Two decades on from its release, the N64 classic, Star Wars: Episode One: Pod Racer (and arguably the only thing classic about the Star Wars prequel), is now available to play on PC, in a manner of speaking. While you can play the original PC version of the game with uprated visuals and higher frame rates on GoG, Steam, or a variety of other platforms, you can also try out what the game might look like if it were made today, thanks to the efforts of a passionate CG artist.
Rob Jin has been working on a demo for Pod Racer in Unreal Engine 4 for the best part of a year. The end result is a Tatooine race where you play as Anakin and loop around the high-paced dust flats of the desert world just as you did on Nintendo's console in 1999. It features boosts, AI racers, high-speed turns, destruction, and explosive collisions.
There's even a CGI trailer to whet your appetite before downloading.
The only downside is that while the game demo is readily downloadable for anyone to get a hold of, it isn't right now. The files are being served up by Jin's Google Drive and since it's become incredibly popular, Google has capped it for now. It will likely open up again when things have died down, though, so save the link if you want to give it a try.
Alternatively, this torrent is proving quite active.
