There was a time when Star Wars was simply a trilogy of films to most, but through extended media such as games and books, many more tales were told. Of course, this all changed when Disney acquired Lucasfilm along with the Star Wars brand and, as they say, the rest is history.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter may not top many most wanted lists when it comes to the games, however Xbox owners never got the chance to try it out for themselves the first time around. Well, thanks to the folks at Aspyr, after 22 years Star Wars: Bounty Hunter has finally arrived on Microsoft’s family of consoles.
Set before the events in Star Wars: Episode II, you play as Jango Fett (Boba’s father) on the hunt for a Dark Jedi who is something of a loose cannon. His pursuit takes him to many different places across the galaxy, including some familiar favourites such as Tatooine and Coruscant.
In Star Wars: Bounty Hunter there are 18 levels, split into six different chapters. In between these you are treated to some great little cutscenes that at times will transport you back to the film franchise. The action plays out from a third person perspective, and as you would expect from a Mandalorian, Jango is packing some serious firepower. The classic Dual Blasters are your go to option, along with your flamethrower and whipcord.
However, grenades, cluster missiles and even a sniper rifle will be added to your arsenal as you pursue your objectives. Playing with these various options is a lot of fun, however cycling between them as gunfire rains down on you is fiddly at best. A more modern weapon wheel improvement would have worked wonders here.
On the subject of controls, these have been given an overhaul for the modern day, or you can revert back to the classic setup if you like. You can free aim or lock-on to enemies, however the lock-on is something of a mixed blessing. Tracking enemies automatically is great, but switching between them or trying to target something specific is again, fiddly. An example being a group of enemy guards standing under a fixed turret which was dishing out the most damage, but I couldn’t for the life of me shift my aim to it.
This issue has a knock on effect with the camera too which, despite improvements, is prone to spinning around to follow Jango if he is locked on, causing all sorts of directional issues. Tight spaces will be your arch nemesis, as the camera wildly spasms as it tries to correct itself.
By far the most enjoyable part of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is zipping around the levels with your trusty jetpack. You can dodge and jump over enemies whilst locked on, but it’s much more satisfying to soar over them and take them out from above. This is where the lock-on feature is most useful. Your jetpack is also used for some pretty impressive platforming (certainly for its day), which splits up the firefights.
The locations are fairly linear but well designed and faithful to the Star Wars universe. Traversing the heights of Coruscant or navigating the depths of the death stick factory are among the most interesting parts of the game, as mowing down crowds of enemies does feel like a grind before too long.
The combat happens at great speed, enemies will pop up and surround you in seconds. It’s a shame that the clunky controls still can’t quite keep up and give you the opportunity to react in time. Gladly, enemies will drop health fairly regularly, and pickups are generously scattered around to keep you in the fight.
That said, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a pretty difficult game. You’ll need to constantly be on your guard, as some enemies are packing pretty devastating weapons. At times it feels like they endlessly respawn, however thankfully they don’t, and it’s in these moments where Star Wars: Bounty Hunter drags. In something of a contradiction, the boss battles feel easy and all feel very similar to one another.
If you die (and you will) you get five continues before having to restart the level. This is a telltale sign of the game’s age, a hallmark if you like, and being honest I feel there’s no need for it to remain here. Checkpoints are fairly regular, but a few times I lost all my continues and had to take a break before jumping back in. I hate to say it, but I was getting bored.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Star Wars: Bounty Hunter without some actual bounties to collect. These are optional, but each level contains several targets which are ripe for the picking. To do so, you’ll need to scan those you come across to see if they are on the bounty list. If they are, a quick lasso will incapacitate your target, and then flipping back to your scanner will capture them. At first I set out with every intention to find each bounty, however it becomes very tricky in the heat of battle. Especially so if your target is armed and firing at you. The clunky controls once again rear their ugly head, so honestly before long I gave up on it and just cracked on with the main missions.Â
You would be forgiven for looking at Star Wars: Bounty Hunter and asking what’s changed. Well, apart from the tweaks I’ve already mentioned there’s increased graphical fidelity and performance improvements, but that’s about it. Despite these, I experienced the occasional glitch when climbing where everything on screen vanished, and I fell through the platform I was climbing up.
Oh, actually there is something else. You have the opportunity to unlock bonus comics, trading cards, galleries and outtakes by finding secret feathers in each level and collecting credits for bounties. These extras are really cool, and are sure to please any Star Wars fan.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter finally blasts on to Xbox with a little polish, but no fundamental changes since 2002. There are better Star Wars games out there, but fans of the franchise will enjoy the ride.
