The film may have been poor, but the game itself is fantastic… Star Wars Episode I: Racer on the Nintendo 64 is a super-fast, third-person, fantasy racing game, based on the famous scene in the infamous film, but (thankfully) without the terrible acting from the kid…

You can play as Anakin Skywalker, of course, but you can also play as any one of the many available characters – each with their own, different vehicles and traits.

The feel of the game is excellent. The various ships can be thrown around with kinetic glee, and are fairly forgiving in terms of crashes. In fact: you can crash a number of times, but still manage to catch the leaders and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, which makes for a very exciting racing experience overall.

If the film put you off playing this: well… you’re not the only one. Me too. But I was wrong to write this game off based on my opinion of the film, and I really enjoyed playing it.

Star Wars Episode I: Racer has much more depth than you might think, and is arguably one of the best racing games on the Nintendo 64.

More: Star Wars Episode I: Racer on Wikipedia
GOG: Star Wars Episode I: Racer on GOG.com