Over the last few years, Aspyr has brought back several early- to mid-‘00s Star Wars games. They’ve all been pretty barebones port jobs, to the point they’ve all looked pretty much like they did back when they first came out, but – with the exception of KOTOR II, which had a game-breaking bug – they’ve all been decent, if undeniably a little dated.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter continues this trend. It’s a third-person shooter that was originally released back in 2002 on PS2 and GameCube, and…well, it looks like a third-person shooter that was originally released back in 2002 on PS2 and GameCube. The textures are kind of muddy, the characters look weird, and the environments are pretty ugly.
On top of this, because so many of the areas look muddy and similar, it’s awfully easy to get lost, even if none of the locations are enormous. Grates have a tendency to blend in with the walls, while doors that can open look pretty similar to doors that don’t open. Add in the lack of a map, and you can see why the game feels a little anachronistic.
Thankfully, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter includes an option to play with modern controls. And while I wouldn’t say that this makes the game totally easy to play, it undoubtedly makes it easier. Aiming is a bit of a pain, and moving the camera can cause motion-sickness, but on the whole, if you just run around shooting your laser, you can mow down everyone and everything that moves.
Side note: mowing down everyone and everything that moves, I assume, isn’t the point of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. But this game makes it easy to do that – and what’s more, they make it funny, too. There are some small yoda-like creatures who flip high in the air when you shoot them, while enemies (and random passers-by) will run around frantically with their arms in the air if they lose their weapons. It adds a nice element of humour (even if not a totally intentional one) that has aged a lot better than many other jokes from 2002.
Has the game as a whole aged well? Not really. I mean, I’m sure that if you loved Star Wars: Bounty Hunter back when it first came out 20+ years ago, you’ll probably still have a soft spot for it. And it’s certainly far from a bad game – as shooters go, it’s definitely competent. But that doesn’t make it some long-lost hidden gem. It was a so-so game back then, and it’s still a so-so game today.
Aspyr provided us with a Star Wars: Bounty Hunter PC code for review purposes.
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