Star Wars: Bounty Hunter’s remaster is above-average, however be ready to face the unique’s tough edges

You may be taking a look at Star Wars Outlaws as your subsequent cease in a galaxy far, far-off, however Star Wars: Bounty Hunter’s Aspyr-developed remaster is a greater than welcome return to the PS2/GC-era Star Wars underworld.

I vividly keep in mind the unique PS2 launch of Bounty Hunter changing into a private favourite again in 2002, largely as a result of my most-liked character strolling out of Assault of the Clones was Jango Fett. He was a man sporting Mandalorian armor who really did cool stuff on-screen and had two superior laser pistols, so after all he was my fav. That was sound 10-year-old logic. The sport itself I really did not get till Christmas Eve, however you possibly can guess I used to be glued to it for months after that. Lengthy story quick: Warts and all, I am very keen on this one, so I had very excessive expectations for Aspyr’s newest Star Wars remaster.

Earlier this yr, the Star Wars Battlefront Traditional Assortment launched to largely adverse evaluations for quite a lot of causes. Whereas I believed the core expertise was preserved fairly nicely (and with beforehand platform-exclusive content material added again in!), the web aspect of the video games was a little bit of a large number, and the bloated set up measurement on most platforms was baffling to say the least. Most points have been ironed out by now, but I am unable to blame veteran Star Wars avid gamers for performing cautious when Bounty Hunter’s remaster was introduced some time again.

After replaying by means of a half of the sport surprisingly quick, given on a regular basis that is handed since my final correct playthrough, I am fairly glad to report the Bounty Hunter remaster lands near Aspyr’s greatest Star Wars efforts and washed the dangerous post-Battlefront style off my mouth (even when that Assortment is completely okay now). Jango Fett’s armor has by no means regarded shinier, and the locales are extra vibrant than ever earlier than, but Bounty Hunter stays one of many moodiest and most original Star Wars video games ever because of the preservation of the unique artwork path regardless of the feel upscales we have come to anticipate from these plus some good touches of dynamic lighting, ambient occlusion, and movement blur (all might be toggled off).

Extra importantly, the sport performs a lot better than its unique PS2 (later dropped at PS3/4) and GameCube counterparts because of an non-obligatory (however default) management scheme that makes it really behave such as you’d anticipate a third-person shooter to. The untouched launch had some odd bindings that made sure actions a bit extra cumbersome than they wanted to be, and this may be the only greatest QoL change in all the remaster. On PC, nevertheless, I skilled some set off sensitivity-related oddities that led to Jango going out and in of aiming at random. Such concern wasn’t current on the Steam Deck, but the Xbox controller I used behaved utterly effective in different video games, so I am fairly satisfied it was an issue with deadzones on this particular recreation which can or might not have been fastened already.

Efficiency can be a priority in terms of these remasters, and it should not be that approach. After all, anybody with a beefy trendy PC or a PS5 or Collection X mustn’t be involved, but many remasters are unusually demanding in below-average {hardware}. I am unable to discuss different platforms, however the PC model was utterly locked at 120 FPS (which appears to be the utmost framerate) maxed out at 2K on a 4070Ti + 7800X3D construct, which… was to be anticipated. There was, nevertheless, a little bit of a difficulty at the beginning which took some time to determine: Bounty Hunter defaulted again and again to utilizing the CPU graphics as a substitute of that superior devoted Nvidia GPU. The consequence? Sub-30 FPS regardless of my settings. It took a little bit of investigation inside the duty supervisor to note the devoted GPU wasn’t getting used in any respect. The devs had been notified, and a repair would possibly’ve been dropped already, however it’s one thing to remember in case you expertise weird framerate drops.

Ultimately, I switched to Steam Deck as a result of retro video games are inclined to shine on Valve’s large handheld PC-console, and I used to be pleasantly shocked, as Bounty Hunter simply will not transfer down from 60 FPS maxed out on the native decision. For all I do know, later ranges may carry the already-high GPU load previous the brink which ends up in efficiency drops, however it’s in any other case a incredible transportable expertise with juiced-up visuals.

Bounty Hunter additionally continues to be one of many hardest Star Wars video games round when you get previous its first third or so, with the 4 remaining acts elevating the general fight problem fairly a bit and twisting the platforming-like sections (you might have a jetpack for many of the recreation) into fairly memorable ranges that always really feel enormous for a linear recreation even by at present’s requirements. It is an excellent reminder of how large LucasArts used to dream again within the early 2000s, given the {hardware} limitations. Just a few different facets associated to the various Star Wars settings you go to, such because the excessive number of NPCs in sure ranges or the incredible sound design, spotlight all the eye to element that went into these video games through the firm’s greenest and most bold period.

However, most boss fights have not aged very nicely, as they are often crushed by strafing and boosting round whereas holding the triggers in your twin Westar-34 pistols. Elsewhere, nevertheless, there are many good probabilities to take advantage of out of Jango’s assorted arsenal, and latter ranges demand a point of planning and enjoying issues safer in an effort to make it out alive. Curiosity can be rewarded this time round with the unlockable Boba Fett pores and skin and a beneficiant set of achievements tailor-made to probably the most devoted gamers. Sure, getting 100% on all secondary bounties will take some time.

By and huge, Aspyr has nailed this one with out falling face first right into a mud puddle, and you’ll solely criticize the actual fact it is devoted and conservative to a fault in case you’re the type of participant in search of remasters which might be really gentle remakes. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter’s latest iteration is not that, and as a substitute continues Aspyr’s largely inspiring custom of preserving and sprucing classics from a place of respect and reverence. At round $20, you possibly can’t ask for rather more. Additionally: it is nonetheless a fairly superior (Legends) prequel to Assault of the Clones with a far meatier narrative than you’d anticipate at first.