If you’ve been waiting for an Overwatch-like shooter populated with Star Wars characters that you can play on your smartphone, then this may be your day. Gamemakers at Zynga have crafted a free-to-play entry called Star Wars: Hunter that’s only available for the Nintendo Switch and mobile phones. And you heard right: it’s free.
Sorta.
There’s really no story to Hunters. But essentially you can step up as one of 12 (at this point) different character types from the Star Wars universe and battle in a team-play, blast-‘em-away competition. Two teams made up of five characters each are set loose to give battle.
Since this game was primarily designed for use on your Apple or Android smartphone, the game’s various maps aren’t huge like some battle royale team shooters. But the feel is similar, and it can be easily navigated with a touch screen. Characters have their own special abilities and weapons. You can use ziplines, grappling hooks and catapults to get from level to level. And when teamed up, your squad simply aims to take the foes down in a fast match that only lasts a couple of minutes.
In other words, Star Wars: Hunters is an easy-to-pick-up amusement that can be played while you’re standing in line or totally bored. You know, those instances when you could be looking at things or people around you but would rather fill those minutes pretending you’re a big ol’ Wookiee or a robot Jedi.
On that character front, Hunters offers up some fun choices for fans of a certain galaxy far, far away. For instance, you can play as Rieve, a female Sith who’s agile and skilled; Aran Tal, a Mandalorian Vanguard; and Utooni, a pair of piggyback Jawa scavengers wrapped in a trench coat. Those are some of the damage-focused characters. And then you’ve got your tanks (such as the above-mentioned Wookiee juggernaught, Grozz) and support-class battlers such as the Rebel war hero, Zaina.
Each character has a main weapon in the form of a pistol, rifle, lightsaber or warclub; their own sense of speed and agility; and specific skills such as the ability to drop a healing zone, deflect gun fire, throw up a personal shield, blast foes with a wrist rocket, draw an enemy closer and the like. You choose which character you prefer and go.
This is a multiplayer game that definitely requires an online connection. And there’s a microtransaction element ever present in the play. (Detailed below.)
As shooters go, this one is relatively mess free. There’s no blood or flesh rending, just zaps of light and color. Characters fall with a skull symbol above their head when bested.
The pace of the game is fast and fairly fluid. And while Hunters doesn’t offer much in the way of gaming complexity, there is a variety of classes, characters and abilities to choose from and build your teams with.
And, of course, it’s a light, action-packed title that’s designed to tickle Star Wars fan fancy. Characters sometimes talk in the midst of battle, but there’s nothing offensive or crude.
All of that said, this is a run-and-gun shooter and pretty much nothing else. So, if you’re averse to trigger-pulling, explosions and zapping foes, this isn’t the game for you.
Probably the biggest drawback is the fact that the gamemakers make their money on the microtransactions in the game. So, Star Wars: Hunters isn’t shy about offering players ways that they can make their play a little better with a bit of real-world cash.
Pop-ups regularly remind you that rather than deal with built-in timers and other elements that limit your play, you can purchase battlepasses, cosmetics and a variety of helpful things with real cash. And then there are the characters themselves. You start with a single character for simply playing the game tutorial, but you can only unlock the others through hours of matches. Unless … you get out your charge card.
Droids, Jedi, bounty hunters and Wookiees are at your beck and call. Star Wars: Hunters is a free game that’s easy to pick up and fun to play. (As long as you don’t mind a bunch of in-game buy me offers.)
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
