Star Wars: Episode I - Racer

aka: Pod Racer, SW E 1 Racer, Star Wars: Episódio I - Racer
Moby ID: 276
Windows Specs
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Description official descriptions

Based upon the Pod Racing scenes of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, your mission as young Anakin Skywalker or as one of a collection of strange characters from around the Galaxy is to compete, survive and win in the high speed challenge of Pod Racing.

Each character has a unique Pod that can be upgraded with the credits you win after each race. Finish first to gain the most prestige and compete in greater and more challenging tracks, including the now famous race along the sand dunes of Tatooine that determined the destiny of many lives.

Spellings

  • スター・ウォーズ エピソード1 レーサー - Japanese spelling

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Credits (Windows version)

142 People (134 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 79% (based on 62 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 148 ratings with 9 reviews)

Great high-speed racing excitment!

The Good
I'm not really a fan of racing games, but this one I must say I rather like. :) It has many downfalls, but you just can't beat the thrill of racing at 700kph across the 21 different tracks offered by this game. The pod racing scene in the Phantom Menace was one of my favorite parts of that movie, and this game does a decent job of recreating the excitment. You can use all the pod racers from the movie (and more, I think), and buy parts to upgrade them. I ran this on a Pentium 233 with a Voodoo3 2000, and it ran at great frame rates.

The Bad
A few things: The graphics really aren't that good. This is most likely because the game developers didn't expect you to slow down and examine the scenery closely. Another thing was upgrading your pod racer... At the end of each race you get an amount of money corresponding to what you placed, and how much you bet. You use this money to buy parts to upgrade your racer. But, annoyingly enough, it seems these parts will disappear after your racer gets destroyed enough times (I think... it's hard to tell why or when it happens). This means that you have to spend even more money just to get back the parts you lost.

The Bottom Line
Episode One Racer isn't a revolutionary racing game or anything, but if you have time to kill, it's a heck of a lot of fun! :)

Windows · by Null McNull (25) · 2000

Great sci-fi, high speed racer

The Good
I think that this game is a good reproduction of the podracing sequence in "Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace". Each of it's tracks are detailed fairly well, and it's characters look pretty good. My fingers fell right into place with it's controls, but finding out what they were took some time in the manual. The scenery was great, and the moving objects off the track Definatly a good addition to the Star Wars universe.

The Bad
The computer opponents were terribly detailed. Some had black squares in the front of there podracer. Their movements were jerky, and their speed wasn't constant. The screenshot option was not as good as I had expected. Some of them came out blank, others made the podracers disappear, but left their shadows. I think that some other sort of multiplayer option would have been in order. Something like the Nintendo 64 version (split-screen) would have been nice, but that would have required another input device. The sound was strange, because the sounds of the engines in each podracer each sounded the same. Even then, the engine noises would get quiet, then loud, then quiet, then loud. I didn't here any of the fans cheering unless I stopped.

The Bottom Line
This game is a good addition to any racing gamers collection. If you like Star Wars, you should this game on any platform. I would recommend it to just about anyone.

Windows · by Mullet of Death (592) · 2005

Fast

The Good
(mini review) PLOT: Race on several planets and become the master Pod-Racer...or something like that.

MENU: Rather granulated and misplaced buttons that try to reflect an alien style but does not quite get the leg over.

GRAPHICS: Good (for 1999). Lighting is well done and the levels are interesting enough to look at. The pod racers are well detailed, though the drivers are a bit lacking and the purple binder rays overlap sprites, such as signs.

SOUND: It's there but lacking. Music is pretty out of the game so the pilot is suffering from engine whinies and humms. All of the opposing racers have their own voices but the bangs and scrapes when you hit somthing are dull.

GAMEPLAY: Fast, almost uncontrolable fast. Often you will find yourself lagging behind the racers after one slip up, with the tracks being hard to navigate and offer some pathways that slow you down. The tracks themselves have lots of spills to offer with ramps, flying and landing craft as well as rock slides there is never a dull moment. One of the great things though is buying upgrades for your racer. This has often been missed out on in other games but in SW:PR it is well done with each element of the racer avalible for upgrade with many different parts, you earn money from each race and you can spend it on upgrades. The AI is pretty marginal, they don't do much like in the movie, you don't get jostled around or bumped, just yelled at. Also there are lots of Racers to choose from.

The Bad
The graphics and sound were lacking, the A.I was boring and Sebula's flame weapon was of no use to the AI players who are invincible.

The Bottom Line
A good game for a rainy day or a LAN party.

Windows · by Sam Hardy (80) · 2001

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Trivia

Title

Lucas Arts wanted to call this game Pod Racer, but an older game already existed with that name and legal stupidity prevailed. According to Racer project lead Jon Knoles, the other game was Ubisoft's 1997 futuristic racer POD, "Planet of Death.".

Voices

Some actors from the movie also appear in the game, including Greg Proops (Fode, race commentator) and Jake Lloyd (Anakin Skywalker).

Awards

  • Total! (Germany)
    • Issue 01/2000 – Best N64 Futuristic Racing Game in 1999

Information also contributed by James1 and Johnny Szary

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Brian Hirt.

Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch added by Rik Hideto. Dreamcast, Nintendo 64 added by Kartanym. Macintosh added by Jason Savage.

Additional contributors: Trixter, Apogee IV, tarmo888, Hawklord, gamewarrior, Patrick Bregger, GenesisBR.

Game added September 16, 1999. Last modified March 15, 2024.