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Racer Revenge REVIEW

Tie Guy

By Tie Guy
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Tie Guy Newbie

Tie Guy

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Ok, i picked up a copy of Racer Revenge today after tennis tryouts and popped it in. All i can say is that i'm very impressed....oh...and...uh....this:

 

I liked the first racer alot, it was fast-paced, fun, endlessly playable, and there had not been a Star Wars game like it in the past. Well, except for the last one, Racer Revenge improves in all the areas i liked. The one thing i didn't like was that it wasn't exactly racing. It was more like trying to make it through the course without crashing too many times. Well, thats something that has been greatly improved in Racer Revenge.

 

A.I.- These guys aren't pushovers anymore, obviously they've been praticing these past 10 years. The AI is challenging. Remember how in Racer you basically took the lead from the start and kept it till the end, well, thats not the case anymore. First of all, when you start the race you are in last place, and when the light flashes green, you stay in last place for at least a short while. Second, if you manage to take the lead early, you better not slow down, cause someone is ALWAYS on your tail. If you stop or slow even for a short time, you will be passed, and most likely not by just one person, but two or three. Oh, and if you see the 8th place person, the first place person is probably only 10 seconds or so ahead, thats how good all the AI is. There is no more long spreads between first and last, everyone is either with you, or ahead of you. In the original Racer, i could beat every race first try by about 10-20 seconds. In this game i struggle to get 4th on my first try. It takes me at least 2 or 3 tries to make the podium and advance. Part of this is learning the tracks, which are much more complicated and detailed, and have many more paths than before. If you want a true indicator of the AI, you can just look at the time. I can't think of a race where the 2nd place person was more than 2 seconds behind me, but i can think of plenty where they are more than 10 ahead of me.

 

New Stuff- While Racer Revenge retains many of the orignal aspects of its predecessor, many things are also different. The biggest of these is the knockout system. The computer is no longer invulnerable, you can take them out. Of course, they can also take you out (though that hasn't happened to meyet) If you crash ONCE, you are out of the race, no restarting this time. Of course, its harder to die as well. A simply scratch (or direct hit) from a wall is hardly enough to kill you. Your biggest danger is getting hit by othe racers (who are VERY agressive), and by "over-boosting" (DOH!). I'm not eactly sure, but i think you don't any damage if you initiate an attack on another pod. eg. if you turn hard into an opponent it may do some big damage to him, but leave you full strength. The amount of damage you take it dependent on your "defense" stat. With all this damage being dolled out, repairing becomes a LARGE part of the game. You slow down when you repair, but your engines gradually repair, depending on your repair stat. Knowing when to repair and how to do it while still maintaing your position can be difficult, but it must be mastered to do the best. If you sucessfully knowck someone out, not only do you improve your chances in the race, but you recieve more money afterwards. The more you knock out, the more percentage of your winnings is added to your total amount. However, its not as easy to take someone out as you think.....at least not if you want to win or place. Hitting and ramming other racers slows you down, and as i mentioned before, that rally hurts you. So, you have to strike a balance between attacking and racing if you wish to win but still rack in the truggets.

 

The next biggest change is in the stat system. It works kind like THPS2 did, if you've ever played that game. If not, i'll explain it. You win money by winning races and KO'ing people. You then use that money to purchase stats. The money you win increases each race, but so does the cost of stats. Every time you "buy" a stat, the cost for the next stat of that type goes up by 50 truggets. So, the game is balanced in the stat building, and i think it is a pretty good system. The stats are as follows: Acceleration, Top Speed, Handling, Defense, Repairing, and Cooling. Each one is important and must be upgraded if you wish to win.

 

On a smaller note, you are able to set the controllers to play like Anikan drove in Episode I. That is, you push both of the joysticks uo to accelerate, and you pull one of them back while pressing up on the other one to turn. It sounds really cool, and it is, but it is INSANELY difficult to play. Still, if you ever wanted to drive a pod like anikan did, this is your chance.

 

Old stuff[/i]- The game plays out on 5 worlds and 12 tacks. This may not sound like alot, but thats only because its not. :D Really though, if you tried to beat all 12 with all 18 characters it would take quite a while. So, while the game originally seems short, i think it will turn out like Racer did and will be very fun even after you've beat it.

 

The game is still very fast-paced, and sometimes i feel like i have no idea where i'm going, but that i'm just going there fast. You are constantly fighting off other racers and trying to get back to the top of the pack thats it seems much more fast-paced than the original.

 

New characters can still be unlocked by finishing first in a race. In all, there are 18 normal characters.

 

Really Cool Stuff- If you win the 1st circuit, you unlock the podracer art gallery. Now, in this gallery they have the normal guys, but then i spotted several interesting things. They had art for some very interesting pods. One of these was a Watto pod, another was a very cool looking Darth Maul pod, and the last one was a TIE Fighter/Darth Vader pod. Did someone say secret characters?

 

EDIT: I forgot to talk about the graphics and such....

 

Graphics- This game looks wonderful. The pods are very well design and very nice looking. The courses...well, they look incredible. Whoever said that the PS2 couldn't do textures needs to play this game. They terrain looks very realistic, and it only enhances the course design and gameplay. Not too much else to say, the game looks great. Don't stop to admire it for long though, you'll quickly find yourself in last.

 

Anyways, its late, so just ask me if i missed something you want to know...

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Tie Guy Newbie

Tie Guy

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Originally posted by Sherack Nhar

I'd appreciate it if you'd post it in LucasConsoles too :(

 

EDIT: Nevermind, I copied it... I even got you covered on LC's main page :D

 

Well...Rhett did ;)

 

I thought about it, but as i said, thats was late last night i had tennis and school the next day. Besides, i looked over at the LC forums first, but it was deserted, so i decided to post it here and let you move it if you wanted.

 

 

I think that they will port the game to PC, just as they did on the original, though i doubt it will be right away. Personally, i think the console actually plays the game better than the PC ever did. I like using the joystick for steering, and all the other commands are move convients on the game pad as well.

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Sithcloak Newbie

Sithcloak

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Sorry this is kida off-topic.

Fergie i like your avtar, thats from duel of the fakes right?

Back on topic.

When they do release a pc version will they alow you to have AI players too? I hope so cause in the first the multi-player didn't support AI players, at least i think.

 

Sithcloak

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