2002 Lucas Arts
Star Wars Bounty Hunter allows you to patrol the universe as the notorious bounty hunter Jango Fett. Armed with a jet pack, dual blasters, toxic darts, a sniper rifle, whip chord, flamethrower, and other gadgetry; you must hunt down and capture the scum of the universedead or alive.
Jango is invited by the dark lord Darth Tyranus to hunt down the leader of the dangerous Bando Gora cult, a rogue dark Jedi. With your arsenal and the help of Rozata (think Navi), Jango searches 6 separate worlds (spanning 18 levels) for his bounty. In the process, Jango becomes ensnared in the plans of Darth Sidious and Darth Tyranus that lead to Jango Fett becoming the blueprint for the clone army.
Features
- 18 levels spanning 6 different worlds.
- Discover the story of how Jango Fett became the model for the clone army.
- Use Jango's trademark arsenal including dual blaster pistols, missile-equipped jetpack, flamethrower, toxic darts, sniper rifle, and more...
- Burn through doors with a wrist-mounted cutting laser.
- Claim bounties dead or alive using a scanner to locate bounties and tag them, then chase them down and snare them with your wrist cable or blast them.
- Encounter over 100 unique characters, including familiar Star Wars aliens, droids and creatures.
- Soundtrack includes music from John Williams' Attack of the Clones score.
- Voice talents include those from Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones stars Temuera Morrison as Jango Fett and Leeanna Walsman as Zam Wesell. Also featuring TV and film star Clancy Brown as Jango's brutal arch-nemesis Montross.
Mary Jane Irwin:
Quite simply, Bounty Hunter is a fun game. It doesnt break any boundaries or bring anything new and exciting to gaming, but it is thoroughly enjoyable. It does suffer from some graphical glitches that detract from the overall experience, but if youre looking for a game that will simply entertain you, Bounty Hunter just might be calling your name.
Bounty Hunter takes place in the Star Wars universe sometime after the events in The Phantom Menace and explains how Jango Fett was chosen as the blueprint for the clone army. Gameplay is reminiscent of Star Wars Shadow of the Empire on the Nintendo 64, and has the same overall feel as other Star Wars person-based games. This similarity makes it immediately accessible for pick up and play gaming, but it also makes for a game filled with dj vu. If you have played any of the previous Star Wars titles you will often feel as though you have played through this game before.
The controls are fairly straightforward. The right trigger locks onto bad guys, the left trigger activates your jetpack, xcrouches, y is the action button, a fires your weapon, b jumps, z activates free look, the control stick moves Jango, and the control pad cycles through weapons. The only major control cycling through weapons because you have to take your thumb off the control stick to change weapons, it makes it difficult to dodge enemy fire.
Luckily, immobilization, such as when switching weapons or scanning (discussed below), doesnt usually result in death. Bounty Hunter just is not all that challenging. You can pass through the first chapter (world) of the game with out being touched by enemy fire. This may be a combination of all the acrobatic dodging you can perform, but the following levels seem to just increase the amount of enemies instead of difficulty.
Typically each level has Jango chasing a particular bounty. This involves shooting henchman and some platform elements. Along with the primary objective, Jango also has the option of tracking down other bounties on the side. To locate these other bounties, you must use your scanner to identify and then mark the target. Simply select the scanner from inventory, and then enter free look mode to start scanning. As the scanner scans each individual, it will either display no bounty, or a detailed profile along with information on whether the subject is wanted dead or alive. When the scanner has located a bounty, tap the a button to tag him, and then when you capture (using the whipcord) or kill the mark you will receive the reward. Because you cant move while scanning, I recommend dispatching the bad guys beforehand (dont worry, for some reason the other bounties are never armed and can be found cowering in corners or running away).
The other issue with general gameplay is the exclusion of any sort of map or radar. The labyrinthine levels can lead to roaming around in circles if you happen to miss a small grate hiding in a dark corner. Neither items are necessities, but they would have been a convenient addition. If Jango has a wrist mounted cutting torchwhy cant he have a wrist mounted map?
The most polishedand unpolished characteristic of Bounty Hunter are the graphics. The FMV sequences at times can convince you that they are sequences from an actual Star Wars movie and the character models resemble their movie counterparts. Levels are populated with diverse characters (except the bad guys always seem to look alike) and other signs of life such as spaceships.
Character models are lifelike and fluid. Jango Fetts animations are amazing and just enjoyable to watch. The coolest feature, in my opinion, is the ability to use a wrist mounted torch to cut through certain types of grates and doors. When confronted by such an obstacle, tap the action button, and Jango will cut out an outline of a door and kick it down. Its just fun watching Jangos animations as he cuts through doors, targets two enemies with his dual blasters, and performs various flips and rolls. When locked on, if you push a direction and hit jump, you will flip in that direction. The same mechanism allows you to roll out of harms way when you are locked on and tap x. If you time things right, you can jump into the air, do a somersault, and then blast higher with your jetpack. Just performing these sorts of acrobatics can keep you amused for hours.
But, everything is not dandy. You will discover several graphical glitches throughout the game that at times can bring a bit of comedy to gameplay. When Jango climbs ladders, his animation looks really choppy, as if he is being pulled upwards by a puppeteer on speed. In corners, the camera starts spasming and when enemies die, half of their bodies will fall through a wall. At one point, I had Jango pinned between a moving block and a wall, which triggered the falling to ones doom flailing and cinema sequence. My personal favorite is when you must jump/fly over to a bunker sticking out of a wall. You can grab onto the window ledge, and then jump upwards and fly on top of it. But, if you happen to jump towards the bunker, you get stuck in the window and then fall to your doomwhile still stuck in the window Basically the visuals are pretty, but it feels like Lucas Arts didnt really put the time into finishing the game.
Most of the music found in Bounty Hunter is taken form John Williams Attack of the Clones score, with a few original pieces thrown in. Sound effects make it feel that you are navigating living environments. Your boots clang up stairs, you can hear ships as the whiz by over head, and enemies will shout, Hes over there!, Someones coming!, and Get Him!, while bystanders will say such things as Theres no bounty on my head!, or Who is that? Jango is voiced by Temuera Morrison, who played Jango in Attack of the Clones. The other main characters sound like their counterparts, all though not exclusively voiced by them.
As far as replayability is concerned, there doesnt seem to be anyway to change the difficulty level. There are a few bonuses for beating certain levels quickly, collecting secret tokens, catching extra bounties, and beating the game. These bonuses consist of a comic book (a couple pages are unlocked with every level), Star Wars trading cards (I dont get the pointthey look like the collectible card game but on your TV), concept art, and bloopers from the production of the game. There is nothing totally outstanding, but at least there are perks.
Bounty Hunter is a fun game. It just isnt very deep. If youre looking for something that you just want to pick up to pass the time or you want something that doesn't require heavy thinking, this is a great game. Unless youre a diehard Star Wars junkie, I would recommend you just rent this title, at least to see if it can entertain you enough to justify a purchase.