When you hear of a new arcade racer, you probably think of something you've discovered in a bargain bin, or at an old, nostalgic arcade. Fun for a few minutes, maybe a few hours, but not much more than that. When you think of a racing game that's not about cars and car knowledge, you might think it lacks depth. Both of those assumptions would be incredibly wrong when it comes to Star Wars: Galactic Racer.
Developed from racing veterans who founded Fuse Games, Star Wars: Galactic Racer is technically a debut title, but as soon as you get to handling the game, it's clear there's a lot of experience behind it. The game feel is immediately satisfying, as we're given a chance to test out the game's three main vehicles in the Landspeeder, Speeder Bike, and Skim Speeder, as well as see some of the various worlds and maps we'll experience, from frosty planets to classic desertscapes. It's worth mentioning for anyone who, like me, thought that Star Wars: Galactic Racer was just a pod racing game, that it is much more focused on the speeder racing. Pod racing is playable, and it is incredibly fast and dangerous, just as you'd expect, but most of Star Wars: Galactic Racer actually takes place far away from the age of pod racing, as it instead jumps us past the era of the original trilogy for its main story.
That's right, there's something other than just loading up endless CPU races if you don't have anyone to play with when you pick up Star Wars: Galactic Racer. The campaign sees you play as Shade, a professional pilot invited to the Galactic League, a new illegal racing circuit where fortunes can be won, just as easily as lives can be lost. Shade's got some personal reasons to be getting involved in the racing circuit, namely revenge on its star racer Kestar Bool. We won't get too deep into story spoilers here, but there's more at stake than just climbing to the top of the podium on a series of tracks.
Fuse has strapped a roguelike mechanic to the campaign, and while I'm usually loathe to see another buzzword added to a game without need of one, I think the introduction of the roguelike element really boosts the replayability and depth of Star Wars: Galactic Racer's campaign. Basically, in the campaign you are tasked with racing on a series of different maps, with some different events and goals, picking your path across the planets as you go. If you crash three times, or fail in another way, you're out, and you have to start the circuit all over. Considering you can crash really easily in Star Wars: Galactic Racer, this creates a real sense of peril when you're out there on the track, meaning you might not go all-out to finish first.
You don't need to be at the top of the podium all the time, but it helps. The single-player campaign in Star Wars: Galactic Racer gives you a buff to your vehicle each time you complete a race. This might be in the form of a new ability, like a shield that can stop you from crashing when you hit a wall or speeder extra hard, or a generic buff to one of your speeder's attributes. I kept buffing my cornering during my time with the campaign, so that turns were eventually nothing short of a treat.
The story of Star Wars: Galactic Racer's campaign, as well as its cinematic moments in between planets and racing, aren't anything too special from what I played. Their main appeal is simply letting you enjoy more of the gameplay, in a varied, unpredictable series of races. Star Wars: Galactic Racer's gameplay is immediately fun, but doesn't let you master it right away. In the three hours I spent with the game, I wouldn't say I really mastered any one map or vehicle. With customisation options and different characters to select outside of campaign, too, there's always something new to learn and to dig into. Floating across the various worlds, shooting over icy lakes or veering around trees thicker than buildings, playing Star Wars: Galactic Racer is just nostalgic fun. It reminds me of my first time with arcade racers, where I just wanted to go fast and have fun.
The handling of the vehicles, the euphoria of mastering a turn and never feeling yourself slow down throughout a lap, it all clicks wonderfully well in Star Wars: Galactic Racer. There's an injection of some randomness, thanks to the inclusion of abilities, but it's nothing so unserious as Mario Kart, for example. Race well, and you will be consistently rewarded. There are no blue shells here, even if there are plenty of ways races will remain tight right down to the wire.
Outside of the campaign, there's a stacked arcade mode, with plenty of challenges. One of which lets you play as the one and only Sebulba, as he tries to beat his own pod racing record. Pod racing, as I mentioned earlier, is a much faster form of racing. There's only one track, so far as I could see, but it's a dangerous one. You'll have to know it well, and even then have zoomer-level reactions in order to escape unscathed. Alongside the arcade mode, which offers brief challenges, there are longer-form events focused on a particular character in Scenarios, which are another single-player addition.
As someone who has shirked racing games for years, believing you had to be a car guy to get into anything that wasn't Mario Kart, I believe Star Wars: Galactic Racer may have converted me. It's incredibly easy to pick up, satisfying to play, and the enjoyment of racing doesn't dwindle as the hours go by. There's a great amount of depth and replayability that's apparent right from when you get started, whether you're planning on playing entirely solo, or want to take your racing talents out into the world of the wider Galactic League.
