The world of Star Wars is very visually lush--especially the original trilogy--and capturing that in a videogame is one of the first signs of a good effort in using the Star Wars license. Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing manages to do that, although you have to tough your way through some rather uninspired levels before you get to the really beautiful ones. The first few stages, generally set on Naboo or Tatooine, are relatively drab and unimpressive. But then you get to the Gungan city, and you plunge underwater with your racer, watching the weird fish and plants wave by. At the end of the game, you'll have raced through the infamous power plant and a Trade Federation droid ship as well, both of which are very, very cool looking. The game definitely picks up as you play, which is an incentive to keep going--seeing all the environments is a reward unto itself.

The engine itself runs quite well if you're playing by yourself, jerking occasionally but never to the point of unplayability. When you start playing split-screen with friends and family, however, the framerate takes a nosedive, and the last few levels can be very difficult to drive successfully if you've got four people going at once. It's a shame, really, as those are by far the most entertaining levels to drive.

The music is both awful and amazing, consisting of crazy remixes of your favourite Star Wars tunes. The opening theme is remixed for the menu, you'll hear the Celebration Song from the end of Episode 1, and so on--all seemingly played by a group of renegade musicians who've been using illicit narcotics or something similar. Some people are immediately turned off, but those who enjoy the bizarre will find it nice. The voice quips throughout the game are solid and often funny, and for the first time ever Jar Jar Binks is actually amusing instead of murder-tendency-inducing. The little hand wave that Obi-Wan Kenobi does when he wins was worth the price of admission for me, to be honest. The other sound effects are relatively solid, but they're generally what you've heard in every other kart racer in existence: crashes, bangs, booms, 'wah-wahs' when you really screw up, and so on.

And while Super Bombad Racing won't knock your socks off in terms of originality or solidity of gameplay--it's a character based kart racer, for goodness' sake, and we all know there aren't many of those around--it's an entertaining enough romp to keep you playing till the end, and maybe even drag a few friends in to play as well.

If there's a plot here, I certainly missed it. You're, uh, super Bombad racing around various locations of the universe, in an attempt to win various circuits and eventually the Galaxy Cup. Or something. Yeah. Whatever the case, the core of the game consists of racing through nine different courses, in one of three ways: one at a time, in three groups of three, or all at once. You have to unlock the last six courses by playing the game, but once you've done that, all the tracks are available for all of the characters.

The basic racing aspects of the game are similar to any other kart racer. You've got the accelerator, you've got the speed boosts, you've got the weapons, you've got the brakes. There's no power-sliding, per se, but you can do a 'Bombad turn' by hitting the brakes while holding down the accelerator, which helps you corner better. This is necessary because the vehicles in Super Bombad Racing are all very floaty. That's legitimate, since they all--er--float, but the handling definitely takes some getting used to.

The one place that Super Bombad Racing really shines (other than the 'crack happy Star Wars motif') is the track design. While the first few tracks are fairly standard kart racing fare, the last sets of tracks in the game have some really inventive touches. Since you are flying, not driving, the game occasionally switches to a full 3D move, such as in the underwater segment of Gunga Din and space on the Trade Federation ship. It's something of a shock at first, but it's easy enough to handle once you know it's going to happen.

The real crowning touch on the tracks in Super Bombad Racing is the sheer number of paths you can follow. There are tons of shortcuts on every single track, and after running through a track three or four times, chances are good you haven't seen half of what's there to see. Like the complexity of the tracks, these shortcuts seem to multiply the farther you get in the game, making for a rewarding experience as you play. There's nothing better than the feeling you get when you find an awesome shortcut that puts you head and shoulders in front of the other racers--only to be blown past when they all take another one.

Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing also has an Arena mode, where the racers duke it out in arenas in an attempt to smash all the other opponents. Unfortunately, the arenas are way too large for their own good, and while they certainly look pretty, it makes the battles more of a crapshoot. It's a nice feature, but one that probably won't get much use from anyone, as too many other games do it better.

Depending on the racer you pick, the game can be relatively easy or quite difficult. The racers are ranked on their speed, and while I found it easy enough to win the first few races with Obi-Wan--the middle-of-the-road character--I could barely pass other people up with the slower racers, like Yoda. Playing as evil himself (no, not Darth Maul . . . Jar Jar Binks!), on the other hand, let me blaze through the game all the way to the last level, where it suddenly got a whole lot more challenging. Even then, though, I trounced my way through the Federation ship before long. Winning the whole Galaxy Circuit is decidedly more challenging, as you have to place high in every race, but it's certainly doable. Make sure to do quite a few practice laps on each course to learn the lay of the land, which direction to go if you get sidetracked, and any really good shortcuts. You'll need them to win.

The basic controls of the game are very easy to pick up, and not much harder to master. The button configuration is fairly standard, and although I found myself forgetting which shoulder button did what at first, I was soon an old pro at shooting behind me or jumping at opportune times. The handling is loose, but it fits with the game, and if you do the power turns, you shouldn't have any problems with any of the courses. The game itself is a little glitchy, however--I drove through walls on multiple occasions, and I even had the game lock up once in Theed City. This is frustrating, to be sure, but not unforgivable. The load times are a little long, but not unbearably so.

If you came to Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing expecting a revolution in kart racers, you're going to be sorely disappointed--and you need to re-examine just what to expect. The genre really hasn't gone very far from where Super Mario Kart started it, and it doesn't look like it'll ever get much further away from that. But if you come to Super Bombad Racing looking for some lighthearted fun in the Star Wars universe, you'll find just what you're looking for. Its short length may turn off some, but there's definitely enough for a rental here, and any fan of the genre would do well to check Star Wars: Super Bombad Racing out and see if the wacky big-headed racing style is what they were looking for.