Months after Star Wars: Episode I debuted, Mac users are finally getting some of the more popular games that contributed to the near billion dollars that the movie and its related items have taken in. Star Wars Episode I Racer is based on the pod racing scene where Anakin Skywalker raced his homemade pod at more than four hundred miles an hour just a few feet off the ground.
True to the scene in the movie, Episode I Racer is strictly a racing game. You won't be shooting down any fellow racers or garnering any power-ups during a race, although as you progress through the game you'll have opportunities to improve your pod.
Episode I Racer features 30 well crafted levels that span across three different circuits varying in difficulty. You begin on Tatooine where the featured race in the movie took place and travel to other planets to race on other courses.
The game's graphics are very impressive, although like many of today's 3D games you won't be able to take advantage of the highest quality graphics without adequate acceleration: a Rage 128, Voodoo 2, or better. The game does feature three quality settings regardless as to what graphics chip you're using although it's difficult to achieve high FPS without higher-end acceleration. The game runs acceptably on a Rage Pro system, including PowerBook G3s and the first-generation iMacs, except for the Rage IIc powered Rev/A, which ran the game ran sluggishly regardless of settings.
Episode I Racer does an excellent job of making you feel as though you're traveling at speeds in excess of four hundred miles an hour. The ground flies by quickly beneath and you approach objects on the horizon in no time at all. The game features an excellent pop-up distance (the distance at which objects appear on the screen) that you can't even notice while playing. In order to really experience this feeling of speed you have to get the game running at 25-30 FPS or faster, meaning that you might have to sacrifice quality for speed.
Gameplay consists of just a handful of keys that make the game easy to play right from the start. By default your right hand controls left/right and up/down movement while you left hand controls thrust/brake and roll left/right. A handful of other keys are also used, including a turbo key that requires you to charge it up, but none are used very often.
Sound and music are virtually nonexistent beyond the screech of the engines and the scrapes and explosions that are caused by your pod coming in contact with objects.The lack of virtually any music also emphasizes the rather bland sound effects while playing the game. In fact, the game can be played with no audio at all without losing much of its enjoyability.
Perhaps Episode I Racer's greatest downfall is how easy it is. Most of the levels are a breeze to fly through, even the first time you play the game. As you progress the levels become increasingly more difficult with sharper turns and tighter passes to fly through, but the AI remains unchanged. Remaining true to its pure racing roots, Episode I Racer doesn't feature any weapons or power-ups, two things that keep games of this genre more interesting, especially when you're flying through thirty levels that differ primarily only in appearance.
If you're a fan of pure racing games, Episode I Racer will please you. The game's fabulous sense of speed is perhaps its most attractive feature, assuming you're not a die hard Star Wars fan. Regardless of difficulty, the thirty different levels are well designed and offer an acceptable amount of variety. However, if you're looking for a racing game with plenty of challenge and action, stay away from Episode I Racer.
