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(4 out of 5)
LucasArts' first Mac game since TIE-Fighter in 1997, Racer is the best game I've seen in a while. Nothing can compare to the high-speed racing combined with great scenery and an authentic Star Wars-esque theme. A lot of people will buy Racer simply because it's a Star Wars game. Racer is based on a 20-minute sequence of LucasFilm's latest movie, "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace."
Overview of Racer
In
Racer, you race in a pod racer, which reminds one of a chariot
(remember Ben Hur?). Your cockpit is pulled by twin engines, where
you go up to 600mph, 4 feet off the ground. There are 8 planets that
are totally different from each other, ranging from desert world to
floating cities. There are a total of 21 tracks, including the Boonta
Classic, the race that was in the movie.
In-between races you can trade your old parts in for new ones, if you have enough prize money left over. You can buy parts from either Watto's shop, or the junkyard (where parts cost less, but are damaged to a certain extent). You can also buy pit droids to help repair your racer.
Play modes
There are three different modes of play - single player tournament, single player free race, and multiplayer. They are basically all the same in the race, but before and after the races are where it changes.
Tournament is the main mode, where you qualify to go on to the next race, and you can also qualify for different pod racers and parts. You also win money - how much depends on what place you get. There are three different circuits - the amateur, semi-pro, and galactic circuits.
The
circuits start out easy, and get hard fast. The semi-pro is a lot
harder than amateur, and galactic is very, very hard.
Each circuit you win qualifies you for an invitational race. Once you win all three circuits, it qualifies you for the Boonta Classic, which is very hard.
There is also free race mode, where you can play races you have qualified for, and change the number of racers, the AI speed, and number of laps. You don't qualify for races in this mode, and you don't get any money either.
The ultimate challenge in Racer is multiplayer, where you can play against up to 7 other players (8 total) on a local area network. There is no internet play, because Racer depends on split-second timing and lag wouldn't help any.
The races - simply spectacular
The pod races are, in the words of Qui-Gon Jinn, "very fast, very dangerous". After each race, I am gasping for breath, and thankful I'm still alive (although if you blow up you get to start again where you left off).
The races are very tense - so fast that I can't really change settings while playing, or even look at the keyboard for a split-second to see where my hands are.
This is nothing like most racing games, such as Need For Speed III. Racing at 600MPH, pulling hairpin turns and taking huge jumps, bumping other racers into walls, blasting through with shortcuts, almost all this is in every race.
There
are obstacles such as burning methane gas lakes, Tusken raiders, and
meteor showers. Pull through needle-hole openings to save time (or to
avoid crashing), and zip through shortcuts and break out ahead of the
other racers. There are several jumps in each race. Some just lift
you up off the ground, some are merely drops off a cliff, many are to
help you get over chasms.
The shortcuts really add a lot to the game. In almost any given race there are several shortcuts you can take. While they usually require faster reflexes and require that you get on the "onramp" (usually a subtle hill), they can push you out ahead of the other racers.
There are no weapons in Racer except for Sebulba's flame jet. While some people don't like this, I think it really makes the game a lot more fun. Sebulba's flame jet doesn't really help all that much, because you generally pass racers so fast that you'd have to time it just right. Personally I've never been taken out by his little weapon, although I have seen him using it a lot on other racers.
An interesting thing they programmed in is that if you are losing, then the two next-to-last racers will go slow, until you pass them, when they will speed up. I confess, I didn't figure this out until I did particularly bad in a race, and noticed that even if I messed around a while in one spot, I could easily catch up with the other racers. To test the theory, I let my racer sit at a spot for a while, and then came back and finished up the race. There were four racers, and their times were about 4:30, 10:00, 10:00, 30:00. Generally, even in the races with twelve racers, the loser is only about a minute behind the winner.
A fun little add-on to the game is the ability to taunt the other racers (or no one in particular). Whenever a player passes you, that racer will taunt you, and if you remember you can taunt the racers as you pass them. I haven't been able to figure out if the taunts affect the computer-controlled players, or just your ego.
I love how the racer is all hooked together, but each of the pieces (the engines and the cockpit) can be pointing entirely different directions at times.
Multiplayer games
I wasn't able to test multiplayer network games, because the only computer I have that can play it is an iBook (see the performance notes down below). However, I have information on it.
You can only play multiplayer games over a local area network (LAN). While this can be a pain, it is easy to understand - each little part of Racer is so dependent on split-second decisions, the lag would make it no fun at all.
Racer requires that a CD be in the drive of each player in a multiplayer game. This means you must buy a separate copy of Racer for each player participating in the game.
The only way to talk to the other players is via the "hit return, type message, hit return again" method, which is not possible in a fast-paced race. However, since you can only play over a LAN, it is probable that the other players are in the same room or just down the hall, or something. Besides, the only reason you might want to talk to the other players is to taunt them - you can't play cooperative or anything (what fun would that be?).
Sit back and watch the scenery - or not.
Racer
has nice graphics. With everything from desert wastes to snow-covered
hills, and exotic tropics to high-security prisons, there is a large
variety of scenery. Don't spend too much time looking at it though, I
did and crashed into a wall.
There are three "checkbox" settings for different graphics options, as well as a slider that lets you choose between low, medium, and high detail. With everything on, Racer looks amazing. With everything off, it still looks pretty good.
Racer has support for OpenGL, and nothing but OpenGL. The box and manual say it requires an ATI-compatible card, but I have heard reports of people getting their Voodoo 2 and 3 cards to work.
All of the cutscenes are rendered beautifully in 3D graphics. While it doesn't look as nice as the movie, Racer is based on, it looks very good compared to most games. Every planet has it's own cutscene, and there is also a cool opening movie. There are also several other cutscenes in various parts of the game, and several on-the-fly rendered cutscenes, which look pretty darn good.
Sound
The sound is great. It sounds best if you get yourself a pair of good speakers, but it is great nonetheless.
If you listen to what everybody says, you can get a few good laughs. For example, Watto says "Have you seen... my chance cube?" If you didn't get that, it's from Episode I.
Controls
InputSprockets uses a non-standard interface, and not very many joysticks or gamepads work with Racer, for some weird reason.
Personally I haven't been able to get my GamePad Pro USB to work with Racer, even after trying USB OverDrive as a last resort. I have heard that the Saitek Cyborg 3D works, as well as the Gravis XTerminator Dual Control Joystick.
You
should definitely use a gamepad or joystick on this game. Since you
have to be accelerating practically the entire time every race, you
will want a throttle, even if it's a mini one. There is no gradual
way of steering with the keyboard, so practically every move I make
with it is practically a full fledged turn.
I think the best set-up for racer would be a joystick, throttle, and rudders. The rudders wouldn't help as much as the joystick and the throttle, but it would still help. If a company would like to donate a set up like this for me to review, please email me. :-)
Performance
My brother's iBook (RAM upgraded to 96MB) runs it well, and I haven't had any real slowdowns as of yet, even with all the graphics options turned up. The only slowdowns I have experienced are when the CD has to spin up, which has only happened when I've been unplugged (see the fix below).
Racer requires 4MB of video RAM, which isn't bad for a game of it's quality. While the box says that it runs on iMac and iBook with no 3D upgrade, that isn't quite true. The original Rev. A (233MHz Bondi-Blue) iMac comes with only 2MB of VRAM, which can be upgraded at MemoryToGo.com. At the time this was written, you can upgrade your original iMac to Racer quality for as low as $12 (although I suggest you also have at least 64MB of RAM).
If you have 32MB of RAM, you must have virtual memory set to a minimum of 64MB.
If your iBook or PowerBook goes "jerky" every couple seconds, like when someone is trying to taunt you, it is probably because the CD was spun down, and it has to spin back up. Fix: install the full install, or don't worry about it (it's not much of a problem).
Buying/trading parts
An
integral part of Racer is upgrading the parts for your racer. You can
buy parts from Watto's shop, where your current parts have a certain
trade-in value.
You can also buy parts from the junk yard, where the parts are damaged but you can get them for less.
I was hoping I could haggle with Watto, but it's not possible. Darn.
You can also buy pit droids to repair your damaged parts between races. These help a lot if you tend to run into walls.
Other things
The interface, as with most PC ports, is horrible. Some screens allow you to use the mouse, some only allow you to use the keyboard. In some screens the cursor automatically jumps to the most obvious button, which I abhor (it's too confusing).
Most of LucasArts' previous games had Mac-like interfaces for their options screens. Now they don't. They use a more PC-ish approach by making it like all the other menus.
The manual isn't huge, but it's not bad. It gives an overview of everything you can do before and after the race, gives some racing tips, and gives a quick overview of the racers and planets.
Installation was no problem. There are 3 installs, ranging from 60-some megabytes to somewhere in the 400s.
Little nitty-picky complaints
I
hope that in the next version of Racer (if there is one) there will
be nice little things like:
• The names of the racers above their pods, instead of just
what place they are in.
• Better support for Inputsprockets.
• Better interface.
• The ability to view saved films, and save the last race as a
film that you can email people.
I really wish there was a way to do 2 players on one computer (split-screen) mode. That would make it a lot easier to whup other people, instead of just computers. Currently, you have to own two fast computers to play Racer, or you have to invite a friend over, or play at work.
-David Norton
Official Racer Website (Demo available)
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