Podracing will long be known as the best thing that came out the three Star Wars prequels, and this game captures the feel conveyed in that short sequence in the movie and stretches it to encompass an entire game, filled with Star Warsie goodness.

That was my favorite part of this game, the atmosphere. The selection menus, the markets where you buy parts, though simple menus, are drenched in Star Wars flavor. Pit droids walk by, you're in a cantina, whatever. What could have been simple menu selections becomes something more thanks to the attention of the developers in putting Star Wars flavor into every aspect of this game.

And it is a large game. There are so many courses to race (though some feel like retreads of previous tracks) but each one is a blast to race through. The tracks are never just simple dirt courses; no no these tracks go underwater, across chasms, which lends itself to the epic feel that Star Wars necessitates. And the sheer speed in which you zip around these tracks is enthralling as well. You have to hand it to the developers, they really capture the nail-biting, nausea-inducing speed characteristic of the movie race.

In addition there are a wide variety of Pods to choose from, and they all look wonderful. Performance is different between the Pods, but that can be changed by purchasing parts for your Pod, to increase its speed or handling for example.

My biggest complaint that I have is in the physics of the Pods themselves. In the movie, we see them crash up against each other and careen out of control. They have weight, they have a presence. In the game, you can run into another Pod and it's almost as if you go right through them. You can't run them off the course or into an obstacle. I don't know if the developers missed that aspect of the programming or what. You do take damage when you run into another Pod, but it is inconsequential and then you pass right on through. The repair function, used in such situations to repair damage done to your Pod, is a welcome, if superfluous, addition. Welcome because it adds to the realism (realism in Star Wars?) and makes you feel like you have to care for your Pod mid-race, but superfluous because more often than not, you would sacrifice more speed repairing your Pod than if you were to blow yourself up. I would say to myself, well the right engine is pretty damage. I'll just run into this wall here and respawn. It's quicker than the repair option. There's something wrong with that.

Another point of contention: the speeds in the game are so great that when you come up to pass someone, more often than not you whip past them so fast you can't even see them. There is no neck and neck racing in this game, with your opponent next to you to the end of the race. You are either alone in front, alone in the middle, or alone in the back. This is partially because the actual Pods themselves aren't very big on the screen, but it is also because, for the most part, your speed is either so much greater or so much less (because you've crashed) that opponents are mere blurs on your screen. It takes away from the competitiveness of the game when you can't clearly see your opponents.

However, this game does take the best/only good thing out of the Phantom Menace and brings it a fresh coat of paint and some cool decals, while offering up a very different take on the racing genre.

I never liked star wars, nor watched any at all.

That was a good review, but have you ever seen the rule for site staff game reviewers that says that every site staff game reviewer review has to be 500+ words long?

Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I had originally written this review above 500 words, but I guess I must have forgot to save that version. I editted the missing part in. Thank you Stevie!

Hmmm game sounds great i assumed this was a cheap cash in game so never bothered with it great review