Star Wars: Racer Revenge
Rainbow Studios proves it's got the touch yet again with a revamped, remixed and re-energized take on LucasArts' Episode I Racer.
Published: April 23, 2002
Say what you will about Episode I, but you have to admit than when there were big action scenes (the climactic light saber duel, the pod races, etc.), they were at the very least rather engaging. The pod race in particular was born to be made into a videogame, and being the bright young minds that they are, the boys and girls at LucasArts went to work building a racer that would duplicate the speed and ferocity of the pod races. Shortly thereafter, Star Wars Episode I: Racer was born, and while it was ported to the Dreamcast and (amazingly) N64, the best example of LucasArts' programming muscle could be found on the PC, with its tasty hardware-accelerated high-res recreations of the races. If you had a decent machine and a 3D card, you had crispy clean -- albeit mediocre -- racing experience. The PC version trounced the others in terms of presentation with far better video and sound, which is perhaps why it's that much more impressive that the PS2's sequel absolutely whoops the crap out of the first game.
Then again, it was created by Rainbow Studios, the geniuses behind Motocross Madness on the PC for Microsoft, ATV Offroad Fury for SCEA, and most recently the brilliant Splashdown for Infogrames. With Racer Revenge, Rainbow has improved on a slew of things from the first Racer game, but perhaps most importantly of all, they made it feel fast. The first game has simulated speeds of up to 600 MPH, but you never really felt like the podracers got above 30. With the PS2 version, everything absolutely screams along, and when coupled with Rainbow's much improved level design (wait till you see the revamped first track of Mos Espa, which kicks the crap out of the PC version's over-simplified recreation), the game is far, far more entertaining - if still a little bit on the shallow side. The new courses (none of which really bear any significant resemblance to the original Racer's tracks, save for the aforementioned Mos Espa race on Tattoine) do boast some rather entertaining shortcuts that, like any good racing level design, may or may not save you time. It gives you something to explore on your subsequent trips around the track after zipping though them in tournament mode.
If you haven't yet played any of the many, many incarnations of the videogame version of the pod races, there's not a whole lot to catch up on. Essentially played exactly as they are in the movie, it's your job to navigate various courses while balancing damage, heat and the obvious race to finish first. Should the need for speed overwhelm you, there's the option to kick in a little turbo, which can be held down as long as you want. Of course, the longer you use it, the higher your engine heat climbs and after a point, you start to steadily take damage, which can lead to a fiery demise. Of course, there are plenty of factors that influence how much damage you take, how fast you cool down, etc., which brings us to the upgrades.
Racer Revenge's podracer stats are broken down into six categories; acceleration, top speed, handling, defense, repair and cooling. Each can be upgraded by earning cash by placing in the top three, with upgrades costing subsequently more per notch the higher up you go. There is an interesting twist to the usual cash-for-placing bonus, however; if you can K.O. racers during the race, Watto will reward you with a little extra cash for the spare parts left behind. It's a brilliant way to encourage a little more in the way of shunts and bumps, and adds a more strategic element to racing. You'll have to balance delivering hits, making repairs, and just plain making sure you finish first. It's not overly difficult, but it does make a game that could have been ridiculously short a little more rewarding.
Like most racing games, you have the option of taking on a second player in an addictively fun (and usually quite crash-prone) head-to-head split screen race, or you can run a single race by yourself on tracks you've unlocked in the tournament mode. That tournament mode, is of course, the meat of Racer Revenge's gameplay. The races you compete in open the doors for new tracks that can be played in any of the other modes, and gives you the opportunity to upgrade your podracer so you not only can continue to compete in the rest of the tournament, but so that you have a supped-up speed machine to compete against friends with in multiplayer. You'll also unlock some art gallery work, which while cool, can't really hold a candle to stuff like the Jedi Starfighter bonus goodies. It's a nice effort, but checking out concept art and sketches never really does it for me on DVD movies, and it's much of the same here.
Something that jumped out at me as I was writing this review was that Racer Revenge is actually a CD-based game. It's not completely uncommon to see games that use CD's still (Shadow Man 2 and Virtua Fighter 4 are both CD-based), but with the graphics as decent as they are, I was a bit surprised. The graphics aren't the most revolutionary example of PS2 prowess available on the system, but they do a good job of balancing detail for a smooth framerate. For the most part, that framerate is pretty steady. There's a noticeable amount of choppiness on the pre-race intros that show you various attractions and hazards on the courses, but the race proper tends to scoot along at a plenty smooth pace. If you actually stop to look at the textures (something that will obviously cost you the race in most cases), you'll notice things are a bit blurry and low-res - especially on more organic surfaces. However, on close-up models, like the characters on the select screen or especially Watto when upgrading your ship, look absolutely fantastic.
In fact, the modeling in general is remarkable. Most of the podracers themselves are little more than slightly intricate engines with a less detailed sled being pulled behind. This isn't really a huge deal, since you're not really paying attention to the poly count or detail on the ships as you race around the track, but the different craft tend to look a bit alike. Luckily, the character designs witnessed on the character select screen is absolutely, positively brilliant, and while you don't get a ton of animations from each of them, what you do get is simply stellar. From the way Sebulba ambles out on his hands to the high-stepping, perky stride of Kraid Nemmeso to the way Watto flits about, his trunk-like nose swaying slightly, the attention to detail is mind-blowing. Again, this is limited to the character select screen, but it's nice to see there was no skimping when it came to really showing off the model work.
I've never really known a LucasArts game to have poor sound. Less than stunning, sure, but never bad. Racer Revenge holds true to that heritage, boasting a nice assortment of effects and familiar-yet-new Williams and Williams-esque musical pieces. Most of the effects you hear are of engine noise, a unique warbling and almost throaty sound that stays quite close to what you hear in Episode I's infamous scene. There's a decent amount of variety in the engine noises, the clank of racer on racer is appropriately dull and heavy, and the quips from the riders (most in alien tongues) are carried off well. There is an interesting little feature that lets the music drop out when you break into the lead. Should you fall back into the pack, the music slowly fades back in to accentuate the action. It's a nice effect, and does a great job of punctuating the action on screen.
When it all comes down to it, Racer Revenge does a fantastic job of mixing a couple different racing elements so that you're not just racing for the finish line. Balancing ramming the crap out of other racers with boost and heat management and repairing with shortcut exploration helps lift things out of the ho-hum, shallow realm of racing that the first game suffered from. Don't be mistaken into thinking this is a ridiculously deep racer, but for a pure arcade experience, you'll find little else that offers this type of racing fun, and actually uses the oft-wasted Star Wars license in a compelling way. It's tough to say if you'll really find enough here for a full purchase, but this is a sure-fire rental if ever there was one.
Then again, it was created by Rainbow Studios, the geniuses behind Motocross Madness on the PC for Microsoft, ATV Offroad Fury for SCEA, and most recently the brilliant Splashdown for Infogrames. With Racer Revenge, Rainbow has improved on a slew of things from the first Racer game, but perhaps most importantly of all, they made it feel fast. The first game has simulated speeds of up to 600 MPH, but you never really felt like the podracers got above 30. With the PS2 version, everything absolutely screams along, and when coupled with Rainbow's much improved level design (wait till you see the revamped first track of Mos Espa, which kicks the crap out of the PC version's over-simplified recreation), the game is far, far more entertaining - if still a little bit on the shallow side. The new courses (none of which really bear any significant resemblance to the original Racer's tracks, save for the aforementioned Mos Espa race on Tattoine) do boast some rather entertaining shortcuts that, like any good racing level design, may or may not save you time. It gives you something to explore on your subsequent trips around the track after zipping though them in tournament mode.
If you haven't yet played any of the many, many incarnations of the videogame version of the pod races, there's not a whole lot to catch up on. Essentially played exactly as they are in the movie, it's your job to navigate various courses while balancing damage, heat and the obvious race to finish first. Should the need for speed overwhelm you, there's the option to kick in a little turbo, which can be held down as long as you want. Of course, the longer you use it, the higher your engine heat climbs and after a point, you start to steadily take damage, which can lead to a fiery demise. Of course, there are plenty of factors that influence how much damage you take, how fast you cool down, etc., which brings us to the upgrades.
Racer Revenge's podracer stats are broken down into six categories; acceleration, top speed, handling, defense, repair and cooling. Each can be upgraded by earning cash by placing in the top three, with upgrades costing subsequently more per notch the higher up you go. There is an interesting twist to the usual cash-for-placing bonus, however; if you can K.O. racers during the race, Watto will reward you with a little extra cash for the spare parts left behind. It's a brilliant way to encourage a little more in the way of shunts and bumps, and adds a more strategic element to racing. You'll have to balance delivering hits, making repairs, and just plain making sure you finish first. It's not overly difficult, but it does make a game that could have been ridiculously short a little more rewarding.
Like most racing games, you have the option of taking on a second player in an addictively fun (and usually quite crash-prone) head-to-head split screen race, or you can run a single race by yourself on tracks you've unlocked in the tournament mode. That tournament mode, is of course, the meat of Racer Revenge's gameplay. The races you compete in open the doors for new tracks that can be played in any of the other modes, and gives you the opportunity to upgrade your podracer so you not only can continue to compete in the rest of the tournament, but so that you have a supped-up speed machine to compete against friends with in multiplayer. You'll also unlock some art gallery work, which while cool, can't really hold a candle to stuff like the Jedi Starfighter bonus goodies. It's a nice effort, but checking out concept art and sketches never really does it for me on DVD movies, and it's much of the same here.
Something that jumped out at me as I was writing this review was that Racer Revenge is actually a CD-based game. It's not completely uncommon to see games that use CD's still (Shadow Man 2 and Virtua Fighter 4 are both CD-based), but with the graphics as decent as they are, I was a bit surprised. The graphics aren't the most revolutionary example of PS2 prowess available on the system, but they do a good job of balancing detail for a smooth framerate. For the most part, that framerate is pretty steady. There's a noticeable amount of choppiness on the pre-race intros that show you various attractions and hazards on the courses, but the race proper tends to scoot along at a plenty smooth pace. If you actually stop to look at the textures (something that will obviously cost you the race in most cases), you'll notice things are a bit blurry and low-res - especially on more organic surfaces. However, on close-up models, like the characters on the select screen or especially Watto when upgrading your ship, look absolutely fantastic.
In fact, the modeling in general is remarkable. Most of the podracers themselves are little more than slightly intricate engines with a less detailed sled being pulled behind. This isn't really a huge deal, since you're not really paying attention to the poly count or detail on the ships as you race around the track, but the different craft tend to look a bit alike. Luckily, the character designs witnessed on the character select screen is absolutely, positively brilliant, and while you don't get a ton of animations from each of them, what you do get is simply stellar. From the way Sebulba ambles out on his hands to the high-stepping, perky stride of Kraid Nemmeso to the way Watto flits about, his trunk-like nose swaying slightly, the attention to detail is mind-blowing. Again, this is limited to the character select screen, but it's nice to see there was no skimping when it came to really showing off the model work.
I've never really known a LucasArts game to have poor sound. Less than stunning, sure, but never bad. Racer Revenge holds true to that heritage, boasting a nice assortment of effects and familiar-yet-new Williams and Williams-esque musical pieces. Most of the effects you hear are of engine noise, a unique warbling and almost throaty sound that stays quite close to what you hear in Episode I's infamous scene. There's a decent amount of variety in the engine noises, the clank of racer on racer is appropriately dull and heavy, and the quips from the riders (most in alien tongues) are carried off well. There is an interesting little feature that lets the music drop out when you break into the lead. Should you fall back into the pack, the music slowly fades back in to accentuate the action. It's a nice effect, and does a great job of punctuating the action on screen.
When it all comes down to it, Racer Revenge does a fantastic job of mixing a couple different racing elements so that you're not just racing for the finish line. Balancing ramming the crap out of other racers with boost and heat management and repairing with shortcut exploration helps lift things out of the ho-hum, shallow realm of racing that the first game suffered from. Don't be mistaken into thinking this is a ridiculously deep racer, but for a pure arcade experience, you'll find little else that offers this type of racing fun, and actually uses the oft-wasted Star Wars license in a compelling way. It's tough to say if you'll really find enough here for a full purchase, but this is a sure-fire rental if ever there was one.
