Star Wars Galactic Racer PS5 Review. Mixology might be the study of mixing and inventing new drinks, but really it can be applied to anything; for example it could be used as an apt descriptor of this brand new Star Wars racing game. How you say? Well, you take the Star Wars racing formula of past games along with the worlds, themes and characters, then you pour in a ferociously chaotic dose of Burnout before dripping in some of that lively untamed Motorstorm juice and a kick of roguelike spice, and voila! You have yourself one of the coolest racing games of this generation or any other.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer Review (PS5)- Arcade Racing Strikes Back
When there are no rules governing the galaxy, the best thing to do is go completely nuts by setting up an untamed interplanetary racing tournament full of chaos and pod racers zooming along in podracers at the speed of a thunderbolt. You play in the role of one of these outlaw pod racers called Shade, who is out to get even with the reigning champion of the Galactic League named Kestar Bool, whose corporation committed a hostile takeover on Shade’s land of Gathleon, imprisoning its population and taking everything for themselves. Shade doesn’t like the raiding and usurping types, so he wants to prove his superiority by beating Bool and becoming a Galactic League Champion.
The premise is heavily involved for a racing game, but it does a great job of granting you the incentive to keep racing and participating in the Galactic League’s smorgasbord of races and time trial challenges. You could argue that a meaty premise would be best served in an action game featuring lightsabers and laser weapons, but it is justifiable because Shade wants to take Bool’s glory by dominating him and everybody else in high-speed hover racing. The name Shade is irksome too, sure it’s monosyllabic, but he doesn’t seem sketchy, nor does he wear sunglasses – but hey modern video games are filled with silly unexplainable names, so just roll with it.
Star Wars Gets Some Shade
The main campaign of Galactic Racer sees you participating across a numerous and diverse set of planet locations in a branching tournament, where you decide what event path you want to take towards the climax. Featured race types include standard race events that are often three laps long, or five or so on shorter circuit layouts; Eliminator, where racers are gradually eliminated until one is left standing; Time Trials that test speed and course awareness; and Field Tests, which are time trial-like scenarios but emphasise the acclimatisation of your vehicle and race tactics.
The selection of event types might seem slim and unimaginative compared to the likes of Burnout or Split/Second: Velocity, but they do provide plentiful means for competition. Eliminator is particularly tricky, as you vie to gain track position at very high speeds on unpredictable tracks. Wild corners and narrow sections will send your heart rate pounding as you try to thread your podracer delicately through without wrecking. Staving off elimination can be a stern test of wits and skill, but it is ever so thrilling when you’re leaving your competition in the dust.
A Rapid Roguelite Racing Experience
The uniqueness of the campaign in Galactic Racer is really what stands out the most in impressive fashion. Your invitation into the Galaxy League requires you to wrack up league tokens, which are paramount to your progress within the roguelite structure Galactic Racer adopts. You’re incentivized to perform at your best, meaning avoiding too many crash outs and staving off elimination in Elimination events. If you fail to achieve enough tokens to advance, you’ll need to start over and improve your competence by finishing highly and proving you belong as a legendary podracer.
You are afforded the luxury of walking around and interacting with personalities and stations as Shade via pitstops. Here you’ll be able to tweak your vehicle and purchase upgrades to enhance performance and stats. Pitstops aren’t particularly necessary, but it is cool to walk around as Shade and allow yourself to be the character you play as outside of the destructive racing competition.
Other marquis modes include Scenarios, placing you into specific conditions and rules, where you’ll need to complete races in order to proceed onwards. These are structurally different from the campaign’s Roguelite tendencies, challenging you in condensed role playing situations that play out like a band of varied missions, injecting further single-player substance to the package. Arcade is a similar mode to Scenarios, but without scenarios and role-playing elements, and exist as a spread of challenges you complete for medals. There’s also a fabulous competitive multiplayer offering, so you can share the high-speed calamity with friends over an internet connection.
The nuts and bolts of racing in Galactic Racer is where the game truly shines. Developed with the hands of experienced Criterion veterans, which definitely explains a lot when you grip the PS5 controller and feel the rocketing essence of each and every pod, as well as the crushing velocity of wreckage after a huge collision.
A Breakneck Burnout Star Wars Style
Galactic Racer’s gameplay blends together inspirations is a scintillating way that brings out the best of what modern arcade racers can deliver. For example, this Star Wars racer plays with the blasting momentum of a Burnout game and the expanse-widening wildness of a Motorstorm game. Before starting each race, you’ll manually engage the thrusters and rockets in a fashion similar to charging the boosters in a Sonic racing game, and the sheer speed can be attributed to the Need For Speed franchise too. Of course, you could compare Galactic Racer to the Wipeout games as well as you’re racing in vehicles that hover above the ground. While this coalescence may attribute more kudos towards the games that it borrows from, Galactic Racer’s fusion of all of these disparate parts is what makes it one of the spiciest arcade racers out there, and as such can easily measure up to its contemporaries.
You’ll be more than pleased with the variety of race courses at your disposal in Galactic Racer too. Jakku features a wrecked Stardestroyer, posing as a racing hazard you should do your utmost to avoid at all costs. Ando Prime’s dangerous ice cold terrain is a marvellously hectic endeavour. Lantana’s wild forest areas and subterranean volcanic underbelly further showcase the wild variety on display. No two races are ever the same, and Galactic Racer excitedly shows off its array of treacherous tracks with the elegance and style only the Star Wars universe is capable of.
The four classes of vehicle do much to cater for different tastes too. Landspeers are essentially floating cars in that they’re heavy and great for smashing out your competition. Speeder bikes are extremely fast and nimble, but you have to be careful because they can’t take much punishment. Skim Speeders are sort of like the Speeder bikes, but they can be angled to fit neatly through tight gaps and mastering them isn’t an easy task at all. The last but certainly not least type of vehicle are the podracers, which are classic and serve as a balanced variant with moderate speed and strength prowess. Yes, there isn’t the variety here that Motorstorm games offer up, but this is the Star Wars universe and it’s faster and more cinematic-like than Motorstorm ever was.
A Scintillating Star Wars Soundtrack
The voice acting is on point where it exists within the campaign and scenarios. You likely won’t be playing to here characters natter away at you, but what’s here is definitely and unmistakably entrenched within the Star Wars universe. Darius Pax, the esteemed founder of the Galactic League has a voice and presentation that melds nicely into the universe at least. The soundtrack does a good job of reflecting the drama of Star Wars, with Gordy Haab’s compositions doing a crisp and thoroughly enthralling job of evoking the Star Wars essence in this Star Wars-themed racing game.
If you’ve been hankering for a modern and exciting arcade racer, few can do it better than Star Wars: Galactic Racer. With an exciting and wholly unique roguelite campaign, excellently inspired courses, vehicles and moment-to-moment gameplay, and a plethora of scenarios and challenges, Galactic Racer proves there are still fresh ideas and spins on the arcade racer.
Yeah, the story could fit into a Star Wars action game, Shade is a terrible name for a protagonist no matter how you slice it, and you may need to get used to how the vehicles handle before getting the best out of them, but all of this can be overlooked by the sheer level of enjoyment you’ll derive from it. If you miss the days of Burnout, classic Need For Speed games, Split/Second: Velocity and BLUR, then you’ll be wonderfully surprised by Galactic Racer.
Star Wars: Galactic Racer is out now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X and PC.
The review copy was generously provided by the publisher.