Ever since Star Wars first took the screen, people everywhere have wanted to be a part of that universe. We’ve all dreamed of being Jedi, flying star ships, and traveling the universe with a Wookie companion. Star Wars has had many games made about it, one of my favorites being Super Star Wars on the SNES. However, not many games have been able to capture everything that we wanted. Over and over again we have put our faith in George Lucas and Lucas Arts, some times they get close, but with cases like the prequels, we were epically let down. Now, there are an EPIC amount of awful parts in the prequels, you all already know what they are. For a while when I was a kid I got into the prequels, except Clone Wars that movie will always be bullshit. At that age, I couldn’t really tell that the Phantom Menace was bad. Jar-Jar may be the worst thing on the planet to ever exist ever, but he was marketed to kids and it worked, I loved him back in the day. I loved the awesome Jedi fights, the Pod racing, the space scenes, it was all spectacle for little me. As I grew up, Phantom Menace became worse and worse. I’m so glad I grew out of my Jar-Jar phase… my brother will never let me forget that phase. Anyway, some things still stayed awesome about Phantom Menace, the final light saber fight and pod racing. That’s why the pod racing can still stay so awesome, everyone wanted to be a pod racer… if you couldn’t tell already, I’m gonna talk about the game…yeah.

Pod racing works, because it includes very little bull shit from the movies. You choose your pod and your driver, then you race. It’s awesome! The game is kinda a reminiscent of F-Zero, not really the racing mechanics or vehicles, but the levels themselves. A lot of the levels are super futuristic and they honestly look pretty good. The level design is fun and it looks, for the N64 era of graphics, really good. The levels that are supposed to be super futuristic and techie, are filled with grays and made to look interesting and cool. The races that are more meant to be open world, like Tatooine, are beautiful and display each individual world in vibrant colors.

Each pod controls differently. While they all use the same base mechanics, each one has different stats that make them handle differently. Picking a pod that has more acceleration instead of top speed will be drastically different from one with the opposite. So two people can experience this game very differently. Plus the ability to buy parts and upgrades, allows you to make a pod specific to your style of racing. However, to make money the player has to actually win races; the more you win the more money you’ll have to buy parts. So there is equal challenge and reward, which wasn’t seen in many racing games of the time.

The only thing I really hate, is that this game is only two player. I really want to play this with four of my friends! Although it does start a tournament style feel when you add more then two friends to the mix, two racers enter, only one gets to keep the controller! I would have a problem with how some of the pods control, but with how much variety this game has, you can pick the character and pod that works for you. Here is a list of characters:

Aldar Beedo

Anakin Skywalker

Ark “Bumpy” Roose

Ben Quadinaros

Boles Roor

Bozzie Baranta

“Bullseye” Navior

Clegg Holdfast

Cy Yunga (N64 Version)

Dud Bolt

Ebe Endocott

Elan Mak

Fud Sang

Gasgano

Jinn Reeso (N64 Version)

Mars Guo

Mawhonic

Neva Kee

Ody Mandrell

Ratts Tyerell

Sebulba

Slide Paramita

Teemto Pagalies

Toy Dampner

Wan Sandage

(List from Wikipedia)

There are twenty five, you can find at least one that handles exactly the way you want it to. The music is all from the movies, so I can’t really complain there either. Star Wars music is great, you literally can’t argue that it isn’t.

The game is great, it has so much variety for a racing game, its great. Just like any other game on this list, I suggest getting it and playing the shit out of it. This is one of my favorite racing games of all time, I love it and so should you. Phantom Menace may be really, really, really, really, bad, but I’m glad it was made, if only because this game was made.