Star Wars: Galactic Racer Single Player Impressions – Flipping the Racing Genre on it’s Head

Now and again, a game comes along that has the capacity to redefine a genre entirely, and it’s safe to say that Star Wars: Galactic Racer has the potential to flip the racing genre upside down.

The adventure in a galaxy far, far away is more than just a familiar drive around iconic landmarks and environments, serving as a welcome overhaul to a genre that, in reality, has become pretty sterile in the past decade.

Racing is, at its heart, a simple prospect, and it takes a brave approach to try to flip the script, but it’s something Fuse Games has done expertly, perfecting a roguelite-based approach that I’ll admit I wasn’t convinced of until I got my hands on the game in an early preview session.

Every lap brings more pressure, every crash is decisive, and every second counts, so much so that even a week after I got hands-on with the game, I’m still thinking about my next run.

Racing Gone Rogue

In the single-player campaign of Star Wars: Galactic Racer, you play as Shade, who joins the underground racing network with plenty to prove and a rivalry that stems deeper than the racecourse with Kestar Bool, the defending champion.

Yet this isn’t just a simple rags-to-riches story, nor is it a game where you’ll soon be boasting a garage stacked with top-class vehicles that make it easy to leave opponents in the dust. In fact, just one mistake can turn a beloved machine into a pile of scrap.

Galactic Racer is split into runs, with a new vehicle at the start. After each race, you choose an upgrade, ranging from core improvements to boost specific areas of your vehicle to abilities that can be a game-changer in how you approach each event.

Fail an event, however, either by crashing out too many times or failing to reach the required objective, and that vehicle is gone forever, and you start from scratch in the next run.

Visually, your vehicle may look the same, as it’s decided by the many customization options available, but under the hood, it varies each time, and it’s all about exploring what works best for you and which areas you want to focus on.

On the track, the ex-Burnout DNA from Fuse Box is obvious to see, including when the camera focuses on the fiery crash that you have just caused by shunting another racer, which rolls back the years to when the Burnout franchise was in its prime.

As someone who has always been an aggressive racer, this was right up my alley, and I was soon focused on upgrades that can provide negative effects upon those around me, or straight-up improvements to the Ram-Jet for when I smash into other racers, but be warned, as Galactic Racer fights back.

Familiar Faces

The end of Act 1 was as far as I got in the campaign, and there was a recognizable hurdle to overcome in the form of Sebulba, the iconic pod-racing menace from The Phantom Menace, and he was brutal.

From flame-jets at the side of his vehicle to mines he deployed on the track, Sebulba left me and my racer, which I felt was perfectly crafted, eating his dust. Rather than cursing his name, though, all it did was spark a fresh lease of life into me.

I didn’t have enough time in the session to get my revenge, but mark my words, Sebulba’s days are numbered, and the fact that I’m pushing for revenge, rather than being frustrated that the vehicle I built throughout my run was consigned to the scrapheap, shows Galactic Racer’s biggest strength.

Racing games these days, to be frank, offer little risk. With rewind buttons and restart options, racing never really feels in jeopardy, a far cry from the motorsport world that it should recreate, where mere inches come between life and death.

Obviously, the stakes aren’t quite as high when you get behind the wheel in Galactic Racer, but the ever-looming threat of losing everything you’ve worked hard to build makes every race even more tense, and leaves every victory tasting ever sweeter.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer is a must-play for any racing fan, as it truly feels like it could mark a turning point for the racing genre.