I like Star Wars and play loads of Star Wars video games. Some are good. Some are dangerous. However so a lot of them are both shooters or third-person motion video games. These will be enjoyable, certain, however the Star Wars universe can help a lot greater than that. So I’m very enthusiastic about Star Wars: Galactic Racer, an upcoming fast-paced arcade racer with some roguelike parts. And its arrival only a few weeks after Zero Firm hopefully marks the beginning of extra Star Wars video games doing one thing completely different.
Galactic Racer, out on October 6 on PS5, Xbox, and PC, is the primary recreation from Fuse Video games, a studio based by some key of us behind the fantastically quick Burnout franchise. And I imply, the thought of some former Burnout devs and leaders engaged on a brand new racing recreation is an thrilling prospect in and of itself. However the truth that Galactic Racer is additionally set within the Star Wars universe and can characteristic podracing and iconic planets like Tatooine makes it sound like this recreation could possibly be very particular.
When you concentrate on it, Star Wars and racing appear to be an ideal match. Heck, again within the day we acquired a number of Star Wars–themed racing video games (and even a Twisted Metal knock-off). So what occurred? Why did they cease getting made?
Why did it take this lengthy for a brand new Star Wars racing recreation?
In an interview with IGN, Fuse Video games CEO and founder Matt Webster and artistic director Kieran Crimmins talked about that very subject, with Webster telling the outlet that the extra the group contemplated its first recreation, the extra they questioned, “Okay, why hasn’t there been a Star Wars racing recreation for therefore lengthy?”
And it’s true, it has been 24 years since 2002’s Racer’s Revenge, the final massive Star Battles racing recreation. Perhaps you suppose Lucasfilm is the rationale, however in keeping with Crimmins, that’s not the case in any respect.
“It was pretty apparent that [a Star Wars racing game was] in all probability going to be the very best recreation we might make for our first recreation,” Crimmins instructed IGN.
“It will simply be the very best recreation that we might make, full cease. After which we took that to our companions in Lucasfilm, as a result of we labored with them earlier than, we all know them, so lets say, ‘Hey guys, what do you consider this factor?’ And so they mainly mentioned the identical factor again to us, the place they had been like, ‘Yeah, we’re actually enthusiastic about these items. We love that stuff that you simply’re doing. That completely is smart for us.’ And as quickly as you will have that form of mutual pleasure, it’s like, ‘We’ve acquired to make this occur.’” And they also did!
I hope Star Wars: Galactic Racer is the start of a brand new period
Subsequent month, Star Wars: Galactic Racer arrives, and primarily based on some early previews and hands-on experiences persons are reporting with the sport, including Kotaku’s own Ethan Gach, it seems like Fuse Video games has fully understood the project and crafted one heck of a track-based Star Wars racer.
I’m additionally intrigued by the inclusion of some rogue-like parts into the sport’s fundamental marketing campaign mode. Gamers should make some laborious selections as they win races and improve their car in the event that they need to attain the grand championship. I feel that’s a wise method so as to add some additional selection to a recreation constructed round racing throughout the identical tracks again and again. It additionally may make you suppose twice earlier than you threat a harmful slam into an opponent.
The timing of its launch may be very thrilling for Star Wars followers, because it’s set to launch only a few quick weeks after Star Wars Zero Firm. (No colon in that title, complicated.) That was a implausible Star Wars recreation that offered gamers with an XCOM-like tactical technique expertise crammed with loads of Star Wars hijinks like clones, droids, and even a Jedi or two. Even its technical flaws couldn’t maintain it again from being a breath of recent air within the Star Wars online game sphere, an instance that not all Star Wars video games must be third-person motion video games or shooters. You are able to do one thing completely different, and the tip consequence will be superior.
This can be a development I actually, actually need to see extra of. I feel Star Wars can help all types of genres. There was a time once we’d get that large assortment of Star Wars video games. Not a lot at present, however I hope that’s beginning to change. I need a Star Wars narrative-driven recreation like Mixtape. A Star Wars sports activities recreation. A survival horror recreation that performs like Resident Evil 9, however is ready within the Star Wars universe. A Star Wars metropolis builder! A Star Wars comedy recreation! A Star Wars recreation the place you play as Dexter Jetster and run a small diner!
Come on, let’s have some enjoyable with this massively well-liked franchise packed stuffed with bizarre characters, wild aliens, unusual worlds, and a great deal of tales to inform. It doesn’t all should be Lego recreation, shooter, third-person thingy. Hopefully, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is not only an excellent racing recreation, however extra affirmation that we’re getting into a brand new, various period of Star Wars gaming.