Can you feel it? Can you feel the heat of the twin suns pounding the endless seas of sand, threatening to turn the whole planet into one massive sheet of glass? You no doubt hear the deafening roar of repulsorcrafts screaming across the dunes, hurtling over bottomless chasms and snaking through impossibly narrow, craggy canyons and gullies. The thunderous cheers of the fans bellow out from the bleachers and barely manage to be heard over the powerful podracers tearing around a hairpin turn. The checkered flag stood resolute just ahead, waiting to crown one lucky pilot in glory. A pair of drivers careened towards the flag, their podracers a mere knife length apart. The flag came down, as one vehicle barely eked out a win. For that brief instance, the applause and screams of the crowd actually drowned out the din of the podracers. For these people gathered here, both in the stands and in the cockpits, this is the greatest sport in the galaxy, and they're having the time of their lives.
I'm a massive fan of podracing. As the child of a passionate NASCAR fan, and growing up around racing in the nineties, podracing felt strangely familiar, yet perfectly alien - a feeling that Star Wars has often managed to capture. Podracing was such a small part of The Phantom Menace though, and thankfully it has been explored in a much deeper way through the video game medium. I sunk hundreds of hours into Episode 1: Racer on our childhood N64, and dreamed of a franchise of podracing games. Bizarrely enough, Racer Revenge passed me right by as a child and only recently did I finally sit down to dive into this totally "wizard" sequel.
If you've played Episode I: Racer, this follow-up should feel intuitive and familiar. The driving mechanics feel precise, which is critically important, given the almost baffling speed that you and your fellow racers are moving. As a podracer pilot, it isn't as simple as just maintaining your speed and avoiding obstacles and enemy racers, you're also responsible for repairing your vehicle when it becomes damaged and ensuring that your engines don't overheat. Carefully balancing these interwoven gameplay components gave Racer Revenge a sense of verisimilitude, as if you're really piloting this podracer. My favorite thing to do with this game, was to run through a track a few times to become familiar with it. Then I'd often find myself entering into this almost flow state as I'd tear through the course, dodging hazards, monitoring my vehicle's temperature and condition and fighting for position against the brutally antagonistic AI racers. Even with feeling like I had almost mastered Racer Revenge's mechanics, each victory that I managed to clench felt like a huge achievement.
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On the topic of Racer Revenge's driving mechanics, I need to mention the game's "Garage" system. Upon completing races in the game's Tournament mode, you're paid a currency called "truguts," which can in turn be paid to Watto in exchange for podracer upgrades. You can tweak massively beneficial elements like Handling, Acceleration, Cooling, Repair, etc. A really interesting aspect of this upgrade system is that your vehicle adjustments carry over to the other game modes, which can be advantageous for practicing specific courses for Tournament mode.
Star Wars Racer Revenge features several distinct racetracks across a handful of diverse planets. The developers did a fantastic job in making each planet, and each individual track feel unique from the last. Tatooine, Sullust, Ryloth, Mon Calamari and Gamorr comprise the different planets that you'll race across, with each featuring a handful of tracks. These each feel distinguished from one another, both in their visual aesthetics, and their layouts. A few of the tracks even feature some neat gimmicks, such as the rainforest planet of Gamorr having a race that is set during a torrential thunderstorm. Apparently, there was supposed to be a Coruscant track, which is even shown in the game's opening movie, but it never made it into the finished product.
Racer Revenge features some really neat unlockables that you can pursue throughout your time with the game. There's a massive roster of characters, with many of them being unlocked through winning Tournament races. My son and I had a blast seeing what each of the freaky looking racers looked like as we unlocked them. There are a handful of awesome hidden characters to unlock, like Darth Vader or Darth Maul. I couldn't stop laughing at the implication of Darth Vader being there, like even as a corrupted, brainwashed adult, they couldn't keep him off the track. Beyond racers, you can also unlock some awesome concept art of the myriad planets, racers, vehicles, etc.
Star Wars Racer Revenge is nearly twenty-five years old, so you can safely expect some jank here and there, though none of it too serious. I was really impressed with how well the game held up for being an early PlayStation 2 title. With the "PS2 Classics" version on PlayStation 3, the performance was consistently choppy, with only occasional instances of truly smooth frame rates. I know this can be a deal-breaker for a lot of people, but in truth, I had a great deal of fun with this game and nothing that I encountered put too much of a damper on my enjoyment. I highly recommend checking out Star Wars Racer Revenge.
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