Star Wars: Bounty Hunter Review (PS5) – Jango Unchanged
Whilst I may not be the biggest Star Wars fan in recent times, largely because my time is more important than all the spin-offs, I did use to get invested. Way back before things were declared non-canon and whatnot, Star Wars media added a lot of filler and what-if’s back in the day. Before Starkiller made his debut, Jango Fett was getting his chance in the spotlight in Bounty Hunter.
Coming out during the prequel trilogy’s initial run, between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, it follows the galaxy’s most prolific bounty hunter, and how he became the poster boy for the clone army. Featuring cameos and familiar locations, it aided as filler to why Fett became to be as useful as he did.
But has twenty two years and some spit and polish been kind to Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, or do we collect the hit on this one and pronounce it DOA? Let’s find out.
For The Right Price
Our story begins… in a galaxy far, far away. Okay, just once, had to get it in there. Our story specifically begins with Jango Fett on the hunt for alien gangsters. Starting off rather innocuously, as bounty hunting goes, it’s not long before something bigger lands in his lap.
Rather than knowing not to trust Sith and/or foreboding men in dark robes, Fett is hired for an obscene amount of money to hunt something bigger. Or someone: a Dark Jedi by the name of Komari Vosa, Darth Tyranus’ former apprentice-cum-gang-leader.
As well as rubbing her former master up the wrong way, Vosa is involved in the death stick trade. Morality being a fine line in bounty hunting, Fett soon gets caught up in double crosses, shady dealings and spoiler alert, the attention of a bigger scheme involving a lot of genetic copy-and-pasting.
It’s all very… Star Wars, but then that’s what the expanded universe was about then. Seeing how much they could stretch out for filler and backstory, before denouncing a fair bit as “non-canon”.
The First Clone. Unaltered.
Now, I’ve been on a bit of PS2 renaissance lately, seeing as Ghosthunter was recently made available to play on PS5. As much as I love that game, it very much isn’t the eye-pleasing game it used to be. Fortunately, Bounty Hunter is a “remaster” (read: upscaled and whatnot), so it’s going to look better than an emulated title.
However, don’t let the shine fool you. It is still very much a clunky PS2 game from 2002. If players are going in expecting that then they shan’t be disappointed, but for those thinking it’s been brought up to modern standards will. It’s not to say it’s ugly, but it’s, if anything, a time capsule of how things looked.
However, it’s not bad, per se. I’m not suggesting it’s awful, rather that it’s delightfully retro as the style of LucasArts-licensed games were back then. Not all of the fluff that came out was terrible. Luckily, there are some modern fancies that this version benefits from.
Ratchet & Jank
Remember when your parents/grandparents pulled out the “We had X back in the day and that was how we liked it”? Staunch and headstrong that their way was better, and how dare we have it so easy, etc. Well, as someone old enough to use that phrase in regards to old games and controls, we didn’t always have it better. Remember Shadow of the Colossus’ original controls? Oof.
I must have really had nostalgia blinkers on, because Bounty Hunter’s classic controls are, quite frankly, awful. Thank whoever for the homogenising of a universal control scheme, with L2 for aiming and R2 for shooting. How ever did we cope without using the right thumbstick to move the camera?
I say all of this because Bounty Hunter also offers a modern control scheme. Yes, fret not: it can be played normally, without fear of launching any controllers or causing crippling, awkward finger contortions.
It’s better than the original, yes, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to it being an amazing game…
Like You Said, This Hunt Can Make Me
So, I’ve covered the graphics, and I’ve covered the control scheme, which leaves one bigger question: how does it play? Well… like a twenty two year old PlayStation 2, thanks for reading!
Okay, let’s assume some of you aren’t as old as most of Finger Guns and/or didn’t play Bounty Hunter the first time around. It’s a third person platformer, and if I had to draw a comparison (like I normally do) I’d say along the lines of Jak & Daxter, or Ratchet and Clank. Players control Jango through hives of scum and villainy, jumping over pipes and crawling through vents.
There’s no nuance in the combat: said scum will yell in a variety of alien languages and charge Fett en masse. Through tumbling, clunky jumping and a lock-on that doesn’t have the decency to auto-lock to the next closest target, players will be making their way through levels mostly consisting of this.
Every now and then, firefights will take a backseat to some very basic lateral puzzle solving. But Grim Fandango this is not, as it’s normally more a case of “which not-quite-obvious terminal/switch opens the next door?”. Add some cutscenes into that mix every now and again, and that’s your level progression.
Well, and some actual bounty hunting on the side.
He’s No Good To Me Dead
Yes, in a game called Bounty Hunter, players can actually exercise some judicial(ish) punishment and catch wanted criminals. Also yes, I know his boy Boba says the above line in The Empire Strikes Back. But it’s thematic, and it’s my review. So there.
Anyway, how hunting works is like this: each level will tell players how many bounties there are. By selecting the scanner in Fett’s helmet, hunters can scan miscreants to see if their name’s on the list. If it is, one can simply shoot them and claim the dead bounty, or take them in alive for… I dunno, karmic benefit?
This is done by binding them with another inventory piece, standing before them as they’re bound and pressing the Square button (on PS5), and off they go. Well, this is how it used to work in the original. Unfortunately, my version didn’t let me collect the bounty.
Whilst not gamebreaking enough to warrant a zero score, it’s a bit annoying that it took away that element from me. Let’s hope it gets patched out.
A One-Mission Man
This may come as a surprise, at least to those that expect more blaster for their buck, but Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a rather limited experience. That is to say, there’s no tacked on multiplayer, or added content by way of deluxe version.
Yes I know it’s hard for a lot of you youngsters, who expect DLC or some kind of tacked-on multiplayer. You can thank Dead Space 3 for that, for all the worse it did.
Whilst there is only a single player campaign to Bounty Hunter, it’s not something that can be done in one sitting. It’s a surprisingly decent length of a game, telling an actual arc of a character for once, rather than the cliff notes and cliffhangers.
Now, I haven’t finished the remaster, but I did see the original through. So, I can confirm that it’s (from memory) a good twelve to fifteen hours straight through, longer if one hunts bounties. However, I feel this new one’s going to lengthen the time with its issues…
This Clone Isn’t Up To Form
Again, perhaps it’s the nostalgia goggles, or Aspyr has missed a few things, but Bounty Hunter isn’t the most polished of ports. There are some things one can forgive, and I’m also experiencing this with Ghosthunter, but not all of them.
For one, there’s some horrendous clipping through obstacles going on. Sometimes it’s innocuous enough, like Jango’s bonce ignoring the ceiling physics. Others are worse, like clipping through pipes that should support Fett. This would lead to being stuck in it, which then led to having to restart the checkpoint.
Sounds innocent enough, but these are few and far between, which often meant restarting chapters. The combat is also fickle, again not aiming correctly or making Jango lock on to enemies through walls rather than the ones trying to blast the helmet off of his face.
With the aforementioned bounty hunting issues, I hope Aspyr are going to keep an eye on this. Hopefully they won’t leave it dangling like the XIII remake, hoping someone else will snap it up for quality control.
Attack Of The Groan
Ultimately, it was nostalgia that made me pick this to review, but nostalgia can be a double-edged bastard. Instead of making me relive memories of it, it’s actually making me think, “Was it actually good or was I a generous sixteen year old?”, which doesn’t bode well.
Now, reviews are subjective, and in this instance personal too. You may a die-hard Star Wars nut who will hear no wrong about the [extremely watered and over-saturated] franchise. If that’s you, then here’s what you’ll want to hear: this is exactly the same Bounty Hunter with shinier helmets.
For the rest of you, thinking of dipping a toe off the back of Star Wars Pod Racer and the Fallen Order games: don’t bother. There are far better action platformers, new and old, that are worthy of your time. Lump this with Attack of the Clones and just put it in your memory as “Yes, this is something that happened” and move on.
Whilst Aspyr have tried, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is unfortunately too much of a relic to polish up to today’s standards. Jango Fett’s story may be a decent one, but not at the price of retreading mid-ground nostalgia.
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is available now on PlayStation 4 & 5 (reviewed on latter), Xbox One and Series S|X, Nintendo Switch and PC via Steam.
Developer: Aspyr
Publisher: Aspyr
Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.
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