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Sony PlayStation
Star Wars: Episode 1 Racer
Platform: PlayStation
Publisher: LucasArts
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Note: The following shots are from the N64 version of the game.
The Basics
If you haven't seen the successfully released Star Wars: Episode I Racer on the N64, the title takes a 15-minute segment of the film and turns it into a full-feature game. As its name suggests, Racer is an arcade racing game.
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Based on the N64 version, the PlayStation game worked something like this: You enter the podrace, a tournament that is much like "the Ben Hur chariot race meets... Star Wars." In Racer, each contestant drives a vehicle made of a small cockpit that's literally dragged behind two or more huge starship engines. These vehicles speed upward of six hundred miles per hour and never go much higher than a few feet off the ground. When the LucasArts developers first read the film's script, the podrace scene must have been the unanimous choice to adapt for the introductory game of the "new franchise," and, of course, much has been added to the ten-minute scene. Instead of simply racing the course on the desert world of Tatooine, you have seven additional planets and more than 20 tracks to race, as well as more than 20 pilots besides young Anakin Skywalker to race as. The gameplay is much like other futuristic-style racing games out there (yes, I know it's set in a time "long, long ago," but bear with me), such as Psygnosis' Wipeout XL and Nintendo's F-Zero X, except that in this game there are no power-ups to acquire, and you can't use offensive weapons against your opponents, at least until you unlock the main boss as a playable character. You compete in a series of tournaments made up of four or more races each. If you place fourth or better, you can continue to the next race and earn money to buy upgrades to your podracer, which you'll need to hold your own against the increasingly tough AI opponents. The main feature that Racer offers over its competition is a feeling of speed beyond that of the few games that actually meet its 60-frames-per-second frame rate - on the N64. Would it have on the PlayStation? have what? That was LucasArts' original goal.
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Back to the released game. You'll come upon obstacles such as boulders or large spacecraft so quickly that you'll be gasping at your skill or luck when you manage to avoid them. But what makes the speed fun is its combination of a fantastic physics engine and great controls. You use the analog joystick to steer your ship, the A button acts as the gas, the B is the brake, the Z trigger creates a powerslide, and the right shoulder button deploys the repair droids to fix damage. Incidentally, this button slows you down when in use. Leaning completely forward on the joystick will build up a turbo boost, which is offset by the fact that leaning back and side-to-side will give you tighter turns. It's a simple and elegant setup, really. Even with a few complaints lodged against it, Racer on the N64 was an incredibly fast, superfun game to play once you got a few levels into it. It's better than F-Zero X, its closest competition on the N64, and it even approaches the PlayStation uberfuturistic racer, Wipeout XL. The game is even better than the scene from the movie that inspired it, and that's a big compliment indeed.
WHAT HAPPENED?
A few short hours after posting our story that LucasArts' Star Wars Episode 1: Racer was coming to the PlayStation, word of its cancellation showed up on an Internet message board. Apparently, LucasArts made it official at that point that the PlayStation version had indeed been halted.
LucasArts was tied to an agreement with Nintendo that prohibited the game from being released on any competing system for a specific number of months. It had been the company's intention for quite some time to release the game on the PlayStation after its agreement with Nintendo ran out. LucasArts had hinted at the PlayStation version several times at E3, and in the months following the show. Work had indeed begun on the game.
Then came the following statement:
"While succeeding in both commercial and critical acclaim for the PC and N64 versions of Star Wars: Episode I Racer, LucasArts Entertainment Company will not proceed with the extension of the game for the Sony PlayStation platform. Instead, the company is refocusing its resources in anticipation of new Star Wars Episode I titles, both for current and emerging platforms."
LucasArts reps decided that its manpower would be better used developing titles for next-generation platforms. At the time of cancellation, a spokesperson claimed that LucasArts had plans to develop titles for the PlayStation 2, the Nintendo GameCube, and the Sega Dreamcast.
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