A Fresh Take on Star Wars Racing
It pains me to say it, but Star Wars cultural staying power has taken a massive blow in recent years for pretty good reason. Most of the Disney Plus shows have flopped, and the franchise return to cinema performed worse than any other theatrical release in the series history. Despite my lifelong fandom, I cast my eye upon the current state of the sci-fi space opera and feel a sense of apathy.
But Star Wars video games have remained consistently impressive in recent years, prioritizing fun gameplay over anything else.
Developer Fuse Games has continued this string of bangers across wildly different genres with Star Wars: Galactic Racer, an arcade-y game with speedy ships, plenty of underhanded action and a refreshingly self-contained story. It is F-Zero meets Burnout, and it is one of my new favorite racing games.
Underdog Story and Roguelike Campaign
From the outset, I was uncertain if a plotline about a Star Wars racing league would remain narratively engaging over the course of an entire game. Once I found out Star Wars: Galactic Racer takes place between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, I was even more skeptical, as the sequel timeline has not always been an era for consistently engaging stories.
It was a pleasant surprise, then, to discover that Galactic Racer tells a mostly novel story about a small corner of the universe coming to terms with a new normal after the downfall of the Galactic Empire. As it turns out, there is not much time to engage with speeder racing when entire worlds are buckling under the tyranny of space fascism.
Racing promoter Darius Pax has a passion for high-speed sports, and he is wrangling sponsors for a new league by pulling in some of the best talent from across the galaxy. That includes shady characters like ex-TIE Fighter pilot Griff Halloran and kindhearted thrillseekers like old Soren Zaks. The most talented racer is nepo baby Kestar Bool, who is using his family riches to fund top-tier racing machines and initiate a hostile takeover of Pax assets.
To stave off the imminent threat of Bool seizing the league, Pax enlists the help of main character Shade and their happy-go-lucky mechanic Hibi to win the league championship and keep the sport pure. Shade has a devil-may-care attitude and a mysterious vendetta against the egoistic antagonist, so they are happy enough to sign on to the competition.
The setup is your classic sports underdog story where you are looking to score petty vengeance against your sneering opponent. There is no high-stakes galaxy-level threat, and it rules.
Fuse Games describes the campaign structure as runs-based, which essentially means it plays out like a roguelike, where random rewards build up your kit as you progress up a procedurally generated tournament bracket. Crashing out and losing too many events essentially scraps your vehicle and causes Shade and Hibi to begin anew, serving a clear narrative purpose.
Galactic Racer does indulge in a little bit of nostalgia: Anakin Skywalker podracing rival Sebulba appears as a washed-up legend, while the antagonistic Bool family apparently built a large chunk of its wealth running part of the empire slave trade.
Still, there is more restraint in this game storytelling than in most Star Wars projects, and the narrative is better off for it. Fans want to explore new corners of the galaxy rather than follow the same handful of families.
The seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe is perhaps the space opera at its most entertaining, exploring that side of the sci-fi world without forcibly including a legacy character like Han Solo or Boba Fett.
Depth and Takedown Mechanics
There is a surprising amount of depth to Galactic Racer build system. Before you start a run, you need to decide whether you are flying a versatile landspeeder, risky speeder bike or graceful skim speeder, each featuring different acceleration speeds, turning rates and drifting capabilities.
You will start a campaign tournament with mostly stock equipment, but each race won provides credits and upgrades that will help you prepare for the knockout championship event.
As with any roguelike, I found a build type that worked for me, routinely investing in afterburners and a volatile ramjet engine, picking up parts that permit boosting in the dangerous redline zone for longer.
More kinetic abilities that encourage brawls with other racers are fan favorites, because Galactic Racer has a sickly satisfying takedown system ripped straight out of the old Burnout games. Slamming into an opponent rewards you with a crash cam as they go careening off the track.
That is not to say that every ability is a winner. The addition of an autopilot is particularly silly, especially since drifting around sharp turns and racing clean lines feels far more gratifying.
Lots of thought was put into the roguelike structure of Galactic Racer, and it feels like there is a viable path for every type of racer to win.
Content and Verdict
There is plenty of content for budding racers to take on once they have taken Kestar Bool down a few pegs in the story mode. The game features arcade time trials, multiplayer races, podracing events and more cosmetic rewards.
A notable pain point is the lack of an AI quick race, which feels like a massive oversight since there is no mode where you can hop on and duke it out in a single match against bots.
A few flaws notwithstanding, it is obvious that the development team at Fuse Games has an earnest love for this storied universe, and it shows through plenty of little tidbits and extra flourishes.
Characters react to your skill, challenging Shade to one-on-one knockout races and proposing lucrative side bets before each event, which makes the world feel alive.
Many of those elements carry over to multiplayer tours, where players are able to gamble among themselves with credits earned in previous races.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is easily one of my favorite games of the year, keeping me up for one more run late into the night.
Among its many virtues, the game reminded me that there is still value in a galaxy far, far away. Over breakneck races and loving details, my apathy for the series melted away.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is set to be released for PlayStation 5, Windows and Xbox Series X and S.
