping me balance my own view. Good day to you too – or good night in my case
@sanderev ""I don't really get the hate Jar-Jar Binks gets. He's by far one of the best characters in that movie.
Also Jar-Jar is better than any of the characters in the latest trilogy."
In 20 years the kids who love the Sequel trilogy will be adults and saying the exact same thing, and will most likely be moaning about what ever new Star Wars movie is out. Star Wars fans, of which I am a proud member, really need to learn to loosen up. They are kids movies.
@fafonio I saw nothing in his post to indicate that he likes every scene just because it’s a Star Wars movie. Believe it or not, some people actually do just like that movie. The haters would have you believe everybody in the world hates it, but that simply isn’t true.
@thejuice027 Agreed. I've been playing it almost non-stop, much to my wife's chagrin. It eats into her (and my own) Animal Crossing time. I'm even more in love with this game now than I was twenty years ago.
@TheFox Funny, not professional.
@TG16_IS_BAE Don't really need to come up with any defensive maybes to justify this review when I have been playing the game and thoroughly enjoy it and therefore disagree based upon personal experience. It feels like this review was written by somebody who would have never loved the game no matter how good it is. One of those times when somebody who has no interest in a game or genre writes a negative review for it, they were just the wrong person to write it. Not saying only fans should review games, but you should at least be able to enjoy it.
About what I expected. Hated the original as a kid so I'll probably despise it now.
This game was bad back in the day, and it's still bad. It just doesn't feel good to play.
I don’t have fond memories of Star Wars Episode I Racer from my childhood unfortunately.
Also, I give this game 10/10 and Jar Jar is the best!
@Crono1973 What are you expecting? This is Nintendo Life, not the Wall Street Journal.
I’m really enjoying it, though I attribute a good portion of my love to nostalgia for both N64 and Star Wars. I feel like they used the license pretty well in this game; the music is great and the cheesy cut scenes are good fun. I’m hoping for more to come to switch, with this, Doom 64, and the Turok games, there are some interesting 3rd party titles. Hoping they bring over Rogue Squadron, Shadows of the Empire and Forsaken from the PC one day, too.
Exactly how you remember it from the N64 days? Have you seen the comparison videos? This much better than the N64 version. I’m having a blast playing it. This version also includes cutscenes that were removed for the N64 version.
Oh, and a Jar Jar burn? Really NLife? Though that does explain a few things. He may not be the best thing to come out of the Prequels, but still better than anything that came out of the Sequels.
Man I hope those rumours are true, retconning the Sequels into “Star Wars Legends” and then making a new and better Sequel trilogy. They should have just went with the Thrawn saga from the start, source material is all there.
This is a port of an N64 game and people expect it to compete with games made years or even more than a decade later? People are seriously whining about the textures?
I don't even know how to respond.
@Heavyarms55 I don't even know how to respond.
So why did you?
@locky-mavo those are the stupidest rumors I’ve ever seen in my entire life. 0% chance.
@JayJ They wrote a lot of positive points about the game in the body of the review though.
@Krambo42
I’ll take a stupid rumour over those garbage Sequels movies.
Thrawn trilogy books are the real sequels to the OT.
8-bit like games that are dime a dozen get 8 and 9s while 3d remakes that takes lots of work/costs and are faithful to the original like this and Panzer Dragoon get 6 and thus sell poorly (at least for Panzer Dragoon Remake), so isn't it surprising that the eShop is flooded with those 8-bit lookalikes...
This is no Fast RMX and can't be since it's more a remaster, but surely deserves more than a 6.
A 6. But a bloody good 6 lol.
@brunojenso @fafonio
Cash grab port. There's plenty of N64 titles I'd prefer to see released on modern consoles over this. Sin and Punishment, Majoras Mask, Paper Mario, Mischeif Makers, Blast Corps, etc. I'll be sticking to the Dreamcast port. Yum.
@Beaucine Beetle Adventure Racing! Now thats a game i havent heard about in a long time! Good times. I think. All i remember is i played it a good bit back in the day.
@HXLXIII
It was doing something really special, combining (what basically amounted to) platforming exploration with racing. It was a really neat idea no one picked up on.
The game is average. I can easily name about 5 racers on the N64 I like better. But it is fun mostly. I probably could see it as a 7 but then again, I agree, the reviewer had no choice. The mere presence of Jar Jar makes it a 6.
@StuartGipp Does the European version of this game not include the motion controls that were patched in on June 26th? Just wondering why it wasn’t mentioned in the review?
I was actually surprised at how tight and responsive motion controls were, and it definitely made the game more enjoyable for me at least. I’d think their inclusion alone would easily bump the score up a point or two.
Now this is reviewing!
Christ that was a clunky first paragraph
@techdude I think this is a lot more fun than Fast RMX and a lot more accessible as well. Totally agree though, when I see a review for some generic 8-bit looking indie I just assume it got an 8/10 and when I scroll down that is usually the score they gave it. I mean it's just arguing about opinions at the end of the day but it's hard for me to take the reviews around here seriously when they so rarely relate to how I feel about the games.
I don't have fond childhood memories of this because i wasn't a child anymore when it released so i have fond adult memories! Anyway yeah it might have aged poorly but this was a heck of a good game when it released! Gotta love that podracing scene in the movie even if you weren't keen on the rest of it!
Oh and please people lay off Jar jar! It was episode 1 and darth vader was 9 years old. How gritty and adult did you expect this movie to be? They put him in there so kids would like it. Plus mesa thinks he's rather funny!
@Trikeboy No. The new trilogy is objectively bad.
1. Bad acting / writing.
2. Too much violence. Just look at the original 6 movies, those were more about politics.
3. Terrible "hero". Rey is flawless, also very shallow and inexperienced. Both Luke Skywalker and Anakin Skywalker had depth. They had their own flaws, they made their mistakes and they "dealt" with the conscience.
4. Terrible "villain". Kylo Ren is weak, arrogant and simply not interesting. He mainly is there just to make Rey look good.
Also a side point. Every white male in the movies either dies, is evil or has some other major flaw.
And yes, the prequel movies weren't as good as the original trilogy But at least those movies actually told a story.
@sanderev thems fighting words!
@Benhop07 Fair play. Did you enjoy the happy ending?
I bought it and played for an hour last night. Here are some noted differences/improvements over the N64 version:
1. The lighting is DRAMATICALLY better. The N64 version was very dark.
2. The graphics are MUCH sharper.
3. In-race music!
4. Pre-race cut scenes that give a little more context to the racing environment.
5. Boost meter fills when stick forward/up OR BACKWARD/DOWN
6. Playing with a pro controller, controls seem more responsive
7. Gameplay is still fast. I've played Asphalt 9 intensely since October, and I thought it would make SWE1R seem slow. Nope.
8. Text replaced. Very easy to read, no blur.
@sanderev My friend, I heard similar complaints 20 years ago when the prequels came out.
But, to respond to your bullet point:
1. Check out the acting in the original Star Wars movie. Sorry but the acting in that movie isn't much to write home about either. Also, the dialogue in George Lucas directed movies can be very painful. The man is a genius storyteller but he can't do dialogue.
2. You are talking about movies which includes genocide against the planet Alderaan, where the Empire builds not one but two planet destroying weapons, social cleansing and brainwashing as not violent?
3. Rey has plenty of flaws for those of you paying attention. She is incredibly naive, a terrible shot with ranged weapons, is easily manipulated, and far too bold.
4. Agree in part. Kylo Ren is not supposed to be the big bad villain though. The intention for his character was someone trying to break out of his very parents shadow. Someone that felt abandoned, shipped off and betrayed. That is what he delivered. Sorry you wanted a mustache twirling big bad, but they went with someone with a complicated back story that wasn't bad just because they need a bad guy.
"Every white male in the movies either dies, is evil or has some other major flaw." Never go full racist. I guess six movies where the white man is always victorious wasn't enough for you. I'm more interested in the characters than the colour of their skin. Sorry they couldn't give most of the main roles to just white men this time around. Also, you cannot complain a character is flawed and complain a character has no flaws. Oh and white characters that don't fit your criteria: Wedge Antilies, Beaumont Kin,
The Sequels tell a story too. It deals with the aftermath of the war and shows how history can easily repeat itself if we don't learn from our mistakes.
@sanderev Sorry but that's a very poor critique of the movies, and @Trikeboy 's counter points are excellent. Just to add a little:
1. The original movies had some truly cringeworthy acting moments - far worse than anything in the current trilogy and nearly as bad as some of the prequel scenes. I can give examples.
2. Yeh the politics - that's what made them so exciting, nothing to do with the constant (violent) action.
3. I've always thought Luke Skywalker was the most one-dimensional character in the OT - even as a full Jedi he didn't have much weight to his aspect. I found Rey a significantly more interesting character.
4. Nothing to add to @Trikeboy analysis of this.
5. Your side note. Sorry but that is fault finding at its most desperate – and simply not true.
@brunojenso made me tear up.
@bluedogrulez
1. The original trilogy had the best female character, the best male character and the best alien character.
2. I never said those movies weren't violent. I was talking about the politics. Which are non-existent in the final 3 movies.
3. Yet, she wields a light sword like it's nothing. It took Luke 2 movies to do that. Rey, less than one. The rest is just bad writing / acting.
4. Complicated backstory?? REALLY?!! He has the WEAKEST backstory in the entire series. Even Jar-Jar has a more compelling back story. Yes, even Rey.
Six movies where the white man is always victorious? Okay..
IV: Okay, you're right.
V: Nah. Wrong, this movie didn't really end well for the heroes.
VI: Yes. By almost sacrificing everything Luke won.
I: Okay, you are right here again.
II: Yep.
III: Nope. Anakin lost the fight to Ben Kenobi and had turned fully to the dark side.
So only 4 out of 9 movies the white man won. Also I'm not being racist, the movies are.
And don't get me wrong, I don't hate Rey or most of the other characters of the new movies. I just think the movies are written poorly (and lazy) and all have a political agenda that's not explainable in the Star Wars universe. You calling me a racist is exactly my point here, "you hate the sequel trilogy, so you are a racist!!!" Some of the best movies have leads with different race or gender. Star Wars Sequel Trilogy are not in that list.
I finally went for it and boy it’s a lot of fun. It looks like I’m playing an n64 on a modern tv without looking like *****. I dint care there’s no frills. I give it at least an 8! Also the prequels are probably the lowest point in the franchise but there’s a lot of nostalgia to the time leading up to the movie when I was 13 and you could collect Pepsi cans with new characters and the Darth Maul action figure coming out before the movie.... this game falls into that rose tinted nostalgia area for me and I love it.
So once again most people are better off just buying the original PC version of the game from Steam or GOG for cheaper.
@MisterWhen @Heavyarms55 Well, that's the point. It's a very lazy port when it should've been properly remastered at the very least.
@nab1 @ArtiomNLS No way, C-3PO is a much better character than Jar Jar! Unlike Jar Jar, C-3PO is actually funny as a good comic relief character.
@jarvismp Yes, Episode 1 & 2 have their issues, but "Revenge of the Sith" is a great movie! It's easily the 5th best in the franchise at worst behind only the original trilogy and "Rogue One."
Besides, "The Phantom Menace" still has a number of redeeming features itself. The pod race is one, but it also has the best lightsaber battle in the entire saga as scored to the incredible "Duel of the Fates."
@FargusPelagius If you want more of that side of "Star Wars," then you should watch the various TV series. "The Clone Wars," "Rebels," "Resistance," and "The Mandalorian" are all good shows in their own ways.
@SeantheDon29 They aren't actually marking down the score for the Jar Jar jab, and having too much water has always been a legitimate problem with the 3rd generation Pokémon games.
@sanderev You have some decent points (although most fans prefer the battles over most of the politics, but yes more background on the New Republic would've been nice), but Poe Dameron disproves your "white male" theory, and it's not very valid in the first place considering how many of the characters don't conform to human skin tones in the first place.
@Incarna Hey, "Rebels" was great and did Thrawn justice. Be glad that Thrawn was brought back into canon at all when so many other great Legends characters have yet to make the jump.
@bluedogrulez Many of these "improvements" were already in the original PC version.
@Trikeboy Yes, George Lucas can't write dialogue, something he admits, so he had someone else fix his dialogue in the original movie, which is why "A New Hope" is the only Lucas directed Star Wars movie with good dialogue. Why he didn't do the same with the prequel trilogy, we'll never know, although at least "Revenge of the Sith" didn't suffer as badly in that regard.
@sanderev jar jar is more necessary in the movie than annikan.
@BulbasaurusRex yeah I tried clone wars, but they forget what they have done 15 minutes ago in the episode. So badly written they make their objectives 100 times harder when they've previously solved a problem.
It's like Last Jedi when 3 Star destroyers cannot catch the resistance, when all they needed to do was Light speed jump a little ahead to intercept. I cannot stand such stupidity unfortunately. May look them up some time, but everything tells me they cherry pick and mess everything up negatively.
@BulbasaurusRex I don't mean to offend but your view of Revenge of the Sith being slightly better written dialogue wise made me laugh. All that came to mind was, "unliiiiimited pooooower","I have the high ground" and "nooooooooooooooooo". Sorry fella
Unfortunately alot of the dialogue for A New Hope was ripped from other movies, Robin Hood being one (which has the same rough plot) and several WW2 movies like 633 squadron for the Space battle. So I don't think any Star Wars movie has "good" dialogue. Memorable (for both right and wrong reasons) but never good. It's main asset from day one, was the "rush" it gave kids imaginations from the Space battles. A classic space swash buckler.
@Incarna The new canon is still pretty good, while the old EU had its own major problems. "Rogue One" and TV shows are great, "Solo" is good, "The Force Awakens" is good aside from being a rehash, and while the other two films have issues, neither of them are terrible. The various comics, books, and video game stories are also mostly good and a lot more consistent than the old EU.
@FargusPelagius That's a ridiculous idea! Star Wars capital ships have never been able to make micro jumps with such precision. Of course they didn't do that! There are a lot fewer plot holes in the new canon than there were in the old EU.
@FargusPelagius The "unlimited power" and big "no" are good lines, and whether or not you like the logic, there's nothing wrong with the "high ground" line itself. Besides, "Revenge of the Sith" still has a bunch of great lines to go with the mediocre ones such as the classic, "You turned her against me." "No, you have done that yourself."
Even if "A New Hope" did steal a bunch of lines (which I have never heard anything about), it doesn't change the fact that the dialogue is still excellent in that movie. Naturally, if you going to steal lines, you're going to steal the good ones. The dialogue also ranges from good to great in the Star Wars movies that Lucas didn't direct.
@BulbasaurusRex didn't say it needed to be precise, it just had to be Infront enough to give a vectored advantage. They treated it like naval battle ships instead of space battles. As to your NEVER, they do it in the same film to blow up a ship, (apologies if this is inaccurate as I never watched it past Leia getting back into the ship, because i felt it was that awful) they could have sent an unmanned shuttle (droids) on kamikaze run even. In the comics and books they'd have just used an Interdictor to stop them jumping once a net had been established.
And in reply to the dialogue, Star Wars has some good lines, some very bad non sensical and contradictory dialogue. You are entitled to your opinion though. Glad you enjoy Star wars still.
@sanderev u flamed the wrong brah, brah. my comment was only about the game.
@bluedogrulez
Thanks for commenting on the graphical differences from N64, I guess I'll be buying this one. 👍
I remember having fun with this at the time, but by golly, those screenshots are uglier than a monkey's armpit
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