The Phantom Menace effectively
turned the Star Wars mythos into a live action cartoon. It was only a matter of time
before the game franchise turned to the dark side: kart racing. And a welcome turn it is,
the Star Wars cannon being ripe for the tongue-in-cheek humor of kart racers.
Unfortunately, despite moments of genuine charm and innovation, Star Wars Super Bombad
Racing is a horribly uneven game, and frustrating to the point of losing its younger
target audience.
SBR contains
the standard list of kart racing options. Up to two players (or four with that infernal
multi-tap) can race individually or in pairs on any of nine courses, or can battle in one
of four arenas. There are eight characters available in the beginning. A secret character
can be unlocked through the courses, and two others via codes. While none of these numbers
are impressive, even when compared to aging N64 kart racers like Diddy Kong Racing, SBR
does get a lot of mileage out of the Star Wars universe (or galaxy, I supposelong,
long ago; far, far away). The courses include the Dune Sea where Jawas jabber and fire
shrinking rays at the racers, and the Theed Power Station, site of the climactic Jedi/Sith
battle of Episode 1. One of the arenas is the Great Pit of Carkoon, where the almighty
Sarlacc preys on unwary drivers. Then there are the charactersDarth Maul, Yoda,
Obi-Wan, Anakin, Queen Amidala, Sebulba, Jar Jar, and Boss Nass (in his Boss Nascar, no
less). These guys, and gal, volley taunts and movie quotes (Darth Maul: "you are no
match for the power of a Sith," Yoda: "slow you are, yes"). They hit each
other with blasters, tractor beams, even personalized attacks like Darth Mauls light
saber, Boss Nasss slobber, and Jar Jars tongue. The secret racer is the
perfect addition to the cast (I wont spoil the surprise) and the code racers I know
of are Boba Fett and a Battle Tank. Okay, the Battle Tank is lame. And I wish the taunts
and reactions of the characters werent quite so limited. They have a tendency to
pick one and repeat it ad nauseum. But the game more than redeems itself as you knock Jar
Jar into a chasm and he screams "Wheres Meesa going?" Its cruel and
satisfying!
The
personality of the game really comes out in the sound. The movies have always excelled in
this department and I cant remember a Star Wars game that didnt take advantage
of that. SBR takes sound effects we know and lovethe engine of Sebulbas pod
racer, blaster fireand makes them cartoony, silly. The horn on Anakins Naboo
Fighter is a tricycle bell, things like that. And the music is hilarious. The warbling,
bells-and-whistles kiddie version of "Duel of the Fates" is classic. But the
voices range from exact (Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best voice their characters from the movie)
to bafflingly out of character (whats with Obi-Wans Bill and Ted
impersonation? "Eex-cellent").
The game looks
good. There is nothing breathtaking here, but the graphics are bright and clean and all
the familiar environments are rendered with care. It does suffer from draw-in and clipping
problems, however, and you will sometimes find your racer going right through solid
objects. But this rarely detracts from the game as you are usually focused directly on
your racer. What does detract from the game is the terrible frame rate during multi-player
races. The game just seems to drag along compared to the single player experience.
It is hard to
define all that is good or bad in SBR in terms of game play. Often, what I had first
decided were good things later turned into faults, and vice versa. For instance, the
courses, excluding one of the weakest opening tracks in history, are some of the most
innovative that I have seen. These are large, sprawling tracks with diverging paths,
pitfalls, and obstacle courses. The majority of the Otoh Gunga course takes place under
water, and the Droid Control Ship momentarily takes the race into space where the karts
react in zero gravity. All of the courses contain various shortcuts, the kind that are sly
and quick and only meant to give you the edge, not necessarily the victory. However, there
is something to be said for being too ambitious. The courses are often so complex that
they seem more like mazes. This is not helped much by the directional cues, which, rather
than being clearly marked, blend into the background, or the HUD which uses poorly
rendered character icons instead of simple, colored dots. The arenas, too, are out of
control. They are so large and intricate that most of your battles are spent finding
your opponents instead of fighting them. Yes, these courses and arenas are deep and
challenging, and can be great fun with practice, but they make racing against anyone who
doesnt own the game unsatisfying. And they are completely alienating to the younger
crowdthe ones who should love the game most. My seven year-old, a rank-and-file game
maniac who has mastered a great many titles adults have trouble with, was furious when he
couldnt find his way through some courses. Nothing is more frustrating in a race
than receiving a "wrong way" message when there is no clear path in front of
you.
This is further
complicated by a slippery control system that does not adhere to any kind of rational
physics. The karts in this game float and glide around the track. At times they can speed
through the most diabolical looking terrain, while at other times they get hung up on the
tiniest of obstacles. Then there is the damn bouncing. Sometimes your racer will come out
of a jump or a fall and just keep bouncing up and down along the track like its made
out of rubber.
All of this
creates a pretty steep learning curve for the game. The courses, arenas, and control
system do make sense after practice. In the end, I found that along with the steep
learning curve comes a similar fun-factor curve. At first, the game is no fun at all. But
I invested some time in SBR, and at the peak of my playing time I was having a great deal
of fun. The game was challenging and engaging. I was mastering the different characters,
learning to use the weapons, finding new shortcuts. Unfortunately, this curve is a bell
curve, and the peak only lasted a couple of days. After that, the single player experience
just gets played out. The replay value of a good kart racer depends upon the multi-player
experience. This game just doesnt have it. No one else I know owns this game and no
one had any interest in playing long enough to master it. And who could blame them? As I
said, the game isnt much fun in the beginning anyway. But it is even less so when
you are sitting next to your buddy on the couch, feeling like an idiot because you are
lost in a silly, big-headed kart cartoon and your character is bouncing around the screen
like a freakin rubber ball. I dont care how many times you get to feed Jar Jar to
the Sarlacc, it isnt worth that kind of humiliation.