Tryzon?s Nostalgic Gaming Trips #7
Yes, dear readers, ?tis another Star Wars feature. But no, this shall not be my first bad game review, for this is far from the worst game in my ever-expanding collection, and neither is it a bad Star Wars game. Hell, I?d have to say it?s almost best I?ve played. With the fairly recent disappointing (but hardly surprising) mediocre-town known as The Force Unleashed, I once again find myself sighing, and recalling the golden days of my life, when I first played all the finest titles I have yet encountered: there were the Jak games; Soul Reaver; War of the Monsters and Zone of the Enders, to name but a few. Bounty Hunter is not quite among these fine products, but it remains one of the most fondly remembered experiences of my wondrously wasted existence. Admittedly there?s a bias present in my case, due to the strange effects of nostalgia (hence the name of the review series, ?course), but I still have to say that this has to be the best Wars game before Battlefront.
If I was lazy, I would summarise the game as a mighty fine morsel, with the only flaws being occasional bullshit deaths (?You can fall through the bridge?!?) and its complete-in-a-dedicated-weekend nature. But seeing as I have bothered to put together several previous nostalgic trips, and have covered yet another A4 in scribbled notes during my playthrough, you?d be right in thinking that I?ve gone too far not to continue in the proper manner. Therefore, allow me to introduce this under-loved prince to thee.
Upon starting, doubtless you will notice the shameless display of the high production values expected of a Lucas Arts title. They may do nothing but leach off the sweet, tasty nectar of the Star Wars license, but they didn?t skimp on the flashy effects. The visuals were exceedingly good for the day and more than hold up now, but the sound gets my personal thumbs up, due to the perfect use of authentic noises from the universe, including blasters, engines, and even brilliant insertion of the famous Wilhelm scream. Just try not to snigger whenever you hear that in-game. I?m convinced it?s humanly impossible.
Naturally, with the license comes great music, a bit from the original trilogy, most from the prequels, and even a couple of pieces I?ve not heard outside of the game, and so can only assume were composed originally, the most obvious of which is the tribal hunting beat which pops up at various points, and can be found in the original teaser trailer. Give it a YouTube, why not?
While such lovely touches as those described above are lovely, not even some mostly nice level design dolloped on top of it all would make for an epic quest if the core gameplay handled like a one-wheeled milk float, and as you probably guessed, it is nothing short of great. Simple but effective, it?s all just a matter of running and gunning, with interesting possibilities being added to the mix with the jetpack, and dual-targeting pistols.
A cheeky tap of L1 sends you into the air. If you don?t touch the stick, you will just go straight up, but a quick adjustment causes you to go in the horizontal direction of your choice. While it originally seemed odd, I soon learned that ?twas in fact a masterpiece of design: you can easily manoeuvre wherever you want, with the only restriction being the fuel meter, which limits you to a few sweet moments of flight before needing a brief recharge.
Similarly juicy are the pistols. Jango automatically aims at anything hostile that comes too close and square fires your deceptively innocent-looking tools. Holding it down shoots very slowly, so one must tippity-tap like a mad thing in order to blast quick enough. Again, this didn?t feel quite right at first, and the thumb has the tendency to lose all feeling and drop off after maybe two hours, but for some reason (most likely the euphoric sensation caused by the subtle release of adrenaline into the bloodstream), it eventually dawned on me that fingering the controller in such a manic manner is very exciting, and key to this is the fact that Jango seems able to shoot as fast as you can hammer the button, so every round is let loose when it should be. With R1 acting as your means of strafing a specific target (although Jango still fires at somebody else simultaneously whenever possible), gunplay is almost always immensely satisfying.
It?s an arcade-style massacre, and probably the game?s standout chapter is on the prison asteroid Ovoo IV, where wardens and rioting inmates will charge a dozen at a time, and the open spaces allow you to pirouette through the air, reducing their bodies to cinders while gracefully arcing over them. Alright, they don?t really disintegrate, but that would double the fun, right there.
The experience is most pleasurable when you are able to terminate goons in time with your brain?s signals, and things tend to reach almost zen-like states of mental harmony. The hypnotic cries of pain and slumping bodies, perfectly in sync with your thumb?s movements, is the heart of the pleasure. Bounty Hunter is one of those games where you just forget about the controller in your hands, cutting out the middle-man, and let your very will determine your character?s movements.
Sadly, after so much amazement, the controls take a bit of a slip. A consistent annoyance is how weapon selection is handled: all of your items must be scrolled through one-by-one in-game, and there can be up to eight-or-so bits of hardware to rummage through at any one time. You?ll spend the vaaaaast majority of your time using the pistols, but there are occasions where only the sniper rifle or the missiles will perform the required task adequately, and flicking between things could hardly be less intuitive when under fire. Did I mention ten good shots can see you fizzed out of existence? Well, they can. A Ratchet & Clank- style ring of items which also freezes the action would have been the perfect system, or even having to go to the pause menu would be better. Tragic.
Perhaps even worse is how the game renders its super jetpack action almost broken with unforgivable inclusion of the bane of my existence, the thorn in my paw, the stake in my heart: a lives system (*spit*). This is one of those games where you almost never die in combat, and then you?re made to negotiate a load of platforms, with one cock-up meaning instant death. The controls keep this mostly acceptable, but far more troublesome is how freakishly awkward it can be to grab ledges. You always have to be within sniffing distance of the thing, and maybe it?s just my screwed analogue sticks, but every third time I manage to latch onto something I instantly let go. Throw in the fact that you only ever have five attempts at a level and forty minutes work can be lost in a hundredth of the time. Worst of all is when you are required to tackle all this under heavy fire.
It?s much like Wolverine?s Revenge, which I would actually say is slightly superior to Bounty Hunter, but I am so sick of easy combat and then terrible platforming that I could just burn my original trilogy boxset. It is the altered edition though, so it wouldn?t be a total loss...Solo was destined to shoot first, George, and why you felt the need to alter the fabric of the universe just to change that detail will forever be an enigma whose answer is known only to you. Maximo is probably the worst offender of ?fighting easy, jumping hard? that I?ve had to endure, but I can promise you it would only take a sufficiently mentally incapacitated designer to break the record. I placed my wager on Team Sonic, myself.
Still more annoyance can be gleaned from a few enemy types: the rocket launchers are usually easy to avoid, but if you get caught off guard by one from outside from range of view, it can send you plummeting to your untimely demise, and this is truly a thing of pure evil. Just remain aware of your surroundings, and you?ll be fine. More problematic are the damn-near invisible sniper bastards who appear late in. They hide in dark alcoves in walls, hard to spot by chance, and attack with perfect accuracy as soon as you come within range. Even once you know where they are, hitting them without receiving likewise treatment proves the biggest challenge of all. It?s easier just to nip past them, using any bit of cover you can.
So the game has a thing for irritating features, but it?s not insurmountable
A consistent theme is that you are exploring the unshaven, stinking underbelly of the ?wars universe, from the seedy nightclubs on Coroscaunt to the wastes of Tatooine, complete with Sarlaac pit. It makes for a stylish journey, and one that is consistently serious, if not overly so. Meeting a variety of familiar races, if no major characters, is pleasant, and there isn?t a Jar-Jar or anything similar in sight. Although a Battlefront II- style Gungan-blasting game would be smokin?...but then again, Battlefront II is an essential purchase, so just play that if you hate the things so much.
And so I think we come to the nit-picking: bosses in Bounty Hunter all involve circle-strafing while blasting continuously, which is primarily a source of tedium and secondly a source of fun; the game?s lone power-up, known as rage, is placed randomly throughout levels, only marginally increases your damage, and never lasts long enough to be put to whatever minimal use it could be; while the jet-pack is your best friend for avoiding flak and blaster fire, the roll move is much more of a liability than a help, and never once aided my survival; a few limited-use weapons can be picked up, and while they are useful, I found myself hoarding them until the next boss battle, when I knew my inventory would become reset afterwards anyway. This is mainly because flicking between tools is just so accursedly counter-intuitive; some enemies have the habit of respawning unpredictably, and although they are rarely a threat, they certainly become a nuisance; the camera is mostly fine, and shows off Jango?s excellent modelling and animation, but becomes somewhat ?sticky? ?for lack of a better word- during cramped encounters; later levels are increasingly just about getting from A-to-B while fending off endless hordes (and yes, that sounds fun, but it ain?t here), and it seems like lazy design, really; finally, the optional bounty hunting (you know, like the name of the game) has no real appeal (hey, that rhymes!), and the content it unlocks is utterly not worth the effort, so just use the cheat code if you feel compelled to look through it.
Having re-acquired and re-played the thing from the great tone-setter of an opening to the underwhelming-but-it-has-to-set-up-Episode II-(being a prequel to that, and all)-ending, I can tell you that while this may not be required playing (again, unlike Battlefront II, which you need, now), it remains a high-quality adventure that is well worth the perpetually falling cost. For those out there looking for a faithful Star Wars title that also proves a recession-beater, Bounty Hunter ships with my official stamp of approval.
P.S. For any faithful readers who also enjoyed my Starfighter review, I know what you?re thinking and no, I still haven?t bothered with Jedi Starfighter yet. Hey, it?s a good game, but have you seen my list of titles to get? Now that God of War, Zone of the Enders, Legacy of Kain, Jak, Futurama, Kessen II, Deus Ex, Timesplitters, Psychonauts and an infinite number more of games have been added to the collection, it only leaves several I?d rather get first. Capiche?
P.P.S. All those games are worth getting yourselves, for the record, although (*incoming controversial statement(s)*) Psychonauts is *over*rated. Will it be my first bad game review? Maybe so, if I can bring myself to endure its flaws again. Then again, Tomb Raider is loved the world over despite its inherent terribleness, much like Resident Evil 4. And with that bombshell, ladies and gentlemen, goodnight.
Yes, dear readers, ?tis another Star Wars feature. But no, this shall not be my first bad game review, for this is far from the worst game in my ever-expanding collection, and neither is it a bad Star Wars game. Hell, I?d have to say it?s almost best I?ve played. With the fairly recent disappointing (but hardly surprising) mediocre-town known as The Force Unleashed, I once again find myself sighing, and recalling the golden days of my life, when I first played all the finest titles I have yet encountered: there were the Jak games; Soul Reaver; War of the Monsters and Zone of the Enders, to name but a few. Bounty Hunter is not quite among these fine products, but it remains one of the most fondly remembered experiences of my wondrously wasted existence. Admittedly there?s a bias present in my case, due to the strange effects of nostalgia (hence the name of the review series, ?course), but I still have to say that this has to be the best Wars game before Battlefront.
If I was lazy, I would summarise the game as a mighty fine morsel, with the only flaws being occasional bullshit deaths (?You can fall through the bridge?!?) and its complete-in-a-dedicated-weekend nature. But seeing as I have bothered to put together several previous nostalgic trips, and have covered yet another A4 in scribbled notes during my playthrough, you?d be right in thinking that I?ve gone too far not to continue in the proper manner. Therefore, allow me to introduce this under-loved prince to thee.
Upon starting, doubtless you will notice the shameless display of the high production values expected of a Lucas Arts title. They may do nothing but leach off the sweet, tasty nectar of the Star Wars license, but they didn?t skimp on the flashy effects. The visuals were exceedingly good for the day and more than hold up now, but the sound gets my personal thumbs up, due to the perfect use of authentic noises from the universe, including blasters, engines, and even brilliant insertion of the famous Wilhelm scream. Just try not to snigger whenever you hear that in-game. I?m convinced it?s humanly impossible.
Naturally, with the license comes great music, a bit from the original trilogy, most from the prequels, and even a couple of pieces I?ve not heard outside of the game, and so can only assume were composed originally, the most obvious of which is the tribal hunting beat which pops up at various points, and can be found in the original teaser trailer. Give it a YouTube, why not?
While such lovely touches as those described above are lovely, not even some mostly nice level design dolloped on top of it all would make for an epic quest if the core gameplay handled like a one-wheeled milk float, and as you probably guessed, it is nothing short of great. Simple but effective, it?s all just a matter of running and gunning, with interesting possibilities being added to the mix with the jetpack, and dual-targeting pistols.
A cheeky tap of L1 sends you into the air. If you don?t touch the stick, you will just go straight up, but a quick adjustment causes you to go in the horizontal direction of your choice. While it originally seemed odd, I soon learned that ?twas in fact a masterpiece of design: you can easily manoeuvre wherever you want, with the only restriction being the fuel meter, which limits you to a few sweet moments of flight before needing a brief recharge.
Similarly juicy are the pistols. Jango automatically aims at anything hostile that comes too close and square fires your deceptively innocent-looking tools. Holding it down shoots very slowly, so one must tippity-tap like a mad thing in order to blast quick enough. Again, this didn?t feel quite right at first, and the thumb has the tendency to lose all feeling and drop off after maybe two hours, but for some reason (most likely the euphoric sensation caused by the subtle release of adrenaline into the bloodstream), it eventually dawned on me that fingering the controller in such a manic manner is very exciting, and key to this is the fact that Jango seems able to shoot as fast as you can hammer the button, so every round is let loose when it should be. With R1 acting as your means of strafing a specific target (although Jango still fires at somebody else simultaneously whenever possible), gunplay is almost always immensely satisfying.
It?s an arcade-style massacre, and probably the game?s standout chapter is on the prison asteroid Ovoo IV, where wardens and rioting inmates will charge a dozen at a time, and the open spaces allow you to pirouette through the air, reducing their bodies to cinders while gracefully arcing over them. Alright, they don?t really disintegrate, but that would double the fun, right there.
The experience is most pleasurable when you are able to terminate goons in time with your brain?s signals, and things tend to reach almost zen-like states of mental harmony. The hypnotic cries of pain and slumping bodies, perfectly in sync with your thumb?s movements, is the heart of the pleasure. Bounty Hunter is one of those games where you just forget about the controller in your hands, cutting out the middle-man, and let your very will determine your character?s movements.
Sadly, after so much amazement, the controls take a bit of a slip. A consistent annoyance is how weapon selection is handled: all of your items must be scrolled through one-by-one in-game, and there can be up to eight-or-so bits of hardware to rummage through at any one time. You?ll spend the vaaaaast majority of your time using the pistols, but there are occasions where only the sniper rifle or the missiles will perform the required task adequately, and flicking between things could hardly be less intuitive when under fire. Did I mention ten good shots can see you fizzed out of existence? Well, they can. A Ratchet & Clank- style ring of items which also freezes the action would have been the perfect system, or even having to go to the pause menu would be better. Tragic.
Perhaps even worse is how the game renders its super jetpack action almost broken with unforgivable inclusion of the bane of my existence, the thorn in my paw, the stake in my heart: a lives system (*spit*). This is one of those games where you almost never die in combat, and then you?re made to negotiate a load of platforms, with one cock-up meaning instant death. The controls keep this mostly acceptable, but far more troublesome is how freakishly awkward it can be to grab ledges. You always have to be within sniffing distance of the thing, and maybe it?s just my screwed analogue sticks, but every third time I manage to latch onto something I instantly let go. Throw in the fact that you only ever have five attempts at a level and forty minutes work can be lost in a hundredth of the time. Worst of all is when you are required to tackle all this under heavy fire.
It?s much like Wolverine?s Revenge, which I would actually say is slightly superior to Bounty Hunter, but I am so sick of easy combat and then terrible platforming that I could just burn my original trilogy boxset. It is the altered edition though, so it wouldn?t be a total loss...Solo was destined to shoot first, George, and why you felt the need to alter the fabric of the universe just to change that detail will forever be an enigma whose answer is known only to you. Maximo is probably the worst offender of ?fighting easy, jumping hard? that I?ve had to endure, but I can promise you it would only take a sufficiently mentally incapacitated designer to break the record. I placed my wager on Team Sonic, myself.
Still more annoyance can be gleaned from a few enemy types: the rocket launchers are usually easy to avoid, but if you get caught off guard by one from outside from range of view, it can send you plummeting to your untimely demise, and this is truly a thing of pure evil. Just remain aware of your surroundings, and you?ll be fine. More problematic are the damn-near invisible sniper bastards who appear late in. They hide in dark alcoves in walls, hard to spot by chance, and attack with perfect accuracy as soon as you come within range. Even once you know where they are, hitting them without receiving likewise treatment proves the biggest challenge of all. It?s easier just to nip past them, using any bit of cover you can.
So the game has a thing for irritating features, but it?s not insurmountable
A consistent theme is that you are exploring the unshaven, stinking underbelly of the ?wars universe, from the seedy nightclubs on Coroscaunt to the wastes of Tatooine, complete with Sarlaac pit. It makes for a stylish journey, and one that is consistently serious, if not overly so. Meeting a variety of familiar races, if no major characters, is pleasant, and there isn?t a Jar-Jar or anything similar in sight. Although a Battlefront II- style Gungan-blasting game would be smokin?...but then again, Battlefront II is an essential purchase, so just play that if you hate the things so much.
And so I think we come to the nit-picking: bosses in Bounty Hunter all involve circle-strafing while blasting continuously, which is primarily a source of tedium and secondly a source of fun; the game?s lone power-up, known as rage, is placed randomly throughout levels, only marginally increases your damage, and never lasts long enough to be put to whatever minimal use it could be; while the jet-pack is your best friend for avoiding flak and blaster fire, the roll move is much more of a liability than a help, and never once aided my survival; a few limited-use weapons can be picked up, and while they are useful, I found myself hoarding them until the next boss battle, when I knew my inventory would become reset afterwards anyway. This is mainly because flicking between tools is just so accursedly counter-intuitive; some enemies have the habit of respawning unpredictably, and although they are rarely a threat, they certainly become a nuisance; the camera is mostly fine, and shows off Jango?s excellent modelling and animation, but becomes somewhat ?sticky? ?for lack of a better word- during cramped encounters; later levels are increasingly just about getting from A-to-B while fending off endless hordes (and yes, that sounds fun, but it ain?t here), and it seems like lazy design, really; finally, the optional bounty hunting (you know, like the name of the game) has no real appeal (hey, that rhymes!), and the content it unlocks is utterly not worth the effort, so just use the cheat code if you feel compelled to look through it.
Having re-acquired and re-played the thing from the great tone-setter of an opening to the underwhelming-but-it-has-to-set-up-Episode II-(being a prequel to that, and all)-ending, I can tell you that while this may not be required playing (again, unlike Battlefront II, which you need, now), it remains a high-quality adventure that is well worth the perpetually falling cost. For those out there looking for a faithful Star Wars title that also proves a recession-beater, Bounty Hunter ships with my official stamp of approval.
P.S. For any faithful readers who also enjoyed my Starfighter review, I know what you?re thinking and no, I still haven?t bothered with Jedi Starfighter yet. Hey, it?s a good game, but have you seen my list of titles to get? Now that God of War, Zone of the Enders, Legacy of Kain, Jak, Futurama, Kessen II, Deus Ex, Timesplitters, Psychonauts and an infinite number more of games have been added to the collection, it only leaves several I?d rather get first. Capiche?
P.P.S. All those games are worth getting yourselves, for the record, although (*incoming controversial statement(s)*) Psychonauts is *over*rated. Will it be my first bad game review? Maybe so, if I can bring myself to endure its flaws again. Then again, Tomb Raider is loved the world over despite its inherent terribleness, much like Resident Evil 4. And with that bombshell, ladies and gentlemen, goodnight.
