Hello. I’m a Burnout psycho, and I’ve been playing Star Wars: Galactic Racer — the best Burnout game since Paradise.
Obviously, it isn’t technically related to Criterion Games’ arcade racing series at all, but as has been pointed out many times already, Galactic Racer has Burnout in its blood. You can feel it pulsing through every part of the game.
The developer, Fuse Games, is a Guildford-based studio with ex-Criterion staff heading things up. You can tell.
Galactic Racer, to me, feels like the closest thing we’ve had to Burnout and its bombastic brand of racing since the series was stowed away in EA’s garage.
There are many similarities it shares with the dormant racing franchise, and that excites me on a couple of levels.
Firstly, I’m just so happy to be playing a full-throated arcade racer that handles beautifully and harkens back to some of my favourite games of all time.
Secondly, I can easily see a new Burnout shaped in this game’s mould, and I think that might be exactly the way it should return.
To start with, let’s take a look at all the ways that Galactic Racer is essentially already Burnout:
It’s Insanely Fast
A signature aspect of Burnout is that you go really really quick. This is extremely important. Galactic Racer shares this fundamental philosophy; you go like absolute stink in this game.
The sense of speed is incredible, especially when piloting podracers. Sometimes they can almost feel too fast, at times outpacing your ability to read the track ahead of you.
This is Burnout. You’re on the edge of control, nanoseconds away from either sailing through a shortcut or slamming head first into a wall.
The Handling Is On Point
Galactic Racer is not only fast, it’s utterly butterly smooth. Flying any of its playable vehicles feels excellent; the handling is perfectly pitched for the kind of game this is.
That’s absolutely true of Burnout as well. Paradise plays a little differently to its predecessors, but every game in the series has always had fantastic driving, drifting, and boosting. It’s the feel of the handling that I really love about the franchise, and Galactic Racer has a similar quality to it.
Takedowns Are Back
Introduced in Burnout 3: Takedown, this combative aspect of the series is now an integral part of it.
While 3 is my favourite entry overall, Burnout Revenge does takedowns even better, with tracks that really make the most of the mechanic.
Galactic Racer has takedowns embedded into its racing in much the same way. The feel of performing takedowns is slightly different here, mostly because you’re flying a repulsor craft and not driving a wheels-on-tarmac vehicle.
However, the dynamic is very much part of the action, and it rewards the player in a similar fashion to Burnout.
Hell, even vertical takedowns are included, something I discovered by accident and was overjoyed by. It’s so fun smashing into rivals and forcing them into a crash. It never gets old for me.
It Has Road Rage Mode (Sort Of)
Road Rage is a mode introduced in Burnout 3, and it’s all about performing as many takedowns as you can within a time limit.
Galactic Racer doesn’t have Road Rage by name, but some of the Field Tests you find during a run are pretty much exactly Road Rage. You’re given a specific vehicle and tasked with reaching a certain number of takedowns against the clock.
If the game had some sort of Crash mode (it sadly doesn’t), I’d say Fuse Games was aping Burnout fully on purpose.
Spectacular Crashes
Speaking of crashing, Galactic Racer makes crashing entertaining just like Burnout does.
Whether it’s you or an opponent, seeing these vehicles explode into dozens of bits and careen through the sky at cinematic angles is just fun to watch.
I think Burnout might actually still have the edge when it comes to damage modelling, as the speeders in Galactic Racer don’t really lose their shape as they collide with things, but all the sparks and debris flying around is very Burnout regardless.
Deadly Courses
Burnout Revenge is particularly brutal in terms of its track design, and that’s because they were all made with takedowns in mind.
There were more hazards and more ways to take other racers out than in 3, and Paradise had less of it owing to its open world nature.
I feel like Galactic Racer throws back to Revenge in this regard, as the courses are littered with potential hazards.
I love, for example, the heaters you can drive through on Ando Prime to shake off the cold; not only do they help you navigate the icy courses, but they’re just narrow enough to be as much an obstacle as they are a solution.
‘Systems Critical’
Here’s a more obscure one. If you crash too much during an event in Galactic Racer, you’ll enter the Systems Critical state. One more crash and you’re out.
Well, guess what? Burnout has an extremely similar analogue!
Damage Critical (or Critical Damage depending on the game you play) is a warning that appears onscreen when you’re one bad move away from totalling the car and ending the event.
I think this was exclusively for Road Rage mode, but at any rate, this is just one more nod that Galactic Racer makes to Burnout, and it makes so much sense the way it’s been implemented here.
So, those are the ways that Galactic Racer clearly shares its DNA with Burnout. It’s so similar in various ways that I think Fuse Games has, whether it intended to or not, laid out a blueprint for Criterion’s series to come back.
If (and it’s a big if) Burnout was to return, ideally with Fuse Games at the helm, I think the following aspects would fit in perfectly.
A Roguelite Campaign
Who knew racing games and roguelite elements went so well together? Galactic Racer’s campaign is all the proof you need.
I think that structure would slot in perfectly with Burnout. Instead of moving to different planets, you would hop to different countries in a world tour.
You take part in races, eliminators, burning laps, crash, and road rage events, gradually building up your car with stat increases and build-shaping parts. I can see it so clearly in my mind; I think it would translate brilliantly.
The only issue I foresee is Burnout’s lack of characters; if the campaign were to have some downtime like Galactic Racer, there would need to be some characters and/or story going on. I think that would be the biggest challenge, as Burnout has never really had drivers or a narrative, but a suitably silly ensemble cast and an equally daft plot could definitely work.
Mixed Vehicle Types
Galactic Racer’s mixed vehicle races is more MotorStorm than Burnout, but I think it would fit in very nicely with the latter series’ chaotic personality.
Perhaps not every race would be mixed, but some events featuring cars, motorbikes, and trucks would be a fun new wrinkle.
Overheating
Another MotorStorm-like mechanic, the tension in pushing Galactic Racer’s ramjet to the limit amid the madness of a race feels like, again, a very Burnout move.
This one’s a little tricky because Burnout has quite specific boost mechanics; most notably, when you empty a full boost bar in one go, that’s called a Burnout, and you’re rewarded with the bar refilling.
Perhaps an overheating boost meter could be limited to certain vehicle types, or certain regions in the world tour? It just struck me as something that fits the aggressive nature of the series.
Additional Events
Obviously, alongside the roguelite campaign, you’d also want a separate Arcade mode with standalone events to play through, as well as the ability to set up custom races, lots of unlockable vehicles, and so on.
I think being able to simply pick a car, pick an event, and pick a course would be necessary.
Galactic Racer’s multiplayer could translate pretty nicely to Burnout, too, emphasising rivalries among players as they compete in a mini tournament.
Look, I just want Burnout to come back, okay? Galactic Racer is the closest we’ve come in a long time, I’m really loving it, and I think it has some fantastic ideas that would translate very well to a new entry.
Would you be interested in a new Burnout with some influence from Galactic Racer? Have you been enjoying the game’s high-intensity racing? Tell us in the comments section below.
