Star Wars: Galactic Racer Review – A Surprise, To Be Sure, But A Welcome One

After finishing Star Wars: Zero Company, I thought it would be a while before another good Star Wars game came along. Not trying to say I didn’t know about Star Wars: Galactic Racer, but as someone who doesn’t play many racing games, it wasn’t on my radar with such a busy gaming year. The more I saw of the game, the more I became interested. Until the race tracks and podracers convinced me to try it, bringing me one of the best surprises this year.

One of those surprises was the game’s campaign being a roguelike. Yes, a racer roguelike Star Wars game. The story takes place in the New Republic Era, and in this campaign, you take the role of Shade, a mysterious pilot and courier. While not much is said about Shade, he even keeps his helmet on the entire storyline, one thing’s for sure: he hates the Bool family, especially Kestar Bool, one of the most influential racers in the Galactic League. Once Shade discovers Kestar is in the League, he’s set on taking away his crown as payback.

While it is a simple narrative, the roguelike elements keep the entire story engaging from beginning to end. The campaign is divided into three League Tours, each containing many races. While three may sound short, there are many races; if you are dropped from a race, you will lose your ticket and go back to the beginning of the tour. Here is where the roguelike elements come in. With each tour run, you will acquire parts that will help you on your next one and credits to upgrade your speeder.

There are three types of speeders in the game: the Landspeeder, Speeder Bike, Skim Speeder, and the popular podracers for some modes in the game. I would’ve liked more customization options for the appearance of these. Customization is simple, with even color choices being locked to patterns. Each of these speeders not only brings its unique design, but also its own gameplay as well. The gameplay is where Galactic Racer shines, bringing one of the fastest racing games ever, with speeders going up to 1,000 km/h. This high-speed feeling is simply one of the most immersive and adrenaline-fueling experiences I’ve ever had in gaming.

Since many of the developers at Fuse Games worked on the Burnout and Need for Speed series, races themselves are full of high-speed epic moments and slow-motion crashes that will have you gasping at the spectacle of it. This spectacle is uplifted by very impressive visuals and great performance even at ultra graphic settings. In the tours, players have the opportunity to play in a small box of a level where they interact with the other characters. Here, the art team brings their best with one of the best-looking Star Wars environments and character designs, so good that I won’t be surprised if this team is hired later for a Star Wars RPG.

The art direction and visuals translate well into the Tracks as well. These tracks bring iconic locations from the classic Tatooine to some of the newer ones in the lore, like Crait. What most impacted me about these tracks is how the environments affect the racing. For example, on the cold planet Ando Prime, racers need to keep their speeders warm by speeding through heating crates that will save them from completely freezing. Each planet has its own hazards, which you can counter with the parts and upgrades you receive, making a great connection from level design to the gameplay.

Another element that keeps the campaign interesting is the characters. The game brings both new and a few well-known faces from the Star Wars universe, especially those related to the racing scenes in The Phantom Menace film. These characters interact with Shade through dialogue, fitting his latest run results. But more than cool dialogue beats, many secondary characters will offer the player trading opportunities, and even test-racing opportunities to earn some extra credits. With one of those characters from The Phantom Menace, you will even be able to play some scenarios as memories.

These scenarios expand into their own game mode, where you can play a tour as the different characters you encounter in the main story. In addition to this mode, the game includes a Challenges Arcade mode full of time trials and unique rule races, and there is also multiplayer. The multiplayer includes tours and quick play modes that you can enjoy against other players.

While these modes in the multiplayer are fun, there are some issues that are currently holding back the multiplayer experience. There’s a limit of three players per party, though the team has confirmed that this will be going up to six. However, there is no way to make any sort of custom races or lobbies for a more personalized experience. However, the standard modes and gameplay are so enjoyable that they easily compensate for the small lack of customization.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer ended up being a roguelike experience I didn’t know I needed. Its mixture of roguelike elements with racing in a Star Wars universe is simply a combination never before seen in gaming, yet it’s one that achieves perfect synchronization. While simple and lacking a bit in some aspects, such as customization and personalization, the core gameplay and modes of the game are simply spectacular. Galactic Racer gave me one of the best experiences I’ve had in the racing genre thanks to its unique feel, even though it takes place in a very familiar and far-away galaxy.

Walter reviewed Star Wars: Galactic Racer on PC with his own bought copy. This review is based on the version of the game available at the time of writing, and our score will not be changed.