Racing games have never been my forte, mostly because I just have never been into cars as many are. Still, from the likes of Gran Turismo (2009) on the PSP to the very recent Forza Horizon 6, there have been a fair few that I have gained an affinity for. Even with me playing the odd racing game every now and again, I do not feel like I have played enough of them to separate what truly makes one great from one that is just ok. For me, if I see cars racing around a track, and I get some sort of adrenaline rush by breezing past people and cruising into first place, the game has done its job. When playing Forza Horizon 6 earlier this year, I knew next to nothing about most of the cars that I was racing, but I did know at the time that Playground Games did a damn good job of making each car feel quite different to control. As someone who cannot even drive, let alone have any real experience with racing games, that was an alien concept to me. When I heard that there was a new Star Wars racing game coming out, I did not think much, because although it is set within a universe I have a huge affinity for, I do not think I have ever been eagerly anticipating a racing game. Little did I know that Star Wars: Galactic Racer took that indifference personally and just so happened to make a racing game that I can say I love with all my heart. From its innovative rogue-lite campaign approach, its richly built Star Wars setting and story, to a level of fun factor that most games dream of creating, this is one of the best, if not the very best, gaming experiences of this year.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer sees you take control of Shade, a mysterious loner who just so happens to know a thing or two about racing. Set after the events of Return of the Jedi, Darius Pax has created the Galactic Racing League in an attempt to revive racing throughout the galaxy. The fall of the Empire, and therefore all their controlling regulations, has meant that things can pretty much go back to the way things were, with podracing and all other forms of racing being allowed to re-emerge. The problem is, most of the serious podracers have died out or are retired, so a full podracing league has become pretty much impossible. Pax creates the league and instead allows for landspeeders, speeder bikes and skim speeders as viable options to race with, a choice that you will have to make yourself when your time comes. Unfortunately, Kestar Bool, one of the galaxy’s reigning racing champions, is trying to take over Pax’s league, using all his father’s money and his famed racing skill to try and push Pax out. This is where Pax hires you, Shade, to qualify for the league in a vehicle of your choosing, tailor it however you like, all with the intention of knocking Kestar off of his podium. Shade’s personal history with Kestar has also created a grudge, and rivalries within racing of this speed and intensity only come with danger ahead. You must beat your rivals, blaze past Kestar’s flunkies that he sends to challenge you and become the best racer in the galaxy.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is split into multiple gameplay modes, namely the campaign, the scenarios, arcade and multiplayer. The latter three offer what you would expect, like time trials in speeders and podracers, massive multiplayer races and little miniature campaigns for some of the characters you will meet in the main campaign. As for the main campaign, this is the meat of the game and where you will spend the most time, and it does not disappoint. There is a three-act structure through this story campaign, which will see you fight through the league, across multiple different planets and the challenges on them. You will start the campaign by choosing your vehicle and selecting your racer style. There are multiple of these, and they all offer a different and exciting approach to racing. Do you just want to go as fast as possible at all times? Specialise in your ram-jet or afterburner. Do you want to not just beat the competition but destroy them with dastardly weapons too? Choose one of the brawler presets to outfit yourself with an ion bolt cannon! This serves as the foundation for how you race, but crucially, how your build forms. I mentioned before, but this game utilises rogue-lite elements, meaning you will create a vehicle for a run, installing parts to create the ultimate racing powerhouse, but upon wrecking out of the competition by crashing too many times or losing an important race, you will fail. You will fail a lot during this game, but such is the nature of a rogue-lite, and also racing this fast and dangerous. All of this would fall apart without giving you a reason to play, a feeling that you are continuously craving and chasing, and thankfully, Galactic Racer delivers that in abundance. It is hard to put into words just how exhilarating it is to race here, and the sense of speed you get is second to none. Every narrow tunnel that you speed through, clattering in and somehow emerging in one piece on the other side, every sharply executed drift round a corner, keeping your speed as you weave through hostile racers and cheekily placed obstacles; it all feels electric. It helps that you are constantly unlocking parts too, which can completely change how you build your vehicle each time, and these are always fun to experiment with. Whilst there are only a few planets to visit, which you will visit over and over again due to the nature of the rogue-lite format, pure fun factor prevails, and it makes slight issues like this pretty much inconsequential, at least for me.

It helps that each of the planets you visit is very diverse, all with many different effects that change the way you race. For example, Ando Prime is a snowy planet, and so your engines will freeze up over time, making it harder to control your vehicle. Due to the cold, though, it does mean that your ramjet, which usually overheats often, will build up heat less quickly, allowing you to keep your speed up much longer. All the planets have some sort of system like this which requires you to race a certain way, whether it’s avoiding the acid lakes on Sentinel I or doing a tug of war for your engine health amongst fire and water on Lantaana. Aside from the systems within them, they all just look very different, but, like everything in this game, they feel distinctly Star Wars. The feeling of the racing in isolation is one thing, but the fact that it has that Star Wars sensation is what makes it truly special. Hearing the scream of the engine as somebody zooms past you, with that distinct Star Wars sound, pressing loads of buttons to start up your speeder’s systems, making you feel like Anakin in The Phantom Menace, and executing a boost or a system recovery at the exact right time; you can tell so much love and care has been taken to make those moments feel as good as they do.

What’s more, we have not even talked about the fabulous cast of characters in this game that further makes this true, unique Star Wars atmosphere. Every time you go to a new planet, you are brought into a new hub area, where you can speak to some of the other racers and your companions. Hibi, your scouse monkey mechanic companion, is another lovable character that sticks with you the whole time and will stop at nothing to build the best vehicle she can with those parts in the shop. Sebulba from The Phantom Menace also acts as a mentor for you, and his character is expanded a lot from just being a rather faceless villain for a few minutes in that film, which is much appreciated. The internet has been going wild over Biddy Blas, and it is for good reason. His voice-acting is over the top, he looks like a weird mole-crocodile thing, and all that perfectly encapsulates a strange, niche Star Wars character, or a ‘Glup Shitto’ as the internet affectionately calls them. Biddy Blas is perhaps the best example of this in the game, but the rest are good too, all with cool designs and interesting backstories. I particularly liked Sen Fira, mostly because her design is awesome, but also because I developed a proper rivalry with her. She usually ended up podium-positioned with me, and I made it my mission to try and beat her as much as possible. When you bet against racers and beat them, you can unlock side quests of sorts which unlock favours. These allow for different modifiers on your run, such as more chances to crash or cheaper parts in the shop. This makes it not just worth immersing yourself for the fun of it, but also for getting you more interesting ways to play. All of this is made better with an interesting goal to work towards, and Kestar is just enough of a spiteful arse that you cannot wait to bring him down a peg. His personal connection with Shade is just another fun layer, but as a villain, he certainly does a good job of antagonising you into wanting to get better so you can beat him.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is everything I did not even know I needed, giving me an authentic Star Wars racing experience that feels like it does the excitement of seeing it on screen justice. I don’t like The Phantom Menace, but I have always enjoyed the pod-racing sequence. Having wanted an experience like that in a game for some time, this game delivers with buckets full of adrenaline-filled madness, in the best possible way. I have not even gone over everything I love about this game for fear of overdoing it, but also to save some nice surprises for when you play it yourself. Words cannot capture the experience of playing this game, and I can only encourage you profusely to try it for yourself. If you love Star Wars or have a passing interest in racing games at least, this is well worth a go. For me, it is a lesson that even if I am not particularly interested in a genre, if it is well made enough and has raw fun factor, it is well worth playing, even if it is outside my comfort zone. This is definitely both of those things, and the fact it has a Star Wars coat of paint is a delicious cherry on top that completes the offering. This is one of my favourite games of the year, and I give it my highest recommendation.