Set some time before Episode 2, Bounty Hunter stars Jango Fett, who is employed by Darth Tyrannus to locate the head of the dangerous cult, Bando Gora, that threatens to upset the trade and economy of the Galactic Republic just after the events of Episode 1. As part of the mission, Jango must track down leads to the location of the secretive cult. But, Jango is not alone - other bounty hunters have been given the same mission. Unknown to them, Tyrannus plans to use the person who delivers on the bounty as the source for the clone army Sidious wishes to create.

The basic gameplay of Bounty Hunter is pure "Run and Gun" action where you'll need to take Jango through each area, killing waves of enemies as you try to find the next switch to throw or door to pass through. Luckily, Jango controls really well and has a handful of moves at his disposal, including jumping, crouching and a dodging roll. Pressing the R1 button allows you to lock-on to nearby enemies, which is helpful as you can strafe and dodge most enemy fire. You also have access to a cutting torch, flame-thrower, grenades, missile launcher and jet pack, which can be used for short trips. There will be a few times where some platforming aspects are thrown at you just to give you a change of pace.

Along with the standard story-driven aspect of the game, each level has a handful of thugs that have bounties on their heads. During the game, you can scan the area and see if nearby people are wanted. If so, you can mark them and then either kill them or tie them up with the whipcord. Depending on how you capture the bounties, you'll gain money, which is used to unlock media. The only real drawback to the bounty aspect of the game is that most times, you're going to be under attack while trying to mark someone and since using the ID Scanner is done during real time and you can't use your weapons (the scanner is apparently considered a weapon), you may risk certain demise by tying to get any of the bounties. It's a rarity when the potential mark will stand around and wait for you to "mark" them.

Visually, Bounty Hunter feels and looks like a Star Wars themed game. The locations and NPCs have the Star Wars look and your recognize many familiar aliens and robots. Levels are fairly sizable and have a decent design to them. Unfortunately, though, the game could all around look better. While Jango and most of the NPCs look decent, the locations often feel empty. Even in the outdoor city areas, the game never feels like you're in a living city, but more like a corridor. Also, the game could really use a higher polygon count and the textures are often bland and washed out. With some more detail, the game would have looked immensely better.

Audiowise, Bounty Hunter falls under the LucasArts standard for special effects and sampled John Williams soundtrack. Unfortunately, it doesn't do much more than the bare minimum. Some sound effects seem too loud while others are too soft and the music will, at times, switch or end tracks abruptly. Also, some of the sound bites from the NPCs will get used and reused so often you'll grow tired of them before halfway through the game.

The game suffers from its share of clipping and collision detection issues, which take away from what could be immersive environments. On top of that is a camera that tends to go crazy in tight environments and even works against you in the heat of battle. Also, expect lots of loading for each location. This is only made more annoying by the fact that the game only saves at the end of each area. Luckily, the player has a few continues and will respawn at the last checkpoint if they die. Considering that most enemies are brainless fodder, you shouldn't have to worry too much about this. More often, only the rare fall to your death will claim your life.

I would have to say that Bounty Hunter is a decent game if you like the "Run and Gun" type of game. The story is told well and really feels like a part of the Star Wars continuum. If you can live with the problems noted in the review, you'll enjoy this game. Those more picky will want to skip it or maybe just rent.

- - Kinderfeld