Star Wars: Galactic Racer Review: Burnout Meets a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Some of my favourite arcade racing memories come from Burnout 3: Takedown and Burnout Revenge. The relentless speed, chaotic crashes and pure satisfaction of taking out your opponents made those games something special.

Star Wars: Galactic Racer brings back that same excitement, wraps it in the nostalgia of Star Wars at its best, and adds a roguelike structure that makes every race matter.

I've never been someone who naturally gravitates towards roguelikes, but when the formula works, it can be incredibly rewarding. Hades, Balatro and God of War Ragnarök: Valhalla are good examples of games that kept me coming back for another run. Galactic Racer manages to capture that same feeling, only this time with the speed, chaos and excitement of an arcade racer.

The thing that really grabbed me was how invested I became in every single race. A crash can send you back to the start of a tour, which means every overtake, every corner and every bad decision suddenly carries real consequences. At first, I found myself blaming the game. But the more I played, the more I learnt the tracks, understood how the AI reacted and improved at defending myself.

Eventually, I stopped worrying so much about simply getting to the front of the pack. I started throwing myself into the chaos, actively hunting takedowns and seeing how many opponents I could wipe out in a single race. More often than not, that became even more satisfying than winning.

And that is where Galactic Racer really shines. The takedowns are enormously gratifying. They can be distracting, but in the best possible way. They became part of the chase for me. In fact, you can even win by eliminating the entire field, which tells you a lot about the kind of game this wants to be.

It isn't perfect. At times, the AI feels like it has an unfair advantage, particularly when opponents seem able to carry impossible speed through corners that are much harder to navigate yourself. There are also some noticeable difficulty spikes, and because the game repeats tracks regularly, especially in the early stages of a run, that repetition can become a little tedious.

Still, that's also the gamble of making a roguelike racer. You're either going to embrace that structure and find the game incredibly satisfying, or you're going to wish it was something simpler. If you can put up with the resets, the repeated runs and the occasional wall of difficulty, you'll find a game that rewards both your persistence and your improving skill set.

Importantly, it also feels like Star Wars. Everything looks, sounds and feels like it belongs in that universe. In a franchise where plenty of games have missed the mark, Star Wars: Galactic Racer does a great job of reminding you why Star Wars can still be such a compelling place for games.

For me, that combination was more than enough. It brought together the nostalgia of Star Wars, the excitement of one of my favourite racing game formulas, and a roguelike structure from a genre I only really enjoy when it truly captivates me.

Somehow, it all works.