Just when you thought the Star Wars franchise was safe; LucasArts takes part in more self-cannibalism with their latest outing, Star Wars Super Bombad Racing. It is a light-hearted "big-head cart racing" game featuring cartoony versions of the characters and settings from The Phantom Menace episode. Although the game is all about fun and having a good time, this game is anything but that. In fact, it's down right dull.

Graphics
To start things on a positive note, Super Bombad Racing has some very colorful and vibrant locals. The race tracks seem more like an entire level than just a race track and there are lots of familiar Star Wars esque sites to see. Unfortunately, that's about the only positive thing there is to say. The game runs at a decent framerate but for the detail of the textures, it should be a constant 60 frames per second at all times. The polygon character models have very low polygon counts but look decent enough. The same goes for the environments. most textures look rather muddy and low-res. Hardly PS2 caliber. Sadly, the gameplay is just as uninspired as the visuals.

Gameplay
Super Bombad Racing is about as simple as you can get. Just fly around in an overly floaty aircraft while picking up power-ups to hinder the progress of your opposition with. There could have been so much more done with the weapon system in this game but LucasArts just went for the bare bones and that was it. Unlike in Mario Kart 64 where you can hold onto items or use them as defensive barriers, in SBR all you are required to do is run into the weapon and then hit the fire button and the weapon will do whatever it is supposed to do. There is no need to aim; everything is done for you. That's pretty boring if you ask me. Furthermore, the icons look very similar to each other making it very difficult to see exactly what it is you've picked up until you actually USE it. We can attribute that to just plain poor game design.

There are shortcuts to be found in the limited number of tracks which you'll need to find in order to win but the overall reward of winning a race leaves much to be desired. The apparent lack of game modes is a real sticking point. There just isn't much to do and what you can do is rather boring. The pace of the game is too slow for a racer. A sense of speed is a must but this game just doesn't have it unless you can snag some speed boosts.

There is a multiplayer mode, which supports up to four players. Players can race in a team race on a track or in a battle arena. There isn't anything new to find here, just your typical multiplayer battle mode however there is one major annoyance. Once a player has been defeated, they are completely taken out of the battle with nothing to do but sit back and watch for the remainder of the battle. Not my idea of fun. They should have at least allowed everyone to have three lives. I'm not sure, maybe it's because this game is aimed at younger kids that I cannot enjoy it but I am skeptical whether even kids could find this game any fun.

Sound
Nothing to write home about, the music is enough to drive you to drink. It's just so cartoony and childish it makes you sick! I know this is a kid's game and all but for crying out loud, give the Star Wars franchise SOME dignity!

The sound effects are a little better but nothing special. About the only thing I found funny in this game was the character taunts but they are a little cheesy.

Value
What value? As far as I'm concerned, Super Bombad Racing is an insult to a kid's intelligence. Even a five year old could figure this game out in two seconds and would probably be screaming for some more Metal Gear Solid 2 after five minutes with this uninspired, boring mess of a racer.