STAR WARS: Bounty Hunter Review

 STAR WARS: Bounty Hunter is a third-person shooter developed by LucasArts, but the version I am talking about was made and published by Aspyr. Originally released in 2002, it has now been ported to all the modern platforms: Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam. So, let’s see if this game from way in the past and somewhere else is worth playing again, for the first time… or not at all.

You play as the legendary bounty hunter Jango Fett, set between STAR WARS: The Phantom Menace and STAR WARS: Attack of the Clones. Darth Sidious and his apprentice, Darth Tyranus, are looking for a template for their clone army and someone to kill the fallen Jedi Komari Vosa, so they’re getting bounty hunters to do the deed and prove themselves as their candidate. Jango’s skills and willpower will be put to the test as not only does he have to deal with a rival bounty hunter, but the very creepy and powerful Bando Gora cult. But hey, anything worth five million credits would never be easy in the first place.

The story is much darker than your usual STAR WARS affair, focusing on the less fantastical side of the galaxy far, far away. You're playing an amoral bounty hunter who only cares about money, the plot is about investigating a drug-fueled death cult, some of your bounty targets are innocent civilians, and your rival is somehow worse than most Sith. Definitely not as family-friendly as any of the other STAR WARS games that came out back in the day. Is this canon though? Probably not anymore, but it's still a good story and hey, they got Temuera Morrison to reprise his role here, and getting the original actor is always great.

“I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.”

Now, let’s get into the action. In the 18 levels set across classic STAR WARS planets and locales, you’ll be running and gunning through the place, taking names and earning those sweet credits. Your main weapons are your twin WESTAR-34 blaster pistols, but you can pick up heavier fire-power along the way, although they will come with limited ammo. You also have access to backpack rockets, a sniper rifle, an arm-mounted flamethrower, a wire hook to capture prey alive, thermal detonators, poison darts, and let's not forget your jetpack. While all the weapons have their uses (except the detonators, they just suck) you'll be mostly relying on your basic pistols. They have a fast fire rate, infinite ammo, auto-targets two enemies at once, and you’re able to freely move while aiming and firing, 

However, Jango isn’t all offence as he has a few defensive manoeuvres, like the ability to dodge roll and jump out of the way of enemy fire. Although, I do have to point out one thing: Why can Jango jump and flip like a Jedi without using his jetpack? Like, you don't reach those heights without the Force! And you will need to use everything in your arsenal liberally as Bounty Hunter is a rather tough game, and nothing has been done to lower the difficulty spike.

You need to be aware and ready for anything or else you’ll end up getting disintegrated. With the lack of invincibility frames after taking damage, respawning enemies with heavier firepower than you, and only five continues before you need to restart the level, this game will test your patience, skill… and ability to withstand absolute bullcrap.

Nothing but a little flames to... oh god, this is pretty brutal.

That being said, there are plenty of moments where you do feel like a professional bounty hunter, especially since throughout the game, there will be optional bounties you can go after. All you have to do is equip your scanner, find the target and mark them. After that, you can bring them in, depending on how much their life or death is worth. And this does… nothing other than give you credits, which can't be spent on upgrades or something more useful. If you want to get every bounty without a guide, you'll have to pause and scan every NPC, sometimes in the middle of a firefight as, yes, some targets are hidden amongst the many, many enemies you'll encounter. At least the scanner slows down time so you can check the room without too much worry, but I kind of don't recommend doing this actively on your first playthrough.

What I do recommend is hunting down the secret feathers hidden in every level, as it unlocks bonus content for you to view in the main menu, and what’s included is great. You get access to fully animated outtakes, concept art, images of the cards from the STAR WARS TCG from Wizards of the Coast (I have to be specific because there have been a ton of STAR WARS card games), and even the prequel comic.

I have a bad feeling about this...

Onto performance. Bounty Hunter ran perfectly with no need to futz with the settings, so I was enjoying the smooth graphics and 60 FPS performance all the way through. I did run into a few visual glitches though, with Jango’s helmet jittering around at times and some visual effects not working correctly. Also in one cutscene, and I don’t know if this was in the original, but several characters were very noticeably T-posing. I also found the camera to be very hit-or-miss at times. It will fight against you, which isn’t great when it’s only you against two dozen enemies at once.

STAR WARS: Bounty Hunter is still really good, even 20+ years later. This game would've been right up my alley when I was younger. Sure, I probably wouldn’t be able to finish it without cheats, but there are plenty of moments that make you feel like the legendary bounty hunter Jango was supposed to be. It holds up, so why not check out yet another piece of STAR WARS history now freed from its ageing console bonds.