Star Wars: Episode 1 was a massive success, despite being viewed as a poor film. The podracing scene was well liked, with some great designs and amazing sounds. Really, LucasArts could have just rushed something cheap and easy – just copy another future racer, use various Star Wars locations we’ve already seen – and made a ton of money with a podracing video game, but they actually went to a ton of effort with it, and it shows in the final product.

For this playthrough, I played the remastered version for modern consoles. It’s the same game, it just runs smoother.

The developers of Episode 1: Racer clearly analysed every aspect of the film sequence to work out some mechanics that would suit the game, which also has the bonus effect of helping the game feel unique. You need to charge up your boost by holding forward, then press the boost button, which lasts until you let go of the accelerator, hit something or your engine overheats and bursts into flames. As you take damage, your steering will be affected (due to one engine going slower), so you’ll need to repair, which slows down your podracer, although you can time this just after a boost or during a jump, so planning when to repair is important. I do think it might be faster in some instances to crash and respawn than to repair severely damaged engines, though.

The handling is incredibly smooth in the game, navigating small sections feels amazing, especially with the sense of speed the game provides. Crashes felt like my own mistakes and every slight tilt of the analogue stick is important. With the exception of Tatooine, each planet in the game is brand new, but each one captures the feel of the Star Wars universe extremely well. Each planet has multiple tracks that share portions, but the unique sections feel distinct enough that it works really well.

There is one track in particular that is extremely difficult – Abyss. This features a long, narrow section with turns and if you miss, you end up on a lower part of the track. If this happens, you’ve lost as that route is so much slower. I never managed it as Anakin, but choosing another racer (there’s a lot in the game) and slowing down a bit and I was able to sort it. The game is also nice an friendly in that you pick individual races to do, rather than having to do a tournament in one go.

My biggest issue with Episode 1: Racer are the vehicle upgrades, as the system doesn’t feel fully complete. You can but new parts from Watto or damaged parts from the junkyard. As you race, these get more damaged, but a pit droid will fix one part. You can have a total of four pit droids, so if you buy more than four types of parts, they’ll get damaged and your stats will decrease. Which means you can’t really improve in more than four categories.

Repairs (and damage) also only happen in races you haven’t come first in. On top of that, you can only earn money once per race, so if you want to buy the best parts once you’ve finished the game, you need to plan ahead by buying junk parts, racing to fix them and selling them as you go through the game – it’s a strange system.

But it’s only a minor issue, and upgrading in four areas (I did turning, acceleration, speed and cooling) is more than enough, so once you realise that, it doesn’t hamper the experience. Episode 1: Racer is an immense amount of fun and it’s a shame that Star Wars games have never been able to capture the feel of this in future podracing games (Racer Revenge) and minigames (Star Wars Kinect).

Fave

The rounded architecture in the cities, the dusty colours, the seedy bars and alien wide boys in the cut scenes put all similar games to shame in terms of creating a spine-tingling atmosphere, and the pod craft really do look the business – although you probably wouldn’t want to strap yourself into one.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #30. Review Score: 88%

Remake or remaster?

The remaster makes the game run a lot nicer and in higher resolution, but it would be nice to have options to resolve the issues with parts. Still, this game deserved a proper sequel – take the same gameplay, add some new nicely designed tracks and don’t try to mess it up too much.

Official ways to get the game.

The remaster is available on Switch, PS4/5 and Xbox One/Series. The original PC version is available on GoG and Steam, however this can crash a lot on modern operating systems and does not support widescreen, higher resolutions or modern controllers.