Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a somewhat forgotten classic Star Wars game that has made its return in a mostly great manner. Some issues of the original game persist along with a couple of technical hiccups, but for the most part, it’s good to see this explosive title strike back.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Developer: Aspyr
Price: $20
Platform: PS4, PS5 (reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC
MonsterVine was provided with a PS5 code for review
I always jump at the chance to check out new rereleases of the many Star Wars games I grew up playing. There’s something about the Star Wars games from the era of the PS2/GameCube/XBOX that feels like home to me, so getting to hunt down scum throughout the galaxy as Jango Fett again in a new remaster of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter had me raring to go. It mostly paid off, as outside of a couple of minor problems, Bounty Hunter is as enjoyable of a game as it was back in 2002.
So much of the appeal of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter comes from playing as the intense and badass bounty hunter Jango Fett, who fans first saw in Attack of the Clones. Going to different planets and blasting away hordes of adversaries using all manner of weapons as Jango is an exciting concept, which Bounty Hunter makes good use of through its intense action/third-person shooter gameplay.
Each stage lets you use different weapons, from sniper rifles to poison darts, which keeps the gameplay exciting as the game goes on. If you prefer to, you can largely survive by just locking onto foes and blasting them away with Jango’s twin pistols, which often shoot two different enemies independently when locked on. This is handy, though the lock-on has issues and sometimes gets caught between a couple of enemies, which throws the camera into disarray.
“The game looks quite sharp too, and I was pleasantly surprised to see reflections in Jango’s helmet and armor.“
The diverse stages take you to all sorts of different planets, where you have unique objectives to accomplish. One stage has you covering fellow hunter Zam Wesell from afar with a sniper rifle, while another has you destroying shield generators to escape prison on Jango’s iconic Slave I ship. It’s unlike most other Star Wars games in its story and gameplay but provides you with a story and combat that’s just as exciting as any Jedi-led title.
The bounty system itself is a great idea that ends up being a bit hampered by the actual mechanics behind it. Having to mark and detain or kill bounty targets does help make Jango feel more like an actual bounty hunter, but you need to scan each enemy using the visor that occupies the same slot as your weapon. This means you have to swap from a weapon to the visor over and over to check out each enemy to see if they have a bounty, then switch back to your chosen weapon to take them down. It’s a needlessly complicated process that I wish was streamlined a bit.
There are neat bonuses to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter as well, including a Jango-oriented comic book that you unlock pages of throughout the game, as well as secret tokens that give you pictures of old Wizards of the Coast Attack of the Clones trading cards. These are tiny things that go a long way in making this older game feel robust in its remaster. The game looks quite sharp too, and I was pleasantly surprised to see reflections in Jango’s helmet and armor.
I did notice that in some cutscenes, NPCs in the background would be T-posing very comically as each scene played out. I’m not certain if this is a remaster issue or an original game issue, but it’s a bit distracting during the more serious scenes. The “Continue” system also comes off as a bit dated, as you only get five continues before you have to restart a level entirely. I think at this point, it’d be better to just have unlimited continues rather than hastily implemented lives, but this is a minor issue since the game isn’t especially difficult.
The Final Word
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a unique and exciting Star Wars game that mostly holds up over 20 years later. The new release retains a few tiny errors, but for the most part, this is a great way to check out one of the seemingly less-remembered Star Wars titles from long, long ago.
MonsterVine Rating: 4 out of 5 – Good
