No matter your ideas on the divisive Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, we might most likely all agree that the breakneck podracing sequence was an thrilling spotlight, which turned its personal sport that beats the likes of Wipeout and F-Zero because the best-selling sci-fi racer of all time, and even bought an HD re-release again in 2020. However there was absolutely extra potential to broaden on racing to turn out to be as a lot a fixture within the Star Wars universe as lightsaber fights or area dogfights, which brings us properly to my latest hands-on with Star Wars: Galactic Racer.
Set within the New Republic period after the occasions of Return of the Jedi, this is not truly about podracing; as a substitute, it centres on the Galactic League, a high-stakes underground racing match that features a breadth of different high-speed racing autos. These embrace landspeeders, speeder bikes, and a tantalising new automobile sort within the Star Wars universe referred to as skimspeeders. That selection does result in one character awkwardly attempting to imitate younger Anakin Skywalker’s catchphrase as, “Now that is… racing!” (does not fairly have the identical ring to it, huh), however the thought is having the ability to unlock and utilise completely different automobile varieties, akin to how skimspeeders can rotate sideways on a knife-edge for tight turns.
Whereas I bought to briefly take management of among the racing rivals within the opening tutorial, together with ex-TIE pilot Griff Halloran, and the league’s reigning champion Kestar Bool, for its runs-based single-player marketing campaign, I am solid because the considerably bland, if customisable, protagonist Shade, attempting to make their means up within the Galactic League with only a humble landspeeder, and the place being retired from a race means having to start out over from scratch.
(Picture credit score: Lucasfilm / Fuse Video games)
Galactic Racer oozes Star Wars id
For a sport largely devoid of any acquainted characters, Galactic Racer nonetheless nails the appear and feel of the Star Wars universe, its races set throughout a wide range of planets within the galaxy‘s Outer Rim (despite the fact that you as soon as once more start on a desert planet, however a minimum of it is Jakku as a substitute of Tatooine), with an unusual-looking solid of alien races, and naturally the usage of display screen wipe transitions throughout cutscenes.
Extra importantly, the autos aren’t pristine or shiny. Irrespective of the way you customise them, they all the time look beat up with chipped paint, simply as you’d anticipate when racing in excessive circumstances and ramming into different opponents. Talking of which, Galactic Racer’s distinctive sauce is that developer Fuse’s founders are additionally former staffers at Criterion, the studio behind the Burnout sequence, and that DNA comes throughout within the dramatic crash cams each time a automobile has the misfortune of colliding with a wall or exploding into smithereens from overheating.
Admittedly, I discovered myself on the receiving finish of the crash cam one too many instances throughout my hands-on, proof that Galactic Racer is each bit as quick and ruthlessly livid as any high-speed sci-fi racer (regardless of the roguelite side, it is nonetheless beneficiant to an extent as by default you may crash as much as 3 times earlier than you are truly eradicated). A part of the risk-taking comes from the Ramjet. It is like an extra pace booster you should utilize even after the booster gauge has depleted, however in the event you maintain it down too lengthy, it’ll overheat and switch your experience right into a blazing wreck. Let go too early, nonetheless, and you will have to attend for it to utterly settle down earlier than it may be used once more, and as you may improve the Ramjet with extra perks that activate whereas it is overheating, there is a risk-reward ingredient to staying in that crimson hazard zone for the additional milliseconds you may afford.
(Picture credit score: Lucasfilm / Fuse Video games)
The marketing campaign is described as a ‘racing journey’, and so that you’re additionally immersed within the Star Wars universe via cinematic cutscenes in addition to attending to roam somewhat round small hubs on every planet in between races. I’ve already had a scuffle with Kestar Bool, who ended one race threatening to have Shade frozen in carbonite, and am intrigued by how this narrative develops over the course of racing a sequence. There already looks like extra stakes and substance than simply one other arcade racer of one-off races.
The latter is, nonetheless, out there exterior of the marketing campaign with various single-race occasions and time trials. It is the proper place to deliver again podracers screaming into 2026 with Unreal 5 constancy. After all, one of many podraces I attempted is virtually an ideal creation of the unique podrace in The Phantom Menace, with the twist right here being that I am not taking part in as Anakin however his arch-rival Sebulba, who you additionally get to play soiled along with his flame vent that torches races on both aspect. It actually feels in one other league too by way of velocity and talent – the F1 to the Galactic League’s GT, in the event you will- so it is smart that podracers cannot be chosen alongside different autos. However it’s good to know that the podracing lineage lives on within the sport, together with multiplayer choices.
I additionally bought a style of the sport’s on-line racing, with the headline attraction being a tour with as much as 12 gamers. Just like the marketing campaign, it is also a sequence of races the place you’ve got the chance to enhance your racer or spend your winnings on unlocking randomised improve packs. The truth that on-line excursions haven’t got a roguelite elimination side does a minimum of imply you may truly see extra of the sort of circuits and environments on supply, akin to tracks with corrosive swamps, or volcanic lava that overheats your engines even sooner – I actually handle to expertise extra this manner than my makes an attempt at racing via Jakku again and again within the marketing campaign portion of the hands-on.
(Picture credit score: Lucasfilm / Fuse Video games)
Explosive on-line pod-racing
Nonetheless, racing on-line towards different human gamers is all the time ruthless, particularly when crashing will see you dropping positions rapidly. Thankfully, in the event you’re the one inflicting the crashes, Galactic Racer additionally employs Burnout’s second of grace the place you’ve got a short invincibility window for having fun with your rival’s crash in slow-motion however with out crashing your self. One other enjoyable a part of proceedings takes place earlier than a race the place you may guess on your self on how effectively you do, with rewards in the event you predict proper but additionally higher rewards in the event you purpose larger.
In any case, there’s an incentive for you even when you recognize you are not going to finish up with a podium end, when you even have the possibility to double your rewards as an underdog in the event you end final in a race (one thing I sadly found via firsthand expertise). That you may additionally see different gamers’ bets positioned in actual time, which may be modified proper up till earlier than the following race begins, provides to some meta visible thoughts video games, as you scope out the cockiest racers or guess large earlier than tempering expectations on the final second.
After a day of sheer pace blasting inches away from my eyeballs, I’ve come away impressed with the bundle and proposition that Star Wars Galactic Racer presents. Whilst you can hint its older roots from Episode I Racer to Burnout, the roguelite twist is bound to make its single-player marketing campaign extra participating and replayable, and whereas Fuse captures the authenticity of the Star Wars universe, its galactic races broaden its dimensions in new, thrilling methods, which must make it stand out in certainly one of gaming’s busiest launch schedules this autumn.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer releases on PC, PS5 and Xbox Sequence X/S on 6 October.