Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing (PlayStation 2)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.0 stars Good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 6.2 (3.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Shahed Ahmed
• Reviewed on: 04/25/2001
• Released on: 04/23/2001
• Originally published on GameSpot: Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing (PlayStation 2) Review

The popularity of the Star Wars franchise has helped LucasArts create a broad range of marketable products, from toys and clothing to numerous video game releases. The latest genre in the gaming world to receive the Star Wars treatment is kart racing, in the form of Star Wars Super Bombad Racing. Considering that virtually every major property, including the Looney Tunes and Disney characters, has appeared in kart-racing games, it's surprising that it took this long to see a Star Wars-licensed game in the genre. Lucas Learning's Super Bombad Racing has uniquely designed and often difficult levels and an appealing cast of Star Wars characters. But several flaws, including loose controls and repetitive gameplay, keep it from being a truly enjoyable kart racer.

Star Wars Super Bombad Racing has three primary gameplay modes: race, teams, and arena. In the race mode, you can take part in all nine of the game's levels and the final grand challenge, where the nine races must be completed in succession. In the team mode, teams of two compete in four-player races. Whichever team gets a player over the finish line first wins. As the name suggests, the arena mode pits players against each other in large multilevel arenas filled with power-ups, and the last character standing wins. In both the race and arena modes, power-ups such as boost gadgets, force field gadgets, photon blasts, tractor beams, and energy balls are readily available. In typical kart-racing fashion, each character has his or her own special attack. However, there are some inherent flaws with both the arena and race modes of play.

The primary drawback in the race mode is that the power-ups aren't crucial to winning the race. None of the attacks are effective enough to have any significant impact on the races--success is often achieved through finding the best shortcuts and driving flawlessly. This plays against one of the primary attractions of kart racers, the enjoyment of blasting away at your opponents in multiplayer races. Super Bombad Racing takes away that element of malicious interaction and ends up on the side of being a straightforward racing game. On the other hand, the problem with the arena mode is that the playable areas themselves are entirely too large. In four-player deathmatch games, you can easily hide out in a nondescript tunnel and let the other three players battle it out until the very end. Compounding the gameplay woes are the loose controls. Because the races are run on spaceships and hovercrafts, the vehicles tend to float around a lot and take wide turns. This can be alleviated by constantly pressing the jump button around corners, but the handling certainly takes some getting used to.

Part of Super Bombad Racing's charm lies in its creatively designed courses. The first few levels, such as the Naboo Swamp and Theed City, are generally uninteresting and monotonous, but the later levels, such as the elevated city of Coruscant and the insanely difficult and often confusing Droid Control Ship, are enjoyable to race and master. In the later levels, the game's courses become multileveled in design. Particularly in levels such as the underwater Otoh Gunga course, you can race on multiple levels to find the best shortcuts. Throw in the power-ups and the general lack of directional signage on the tracks, and the levels become very challenging. It's usually necessary to race the courses a couple of times before you can race to win.

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