Star Wars™ Racer Revenge™

Channel:

FOX DIE GAMING

Subscribers:

42,800

Published on December 15, 2016 12:00:02 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9YW1i8Joas

Game:

Star Wars Racer Revenge (2002)

Duration: 3:16

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3

Gameplay
Moving at a high framerate and plush with exotic locales and raceways, the racing is smooth and responsive in feel and easy to turn, relatively easy to reverse, and overall quick to get into and play without much fuss. And while it's true that Star Wars Racer Revenge brings podracing into the boxing ring, it also incorporates different aspects into the racing mix creating a far more dynamic racer then before. You see, Star Wars Episode I: Racer was a straight-forward arcade racer placed in the Star Wars universe, but Racer Revenge remains arcade-y in nature and is placed in the Star Wars universe but it asks that you look internally -- at your engine's turbo levels and damage meter -- and externally -- at branching paths, shortcuts, and obstacles, and at oncoming opponents -- to succeed.

True to the movie, Racer Revenge requires players to manage their high-powered engines. As players incur damage, their turbine engines naturally take damage. You can repair them during the race, but at a cost. By pressing the L2 button, the racer can repair itself to full strength. A meter on the lower left hand side of the screen displays a color scale showing how much damage is taken, using red as the danger indicator and blue as repair indicator. When engines have regained full strength they appear green. The catch is that racers slow down while being repaired, so a wee bit of timing and strategy are added into the mix.

Meanwhile, there's also a Turbo Boost, but it too must be used with care. See, the turbo boost heats up the twin turbines that thrust your carriage forward, and when they heat up past a point, they explode. Yea! Explosions are good, but not when you're hurting yourself. And when the meter, placed in the bottom right hand side of the corner, reaches max levels, the energy also is quickly drained from your remaining energy, stored in the left hand-side of the screen.

For those who played and liked the Star Wars Episode I: Racer, Racer Revenge enhances the ancient art of bashing to new lows. This one is truer to the "sport" of podracing because it encourages foul play as not only a strategy but rewards players with financial means. Yep, Watto, the parts shop dealer and all-around bet-monger, appears before each race with a wager. He needs parts for the shop, and blown apart vehicles are just the ticket to increase his bottom line. Drivers are highly encouraged to bash their opponents to smithereens, and each time another one drops out, Watto hands out a higher percentage of cash. Nail one opponent, receive 10% of what you earned in the race. Nail two guys, 20%, three guys, 30%, and so on and so on.

Earning cash is crucial to staying above the other racers for one major reason. With cash, or Truguts, as they're called, players build up their pods. By visiting the Garage, players buy needed parts from Watto's junkyard/garage and upgrade their vehicles. Points can be attributed to acceleration, to speed, handling, defense, repair, and cooling. By customizing vehicles, players build the kind of racing machine they want and different kinds of strategies will ensue based on these decisions. Want a fast racer with top handling and top speed, but one that's light in cooling and slow on repair? Or how about a bruiser, complete with quick cooling, repair and defense? Personally, I upgraded everything and then specialized in acceleration, top speed, and repair. That way, I could bust past enemies late in the game after having knocked off as many as possible and was still able to repair without losing too much ground.

Some interesting miscellaneous details are worth noting. Star Wars Racer features an in-game map, indicating other racers and the track ahead with topographical-like marks. It shows energy bars above the opponents' heads, offering their health and repair levels as well. Players can use the default controls, L3 to steer, X to accelerate and Square to brake, or they can switch to the arcade controls, enabling players to steer, accelerate and brake using both L3 and R3, the dual shocks, which is excellent fun.