Back in the early 2000s, LucasArts was unashamedly cynical about how it used the Star Wars licence, as it went about making Star Wars versions of whatever genre happened to be popular at the time. That led to Tekken style beat ‘em-up Masters of Teräs Käsi, Age Of Empires knock-off Galactic Battlegrounds, Battlefield clone Battlefront, and Twisted Metal copycat Demolition.
As shameless as they all were, most of them were competent games – even if they were nowhere as good as their inspirations. Hunters feels very much of that era, since you can guarantee that if it had been around back then, LucasArts would’ve insisted on a Star Wars version of Overwatch (just as Marvel Rivals seems to be a superhero version of the same idea).
Even if that’s not an inherently bad idea, the fact that Hunters is a free-to-play game, being made by FarmVille publisher Zynga, throws up so many red flags it probably spells something very rude in semaphore. And yet, just like back in the day, Hunters is not as bad as you’d think. Or at least it wouldn’t be if it wasn’t party to the usual grotesquery of modern live service games.
Strangely, Hunters is only available on mobile phone and Nintendo Switch. It’s not clear whether Nintendo paid for it as a console exclusive but playing it on Switch and iOS it’s obvious that the smartphone version runs a lot smoother, while the Switch edition is much easier to control. Hunters isn’t a complex game, but it does use almost every button on a joypad, so the touchscreen controls are far from ideal – making the perfect set-up the smartphone version with a Bluetooth gamepad.
Rather than featuring any established characters, Hunters has an entirely original line-up, although many are based on more familiar races or character types. So you’ve got a Mandalorian who’s not the Mandalorian, a Wookie who’s definitely not Chewbacca, a smuggler type that uses Han Solo’s gun, a Stormtrooper, and a generic Dark Side user.
There’re also some more unusual choices, such as a Jawa standing on another Jawa’s shoulders while wearing a trenchcoat, a Mon Calamari in an anti-gravity chair, a Droideka, and a Trandoshan who’s for some reason dressed up like Kraven the Hunter. Some of the more original characters are a bit generic, and look more like failed Apex Legends candidates, but there’s also a Rodian like Greedo and a droid that thinks it’s a Jedi.
If none of that means anything to you, the short version of the above is that there’s a very wide range of different characters, in terms of both how they look and their various abilities. The character design is definitely the highlight of the game – even if the cartoonish, Fortnite style art design is slightly off-putting. Unfortunately, that’s a sign that in most other respects the game is disappointingly familiar.
There are three class types (tank, damage, and support), the game modes are all exactly what you’d expect of an arena shooter, and while everyone has their own gimmicks – from grappling hooks to shields – they still manage to feel predictable and generic. The lightsabers are fun but, once again in a Star Wars game, the blasters feel like pea-shooters and not at all what you’d imagine from their use in the movies, in terms of weight or power.
The biggest problem is that there’s a lack of complexity to the various abilities and weapons. While everything is very clearly cribbed from Overwatch and Valorant there’s none of the same nuance in their use. Everything is overly simplified and it’s obvious that the game has been designed primarily for play on mobile, with the Switch version very much an afterthought.
All the maps are smaller than you’d expect, matches are very short, and… the game’s filled with microtransactions. That goes without saying for a free-to-play game but while Hunters is arguably no worse than something like Fortnite, in terms of what it’s offering, the obnoxious way in which it constantly advertises the battle pass and tries to tempt you into paying to unlock additional characters is beyond the pale.
The range of characters may seem impressive at first glance but you don’t get all of them at once, and instead have to slowly unlock them by playing the game again and again or, as Zynga hopes, you just give in and pay for them. The Mandalorian character, Aran Tal, can only be unlocked by paying for the Premium Arena Pass and yet, cynically, he’s the most prominent character in the marketing.
The first time you switch on the game it’s awash with so many garish adverts, and pleas for you to give it money, it’s tempting to just turn it off there and then. Although we have a feeling they’ll tone this down at least a little post-launch, as the main menu itself is horribly ugly and confusing even if there weren’t any ads.
It’s always difficult to critique a free-to-play game, not least because as vile as the game’s microtransactions practices seem to console and PC gamers they’ve clearly been accepted as the norm on mobile.
If you can ignore the microtransactions, Hunters is not a complete failure but, as a third person shooter, it’s overly simplified and shallow, and you’re likely to start losing interest long before you unlock all the characters. It’s designed to be that way, to appeal to what Zynga thinks a casual audience wants, but what’s frustrating is that with some tweaking this could’ve been a good game.
Unfortunately, Zynga has given in to the Dark Side and rather than create something that people would want to play for its own sake, they’ve instead produced a cynical cash grab that is only interested in your money, not your entertainment.
Star Wars: Hunters review summary
In Short: A Star Wars version of Overwatch is not the worst idea ever, but its full potential can only barely be glimpsed through a miasma of cloying microtransactions and purposefully shallow gameplay.
Pros: The character designs are great and avoid a lot of the more obvious Star Wars cliches. It’s free.
Cons: The combat is simplistic and shallow, with tiny maps and unnecessarily short matches. Nauseating, yet sadly predictable, use of microtransactions and constant advertising.
Score: 4/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch (reviewed), iOS, and Android
Price: Free-to-play
Publisher: Zynga
Developer: Zynga and NaturalMotion
Release Date: 4th June 2024
Age Rating: 12
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