In what was a pretty dang great State of Play presentation, the gameplay trailer for Star Wars: Galactic Racer may have been one of the highlights, and in a recent developer interview, we’re picking up some really good vibes about this arcade racer’s direction.
Watching the above video, it’s fairly easy to see the studio’s experience working on Burnout and Need for Speed shining through. Indeed, British developer Fuse Games has former Criterion Games staff leading the charge.
In an interview with IGN, CEO and founder Matt Webster and creative director Kieran Crimmins reveal some pretty exciting details about the game.
They talk about how making a Star Wars arcade racing game was an ideal starting point for the team, combining their experience making “thrilling, fast arcade racing games” and their love of Star Wars.
Webster recognises that current gamers have been “a little bit underserved by just some kickass track racing experiences”, saying Galactic Racer is “coming back to tracks” rather than being set in an open world. The team wants to “bring a modern view on what that experience could be”.
On top of that, he reveals the game features a two-phase boost system. It sounds like the first phase will be your typical go-faster button, while the second phase introduces a little more risk.
“The second phase is something called a ramjet, which just goes really, really, really fast, but it’s got a consequence too — it generates a load of heat, and if run it for too long, you’re going to explode.”
Webster says environmental detail affects the ramjet too; the planet’s climate and things like rivers of lava and water will have an impact on the rate at which your ramjet heats up.
This reminds us of how boosting and overheating worked in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, where driving through water would cool your engine and allow you to boost more.
Speaking of MotorStorm, Galactic Racer has multiple vehicle types, and going by the trailer, they’ll all be in the mix, much like Evolution’s boisterous off-road racing series.
“Yeah, this is probably the first game we’ve made where the racing line can be that variable depending on the vehicle you’re driving, the kind of build you’ve got within that vehicle, and the environment,” says Crimmins.
Another interesting point in the interview concerns the player character, which is more of a focus than you might see in most racers.
“Now you’re inhabiting Shade, you’re a canonical new Star Wars character,” Webster says. “You walk down one of the shots in the trailer, you’re walking down the ramp of your starship, you’re going into a paddock. And this is really interesting addition here where the paddock gives us a place, a low intensity space where we can get up close with our Star Wars stuff, we can move a narrative on, we can see characters inside there.”
Crimmins describes an area where you can walk around and interact with other characters, something that allows them to tell a story and also provide a break between the high-intensity races.
To us, it seems the game has a really exciting combination of elements from Burnout, MotorStorm, and WipEout, all in a Star Wars costume.
The racing is extremely fast and aggressive with kill-cams focusing on wrecks, like Burnout. You have a mixture of vehicle classes and varied, off-road circuits, like MotorStorm. And of course, it shares its hovering, anti-gravity vehicles (and presumably some degree of handling) with WipEout.
Those are all some of our favourite arcade racers, so to say we’re keeping an eye on Star Wars: Galactic Racer would be an understatement.
Are you excited for this one? Tell us in the comments section below.
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