PlayStation 5 Critic Reviews

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a solid throwback to the glory days of 2000s action games.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was always a cult favourite but Aspyr’s native port of the classic adventure comes adorned with modernised controls and polished visuals making it a must-play for fans of the original and a fun bit of history for newcomers.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter on PS4/PS5 is a loving time capsule. It’s not a modern game in structure or control feel, but for fans of Star Wars lore, especially the prequel trilogy and The Mandalorian-style bounty hunting fantasy, it offers a compelling ride. The upgraded performance makes it the best way to experience the game today, and the budget price makes it a fair pick-up for curious newcomers and nostalgic fans alike.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter missed an opportunity to add much-needed polish, but if you want to revisit a childhood classic, you’ll be happy with this faithful remaster.

Aspyr Media's port of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is missing a lot of the atmosphere I loved about the original game. The sharpness in the visuals now remove too much, and shine a spotlight on the game's worst angles. At the same time, the modern control scheme improves on the experience so much that the parts of Star Wars: Bounty Hunter that made it a classic are able to shine brighter far more than they ever did - even if the camera is still wreaking havoc most of the time.

The remastering achieves not only the visual aspects but also the quality of life improvements, in addition to making the game accessible for different generations. A great meal for those who want to escape the Jedi vs Sith cliché or just enjoy a good game from the saga.

Aspyr has polished the graphics and fixed some of the camera issues that plagued the original, but all the janky problems at the core of the 2002 game remain.

The updates to gameplay make Bounty Hunter feel modern, fluid and accessible, though the legacy controls are still there for purists. It would have been nice to see a remaster or remake that fixed additional quirks and greatly improved the presentation, but as a $19.99 port, Aspyr has delivered enough changes and updates to make Star Wars: Bounty Hunter feel like the game it always should have been at launch. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is one bounty you’ll want to bring in alive.

There are exciting and pleasant strolls down memory lane, and then there is the remastered Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (sadly). Yes, it is updated! So, it can pass as a functioning game, but it is by no means modern or enjoyable. It completely lacks the atmosphere of the original release, and the entire game feels as tedious as it was 22 years ago. With some more tinkering under the hood, this game could have been reborn from its ashes as a cult classic, but the scope once again was different: a cheap remaster that can be sold for a quick buck.

While we can commend Aspyr's efforts to modernize Star Wars: Bounty Hunter, it's clear that significant issues persist within the core gameplay mechanics. Visually, the game impresses and delivers a strong dose of nostalgia for Star Wars fans. However, when evaluated on its own merits, without the Star Wars branding, the flaws become much more apparent.