Reviewer’s Note: All experience comes from playing Version 1.3 of the game.
One of the biggest takeaways from the decade-long EA/Star Wars exclusivity deal was the impressive dearth of licensed titles. Just imagine how impressive of a feat that is: among the most ubiquitous entertainment franchises of all time and the only publisher initially allowed to craft console, PC, or tablet games for its restarted canon ends up cancelling its most ambitious game. So, it’s no surprise Disney was hankering for other companies to pitch their own ideas even before the contract was up. Enter Zynga, with assistance from NaturalMotion, marketing a mobile-focused hero action title for all ages; ironically, one of the first post-exclusivity Star Wars releases wants to compete in one of the most played-out genres of the past decade.
Of course, Star Wars: Hunters still has the brand name; plus, a third-person hero shooter/brawler is a natural fit for this universe. An eclectic variety of alien races, dynamic engagements mixing melee with ranged combat, and exotic locales reminiscent of the series’ most iconic places. One would surmise it’d be a surefire hit. Though incredibly limited, there’s even lore that places these heroes between Episode VI & VII. The planet Vesparra is essentially an entertainment hub for gladiatorial arena fights during The New Republic era, with each character having some backstory about why they’re here.
The long and short of it is to be the best fighter, but that’s all that’s necessary. This is baby’s first hero shooter, not Moby Dick. Therein lies the problem: trying to be an easy-access, banal hero title in today’s age makes as much sense as Joe Rogan on bath salts. Most kids below age ten have likely played one before, so the training wheels will feel more condescending than “approachable”.
Still, let’s give The Devil (Zynga) his due. The particulars will sound familiar: two teams of four disparate heroes duke it out across a certain Star Wars-themed map. The suite of standard modes range from team deathmatch, some variant of zone control, or maintaining possession of a special item. There can be overlap in what little strategy is here, but certain modes may influence which tank, healer, or damage dealer to use. There’s an obvious cost/benefit analysis to make between a security droid with riot shields for arms and a hulking Trandoshian that can tether himself to a nearby opponent and mag-dump his scatter gun. Both are tanks with different yet valid applications.
Bringing up “tactics” for different modes is too… generous as to how surface-level Hunters typically plays. It’s structure can’t help but diminish experimentation. For starters, matches finish far too soon. Between the twenty-five kill goal in TDM and the quickened rate of securing objective spots, there’s virtually no room to make a genuine comeback. It took over fifteen matches before experiencing one that lasted longer than “Bohemian Rhapsody”! It was possible to encounter longer bouts after that, but those still run shorter than the expected standard.
Extending matches could also be a monkey’s paw: you’re given more time to engage with these systems, which in turn reveals how shallow and mismanaged they fundamentally are. Hunters is the quintessential example of a shooter developed for mobile and controller in tandem without enough development time to manage their inherent differences. Because of the indelicate finger motions with touch controls, the kinaesthetic sensation of shooting with Joy-Con control sticks feels fiddly and uncoordinated. Default sensitivity settings feel slackened, yet tweaking in the other direction never quite hits the right threshold either; there’s no happy middle. In the end, it’s more about the player growing accustomed to its wonkiness and allowing bullet/laser magnetism to play its part.
Past lacklustre mechanics, Hunters’ design is also left wanting. Outside of Battle Royale modes, it’s tough to think of another hero game that doesn’t allow mid-match character-swapping. That’s been a basic feature for ages – with good reason too. Sometimes an enemy team’s streak could come down to team composition, which could then be countered with a few adjustments. Sure, shooters like Rainbow Six: Siege have you commit to a character after a countdown clock winds down, but only for that singular round. There’s no substantive justification, mechanical nor thematic, for its omission.
For a title emphasizing all-ages approachability, newbies have a stacked deck against them. Many of Hunters’ contemporaries incorporate selectable mods for each hero: Bleeding Edge, Paladins, Gigantic, and so on and so forth. It’s a way to subtly influence how and when to use said heroes’ abilities for greater effect. Zynga actually made two separate categories: the aforementioned mods and passive character upgrades. The former has a sliding scale of qualities, with orange ‘legendary’ ones having better stats while also tied with a debuff or two. The latter, on the other hand, are slight permanent level-ups to said heroes’ cooldown abilities. Tie this alongside a third mod slot unlocking only after reaching a higher account level and it’s easy to see how veterans have a quantifiable advantage beyond learned tricks and map knowledge.
Even with those hurdles, the Star Wars brand itself can be a salve because of the promised excitement within this world. Which is why it’s so surprising how aesthetically inconsistent it ranks among recent multiplayers. That’s not to rag on its modest production values – though the Fortnite-esque style is like Walmart’s ‘Great Value’ knockoff branding at this point. No, the emphasis is more about the character exhibited during action. One of the best healers in the game, Zaina, only has two standard cooldown abilities: dodge rolling (limited uses that recharge over time) and a bacta grenade dropped at her feet with a modest area-of-effect range. Her cooldown is quite fast so there’s a good tempo between her shooting while healing allies nearby, but tactical experimentation is basically nil. Her potential is thoroughly explored after two minutes. Even her ultimate is functionally a bacta bomb with a larger AOE radius.
For every few safe heroes there’s an example that pairs with this series’ menagerie of creative alien designs. Playing the “two guys in a trench coat” gag but with Jawas is genuinely inspired; plus, Utooni’s identity is about swapping between two primary weapons. A perfect synergy of personality and combat design. Though, to its credit, there’s enough variety between characters to distinguish them from their silhouettes, the naming convention is genuinely baffling. Between names written out in L33T Speak (“J-3DI” for example) to bores like the aforementioned Zaina, the majority of characters don’t even reach Lucas’ C-tier efforts.
Dressing them up is a different story. Between a panoply of unique costumes, weapons skins, victory celebrations, and emotes of each hero, Zynga & co. spared no expense. It’s also obvious why: they were betting on this freemium model being a cash cow. Though all signs of $99.99 Crystal bundles and costly battle passes have been scrubbed away with rubbing alcohol, it’s easy to intuit an obnoxiously-cluttered UI when Version 1.0 released. It’s completely reasonable to cast aspersions on Hunters’ initially exploitative structure – and have a wider conversation about these greedy tactics in any E or E10+ game. Fortunately, excising those underhanded schemes makes it easier to appreciate all of the choices that are freely and immediately available.
This expansiveness is also reflected by its surfeit of maps and modes. Though most fall into the usual trappings, whether against AI or human opponents, certain limited-time events at least play with the conventions. The issue with maps, however, comes back to the old adage: quality over quantity. They all may capture an appropriate visual theme but are small in size with an inconsistent design that sours those vistas. Virtually every map with excessive out-of-bounds pits rank among the worst. The ones that rank higher only do so by virtue of having a basic symmetrical layout.
Overall, the main issue with Star Wars: Hunters isn’t over a paucity of content, but of quality matches and fulfilling engagement. Instead of venturing into fresher territory or acquiring a nuanced personality, Zynga seemed more interested in unrepentant replication with the Star Wars license. That does work on rare occasion – a character here, a concept there – but more often it plays like a stripped-down, barely-coordinated hero shooter whose sole existence feels slavishly in service to the brand.
